If a vigorous free press is your thing, then this was a week to revel in it.
Some articles we ran last week triggered a passionate response from some readers. We’re running a sampling of those responses in this week’s letters section.
One was an opinion piece by Rabbi Amy Eilberg, who wrote about what she viewed as unethical behavior on the part of some Israeli soldiers during the recent Gaza offensive.
As we went to press Wednesday, March 25, Israel’s military had not yet announced that the charges against the soldiers were based on hearsay rather than fact. With her column, Eilberg had jumped the gun, and she apologizes in this week’s letters section.
Some might also question why we ran last week’s JTA story on the soldiers’ allegations.
This is our answer: As a newspaper, our obligation is to print news. This story was big news in Israel and around the world. Though it ultimately was proven false by the Israeli Defense Forces, that didn’t stop Israeli newspapers from running stories on the topic, nor should it have stopped us. Had we held back, some would have accused us of journalistic timidity.
Moreover, as the Jewish newspaper in a diverse region, we provide a forum for the whole community. Right, left, religious, secular, gay, straight, all Jews have a voice in their community newspaper.
Some articles, columns and opinions will anger certain quarters of that community.
Which leads us to the story about the Berkeley Daily Planet, its alleged anti-Israel bias, and a Jewish-led effort to inform advertisers of that bias.
Let us be clear: While under a free press the Daily Planet has the right to print whatever it wants, we share the revulsion over the blatant anti-Israel sentiment of some Daily Planet op-ed and letter writers. We would love to see the paper’s pro-Israel readers (if there are any) demand the editor provide more balance and fairness.
Balance is not an issue at j. Our pages are filled with contrasting views. As a result, we get criticism from both the left and the right, which could be taken as a sign we’re doing our job properly.
Any editor of a Jewish newspaper would concede it’s impossible to satisfy everyone in the Jewish community, however hard he or she may try.
Try is all we can do.
We assure readers that all reasonable voices in the Jewish community are welcome here. And if one of those voices ever strikes you as unreasonable, then let ’em have it in an op-ed or in a letter to the editor.
We wish everyone a joyous Passover!