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If Americans Knew is a non-profit organization that focuses on the Arab-Israeli conflict and United States foreign policy regarding the Middle East, offering a critical analysis of American media coverage of these issues. Its mission, according to the group's website, is to provide "what every American needs to know about Israel/Palestine." The site is generally critical of U.S. policy with regards to Israel.
Background
According to its website, "If Americans Knew was founded by an American freelance journalist, Alison Weir, who traveled independently throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip in February and March of 2001" and read "dozens of books" on the subject. The website states that her aim was to found an organization "to be directed by Americans without bias and ethnic ties to the region."
If Americans Knew states that it produces materials, assists in organizing public forums, and provides speakers and written materials to hundreds of events across the United States, including Harvard Law School, Stanford University, Columbia University, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, the University of California, Berkeley, Washington State University, Northwestern University, The Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine, the National Press Club, the Naval Postgraduate School, and other university campuses, churches, libraries, and civic organizations. Its website carries information and allegations about "Israel and Palestine" from a wide variety of sources.
Among other activities, it has compiled seven statistical reports on media coverage, which examine the New York Times, NBC, CBS, and ABC, the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Jose Mercury News, the New London Day, and the Associated Press, all concluding that news is biased in favor of Israel. It has also produced four videos and is filming a documentary on the issue.
Positions
If Americans Knew generally takes the position that the United States' support of Israel should be reduced, on the grounds that it is not in the interest of the United States. It argues that support for Israel interferes with American relations with the oil-producing nations, costs American taxpayers billions, and is increasingly imperiling American lives.
It claims that U.S. support of Israel is driven by special-interest lobbying on behalf of a foreign government, specifically via AIPAC, and by the efforts of a "growing number of individuals with close ties to Israel (known as neoconservatives)" in high-level U.S. Government positions.
It also claims that the major organizations of what it views as "the Israel lobby," including AIPAC and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, are "run by hardliners who generally support the Likud Party's expansionist policies" and may not reflect the positions or interests of American Jewry.
Double Standards
'If Americans Knew has complained about a glaring double standard in that Israel is allowed by American supporters to maintain an immigration policy that only lets in ethnic Jews while Jewish liberals in Western lands have been overrepresented among those advocating immigration policies that favour the Third World over Europe. Similarly, Israel has maintained the separation of its Jewish population from the Arabs, Muslims and Palestinians even though Jews were in the forefront in ending apartheid and white, Boer and Afrikaner domination in South Africa. Similarly, the Wall Street Journal, a Zionist newspaper, has decried building a fence on the United States Mexican border despite its support of Israel's fence.
Reactions
If Americans Knew has been lauded by media monitoring organizations such as Project Censored Grade the News, and Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. The nonprofit organization, Alternate Focus, produced a program on If Americans Knew for broadcast on public access television stations.
Criticism
If Americans Knew has been criticized by organizations such as the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) for "selective and biased use and interpretation of information." CAMERA criticizes the way the organization presents casualty statistics in the conflict, without providing the context and cause of these casualties. CAMERA has also taken issue with several more specific charges.
Lee Kaplan, a journalist who heads the campus activist group DAFKA, is also critical of If Americans Knew, stating that it is an "anti-Israel Web site claiming that America's support of Israel should be terminated, and that a Palestinian state should replace Israel. The site uses misleading statistics to push its hateful message."
The Anti-Defamation League has also called If Americans Knew an "anti-Israel organization."
TheMiddleEastNow ("The Middle East From a Secular Viewpoint") provides a site analysis page on the website called "What every American needs to know about If Americans Knew".
References
- U.S. Interests and Israel/Palestine (If Americans Knew)
- Deadly Distortion: U.S. Press Coverage of Israel and Palstine, Expert Alison Weir to speak by Jennifer Grosvenor (Portland Indymedia)
- If America Knew videos
- ^ U.S. Interests and Israel/Palestine
- The Israel Lobby
- Project Censored newsletter, autumn/fall 2006
- "The newsworthiness of death" Grade the News. December 18, 2003.
- FAIR, Media Views, December 1, 2006
- Alternate Focus program on If Americans Knew
- "Study of New York Times Coverage Severely Flawed," CAMERA. May 13, 2005
- "Scholars for Terror," opinion piece published at FrontPageMag.com.
- "Wheels of Justice:" A Biased View of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict December 29, 2006