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