I have to quickly say something about the Trump / Netanyahu press conference.
I happened to watch it on Sky. As soon as it was over, Kay Burley immediately said something about ‘settlements’, which demonstrates the media’s reflexive reaction to anything to do with Israel and the Palestinians, (and no wonder, the way the propaganda machine has been working at it.)
I didn’t even bother to switch to the BBC to see if their response was similar.
The first to review it (when I Googled straight away) was the Washington Post. They picked one particular stand-out moment, which I must say worried me too. You have to wonder if Trump is ‘all there’ when he behaves so oddly.
However, let’s set aside our worries about President Trump’s idiosyncratic personality for a minute, and concentrate on other interpretations of what was said. Or what wasn’t said.
The New York Times says Trump “Backs away from Palestinian State” in its headline, but the first clip on its website shows the bit about settlements. “I’d like to see you hold back on settlements for a bit”
When Trump said “I’m looking at two-state and one-state formulations” and ‘I want what they want’ one wonders if the vagueness was there to cover up the fact that he didn’t really know what he was talking about, or because he knew but preferred not to say, or a bit of both.
‘Time’ goes for the Washington Post angle. “Talking about his Electoral College win at inappropriate moments”, but NBC is headlining “Settlements”. Of course the other bizarre moment was his mini rant about Flynn being badly treated by “Fake Media”, of which there is a clip on their website.
The Independent is more interested in the fact that Trump only took questions from ‘right-wing’ news outlets.
No-one seemed interested in the Israeli PM’s remarks about the Palestinian education system or the e Palestinians' refusal to recognise Israel as the Jewish state, not to mention their aspiration to eradicate it altogether.
For more thoughtful debate, look at Harry’s Place, catch the btl comments while you can.
