Can you believe these guys?

The United States and the European Union hit out Monday at Israel for evicting Palestinian families from east Jerusalem, warning that such moves endangered the Middle East peace process. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton led the international condemnation, labelling the evictions "deeply regrettable" and "provocative" and accusing Israel of failing to live up to its international obligations under existing peace initiatives. "I have said before that the eviction of families and demolition of homes in east Jerusalem is not in keeping with Israeli obligations," Clinton told reporters.

This coming from an administration that led an international campaign to pressure Israel to keep Jews out of homes they had legally purchased in East Jerusalem. That apparently didn't count as "deeply regrettable," presumably because ostensible ethnic cleansing is only "provocative" when it's done against non-Jews.

Not that this eviction is ethnic cleansing. Israel allows Arab families to legally purchase homes anywhere in Jerusalem, the emphasis on legality being an unfortunate byproduct of living under the democratic rule of law. The Israeli Supreme Court - which in the same session once OK'd the demolition of Jewish settlements in Gaza but halted the destruction of a suicide bomber's house - firmly ruled that the Arab ownership documents were forged and that the homes legally belong to Sephardic Jews. I understand that the Obama administration is uninclined to defer to the the Supreme Courts of other sovereign nations - cf. Zelaya, removal of - but they actually are kind of important.

The stuff about demanding a total ban on Israeli Jews legally moving back into the Old City, where Jews have lived continuously for thousands of years minus the 19 years when Jordan kept the city Jew-free - that actually does count as ethnic cleansing.

Here's how CSM choose to cover the story:

It was 13-year-old Diala who was awoken first, just after 5 a.m. on Sunday morning, by the commotion outside. She rushed to the window, saw special riot police in black uniforms, and ran to wake her parents. By the time she did, the Israeli police were already breaking in through doors and windows, forcing the 17-member Hanoun family - three brothers, their wives, and children - to leave the home their relatives acquired a half-century ago. In all, 58 Palestinians were evicted in this predominantly Arab neighborhood of East Jerusalem, Sheikh Jarrah. Though they had received - and refused to obey - a court order in May to leave after losing a longstanding dispute over property rights, it was still a shock.

Therein follow two extended paragraphs worth of quotes from the oh-so-put-upon, illegally squatting children and parents. This is exactly the kind of coverage that the Jewish residents of Gaza got when they were evicted by the Israeli government so Palestinians could have land for their own state. Except those Jewish were residing in homes that had been legally purchased. And they had a reasonable expectation of government protection. And they actually got the opposite kind of media coverage. But except for that, identical.

I do like the touch of opening the article with "it was 13-year-old Diala who was awoken first." The writer can't possibly know that and it's totally irrelevant and it only serves to muddy a century-old juridical controversy, exactly reversing what good journalism is supposed to accomplish. But it's a nice bit of shameless anti-Israel journalism, so you have to admire it on an aesthetic level if nothing else.

References:
* Clinton leads condemnation of Jerusalem evictions [AFP]
* Attacks On Israeli Sovereignty Over Jerusalem Coalescing After Obama's Broadside [MR]
* Netanyahu To Obama: Actually, We're Going To Keep Letting Jews Build Homes In Jerusalem [MR]
* Israel defends Jerusalem evictions [CNN]
* Evicted Palestinians stand their ground - on thin mattresses [CSM]

Previously:
* Flashback: Candidate Obama Doubles Down On His AIPAC Commitment To An Undivided Jerusalem
* Reader Poll: Which Israeli City Will Obama Try To Ban Jews From Next?
* AP: US Pressuring Jews Who Live In "Traditionally Arab East Jerusalem"