If He's Beaten, He Must Be Palestinian

The New York Times published a picture of an angry Israeli policeman
and a badly-beaten and bloodied man, with the caption:
"An Israeli policeman and a Palestinian on the Temple Mount."
The Palestinian is actually Tuvia Grossman, a Jewish student from Chicago

Arutz Sheva News Service   <http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2000 / Tishrei 5, 5761

IF HE'S BEATEN, HE MUST BE PALESTINIAN

This past Saturday, The New York Times and many other papers published a
picture - supplied by the Associated Press - of an angry Israeli policeman
and a badly-beaten and bloodied man, with the caption, "An Israeli
policeman and a Palestinian on the Temple Mount." 
The picture can be seen at <http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>.

Dr. Aaron Grossman, of Chicago, Ill. [6737 N Richmond  Chicago, IL 60645],
sent the following letter to the Times:

"Regarding your picture on page A5 (Sept. 30) of the Israeli soldier and
the Palestinian on the Temple Mount - that Palestinian is actually my son,
Tuvia Grossman, a Jewish student from Chicago.  He, and two of his friends,
were pulled from their taxicab while traveling in Jerusalem, by a mob of
Palestinian Arabs and were severely beaten and stabbed.  That picture could
not have been taken on the Temple Mount because there are no gas stations
on the Temple Mount and certainly none with Hebrew lettering, like the one
clearly seen behind the Israeli soldier attempting to protect my son from
the mob."

Tuvia Grossman was on his way to the Western Wall on Friday afternoon, and
has been hospitalized ever since with head injuries and a stab wound. 
He told Arutz-7 today:

"I was in a taxi on the way to the Kotel [Western Wall] and we got
stoned...  [They took me out of the car and beat me and] I gave a scream,
and for a second they let go of me, and I said Shma Yisrael, because I
thought it was all over...  After they let go of me, I ran - even though I
had a knife in my leg, G-d gave me the strength to run and I was able to
make it up the hill where there were soldiers by the gas station and they
took care of me.  But I was being beaten for around 5 or 6 minutes with a
rock on the top of my head, and I was stabbed in the back of my leg and
kicked and punched all over my body."

"[When I saw the mis-captioned AP picture] I was extremely, extremely
upset.  People see a picture of a youth and they think that it's a
Palestinian being beaten by Israelis, it changes their world view and makes
them think that it's the Israelis beating up the Arabs.  I was extremely
upset.  It was totally the opposite.  That policeman was yelling at the
Arabs to back off, and was protecting me from them - so to change it around
and to say that he was beating me, that's just total distortion, and the
world must be notified about how this is not true - the Jews are the ones
suffering at the hands of the Arabs."

The Times published a correction today, in which it identified Tuvia
Grossman as "an American student in Israel" - not as a Jew who was beaten
by Arabs.  The "correction" also noted that "Mr. Grossman was wounded" in
"Jerusalem's Old City" - although in fact it occurred in an Arab-populated
neighborhood of Jerusalem, not in the Old City.  An Associated Press
spokesman told Arutz-7 that it was looking into the matter.

Dear Editor,
Even the typically biased and slanted NY Times middle east
reporting has hit a new low.
Since the Times wishes to convey the belief that the Palestinians
are all innocent lambs being tormented by an aggressive oppressor,
it can not even conceive that the wounded and injured are NOT Palestinians.

The current case in point is very personal to me. In the Saturday's Times
on page A6, the picture of the "wounded Palestinian" is, in fact,
my nephew, Tuvia Grossman, an AMERICAN Jewish student
learning in Israel.

His only crime was being Jewish.
He was not in "crossfire" but merely the target of Palestinian
lambs who stoned his cab, dragged him from the vehicle, smashed his
head with stones and stabbed him in the leg.
The Israeli soldier, whom you obviously wished to portray as victimizing
the poor, wounded Palestinian was actually saving my nephew's life.
A casual look at the background of the picture can tell anyone that
it's not the Temple Mount at all. I believe that a retraction, in a prominent
position in the paper, is necessary and an apology to the parents,
forthcoming.
Howard Gissinger
2809 Avenue S,  Brooklyn, New York 11229

IMW is a registered non-profit organization whose major aim is assuring the ethical and fair conduct of the Israeli media. 

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