Weekly TOCS, “Meeting Bias” at 7:30pm PDT, Obama-Bibi, Octavia Nasr, The B’Tselem Media Campaign, Etc.

First note the time change for today. BlogTalkRadio had some technical hiccups, and so we’re going to start an hour later than we usually do. It’s been a busy diplomatic week in the US-Israel relationship, with the White House continuing its charm offensive toward the US Jewish community by finally deigning to let Obama be photographed alone with Netanyahu (but not in the East Room as with other leaders, because that might send the wrong message!) It might reflect the administration’s realization that beating up on a key American ally is a bad idea, though it probably doesn’t, and it might lead to substantive changes in US policy, though it probably won’t.

What it most definitely did do is trigger a full blown anti-Israel campaign meant to derail the talks. A conveniently timed and mysteriously well-funded B’Tselem report dropped just as Netanyahu was leaving, immediately and duly getting picked up by British outlets and by the New York Times.

That’s nothing new – it’s a typical anti-Israel campaign launched by typical anti-Israel outlets, using old news in new package for the peg – but I’d dearly love to know how the editorial selections went down. That way it’ll be easier to trace back the bias when these editors finally and undeniably let their objective masks slip, revealing their deeply-held anti-Israel and anti-Jewish sentiments. Cf. Octavia Nasr, who until this weekend was been just another tough-but-fair journalistic critic of Israel for decades, much like Helen Thomas. Then it turned out that she’s a huge fan of genocidal Islamist lunatics, thereby helping to explain CNN’s incredibly warped Lebanon II converage.

That are more in a little over 90 minutes on this week’s episode of One Jerusalem Radio’s Omri Ceren Show. Remember that this week we’re starting an hour late, so you can tune in live at 7:30pm either by going to the main show page or by visiting the page for tonight’s episode. The chatroom and switchboard will both be open. Official blurb:

Omri covers the political reactions to the Obama-Netanyahu meeting, from a skeptical right to a disinterested center to an international left that tried to mobilize its allies in the media to derail the talks. The high-level talks and subsequent press conference, part of the White House’s charm offensive toward US Jewry, where always supposed to be more spectacle than substance. Nonetheless the Prime Minister’s visit saw a whirlwind of activity, from biased “investigations” timed to discredit Netanyahu’s intentions to an out-and-out PR campaign conducted with Qatari money. Meanwhile yet another powerful journalist – long defended as a hard-nosed but honest critic of Israel – was a little too honest about her affection for genocidal Hezbollah thugs, and found herself without a job.

For the intro I’m still deciding between the UK’s new “criminal activity is OK as long as it’s anti-Israel” jurisprudence or the moronic “Muslim outreach” patronization coming out of NASA. Sound off on the Facebook page if you have a strong opinion one way or the other.

References:
* Re: Bibi’s Visit [Pollak / Commentary Contentions]
* Bibi-Obama Presser [Rubin / Commentary Contentions]
* Krauthammer’s Take [NRO Staff / NRO Corner]
* B’Tselem report reflects political agenda, European funding [NGO Monitor]
* VIEWPOINT: Independent ‘expose’ illustrates questionable approach to reporting Israel [Just Journalism]
* Tax-Exempt Funds Aid Settlements in West Bank [NYT]
* Breaking: CNN’s Octavia Nasr Leaving Network After Controversial Tweet [Medialite]
* Meeting Bias [One Jerusalem Radio's Omri Ceren Show]
* UK factory saboteurs acquitted [JPost]
* Krauthammer Bashes Obama’s Infantile NASA Muslim Outreach Program (video) [Daily Radar]