Lack of objectivity

“Report: 13 Sri Lankans who fled to Israel are imprisoned here and deprived of rights” (November 12) is a classic and upsetting example of how to purposely embed in readers a strong negative picture of Israel while the facts may prove this totally unfounded.

The headline and the first 85% of the article paint a picture of inhumane, callous treatment of people who fled here in fear of their lives – imprisoned here and deprived of all normal rights. Only my curiosity and the incongruity of how such extreme actions – so totally opposite to everything Israel stands for and more befitting some of our neighboring countries – could happen here, kept me reading until the end.

There, in the last few centimeters of text, we learn of the immigration authority’s response, that at the border, these people “explicitly admitted that they had arrived for work in Israel” and that “the subject of asylum was not raised at any point” until a lawyer was obtained for them and held discussions with them.

This puts the picture in a different light altogether and at the very least leaves a large question mark over the entire story.

The Ninth Commandment urges us to be honest, which, if we all obeyed it, would avoid most of the conflicts in this world. This is not honesty.

CHARLES SMITH Moshav Shoresh