Why I picketed The News Tuesday
Anyone who thinks that to picket a major metro daily gets you nowhere didn’t see Jim Rich see me standing outside this newspaper’s headquarters, catch sight of my sign, “Extra! Extra! Daily News front page goes crazy antiSemitic,” and tell me he’s the editor-in-chief. Right there on the sidewalk, we struck up this chat about what was, for me, my family and friends a sad day.
It had begun on a happy note when I’d seen the New York Post headline, “This Year in Jerusalem,” playing on “Next Year in Jerusalem,” which is the prayer we Jews say to close out the Passover Seder with our people’s vision of Messianic redemption and world peace. The Post, to its credit, pictured our newest U.S. Embassy within the context of those dreams, Israel’s eternal capital blossoming in its glory. Hallelujah, amen!
But then, next to the Post on another Upper West Side newsstand pile, there was the Daily News, with its story marching to a different drummer: “Daddy’s Little Ghoul” read the headline, referring to President Trump's daughter. The subhead: “55 slaughtered in Gaza, but Ivanka all smiles at Jerusalem embassy unveil.”
As Jim tried to explain to me there outside the paper, he saw the day’s most important event as a sin of omission committed by American leaders at the embassy dedication; they couldn't be bothered to acknowledge any Palestinian suffering and dying that day in Gaza. That callousness, he said, was what got him in the gut.
But I pointed to evidence that proved something else and which you, Dear Reader, can see for yourself. On that same front page, the News deliberately juxtaposed two images into a sin of commission by making it appear as if Ivanka Trump, arguably the world’s most famous Jewish lady, was actively gloating over a photograph of the Gaza chaos.
“So that’s a visual lie,” I said to Jim, “the repetition of old anti-Semitic tropes that fabricate Jews rejoicing in the death of our enemies if not feasting on their blood. To celebrate our victories and God’s victories over those who come to kill us, yes, of course. But to be happy that others had to die for this runs counter to what the Hebrew Bible teaches us about all men and women created in God’s image.”
I should have told him how at that same Passover Seder, we all dip our finger into the wine glass and remove 13 drops of wine. We do this to demonstrate how our joy at being saved from Egyptian bondage thousands of years ago can never be whole when the Egyptians died in the plagues and drowned in the sea.
So, of course, this front page made me sad. And of course in no way do I attribute to The News’ editors any, God forbid, sinister motives. But that said, this group of distinguished professionals mutated an otherwise jubilant picture of dedication into a grotesque caricature of schadenfreude, or the experience of pleasure, joy or selfsatisfaction that comes from seeing the troubles of others.
My point is this: If this manipulation of photos leads us to believe the premise that Ivanka Trump actually harbors such horrible thoughts toward our Arab cousins — is happy about their violent death — then calling her a “ghoul,” or an evil spirit who robs graves and feeds on dead bodies, makes sound tabloid sense.
I would have no quibble with the newspaper’s conclusion if that premise were true. But it’s not. Not in the least. Which is what makes The News, to me, guilty of nothing less than yellow journalism. And, arguably, worsening the scourge of antiSemitism in our time.
For that, Jim, you guys owe us readers, and our world, a full-throated, good, old-fashioned, “We’re sorry!” and a pledge to no longer make up “fake news.” From this day forward, swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God.
The front page of Ivanka Trump made it seem as though she delighted in the killing of Palestinians. That’s simply a lie, deserving an apology.