War of opinion in media

War of opinion in media

From Koran Tempo

The war of opinion waged particularly by the U.S. is trying to persuade the world community to believe that the attempts to liberate Palestine constitute terrorism that must be treated as a common enemy. The American media aggressively attack Islam, which is associated with terrorists.

The statement of "world sheriff" Bush about the support for Israel's invasion of Palestine as a means of self defense against Palestinian terrorists, which received wide coverage from the international media recently, indeed reflects an outrageous attitude intended to twist world opinion.

Meanwhile, the self defense moves launched by Palestinian fighters to maintain their humanly existence -- armed only with light weapons -- are branded as terrorist acts.

While there is a growing global awareness of who in fact are the true terrorists and their major protector, other maneuvers are underway to form the new opinion that the Palestine issue involves a land dispute rather than a religious one, as seen in several Indonesian media.

In my view, the media comments are directing world opinion toward localizing the Palestine issue to become a mere domestic affair, instead of a global concern.

Several media organizations overlook the facts of Israel's barbaric terrorist acts that trample on our values of humanity, including world Muslims' first religious orientation, i.e. Al- Aqsa. We all object to the editorial of a leading publication, and hope that what it describes is not an attempt to corner our brothers in Palestine, but results only from its lack of understanding due to limited sources of information and misconception.

M. IMRON LUTFI

Jakarta