Why do Palestinians always “Die” in the Passive Mood, but Israelis are never named as the Killers? Belfast (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Since the creation of Israel on Palestinian land in 1948 and even before then, Israel used language as an effective weapon against the Palestinians. This contributed to enabling Israel to impose its narrative and to shape a public opinion largely willing to accept its version of history without […] |
Belfast (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Since the creation of Israel on Palestinian land in 1948 and even before then, Israel used language as an effective weapon against the Palestinians. This contributed to enabling Israel to impose its narrative and to shape a public opinion largely willing to accept its version of history without considering the Palestinian prospective. This wouldn’t have been possible without biased media willing to abandon the basic ethos of journalism such as neutrality and impartiality. Instead, opinions were inserted in news stories as facts and ideology triumphed over professionalism. One example of that is when the British daily newspaper, the Times published an article on May 11, 2024 about the death of the Israeli hostage, Nadav Popplewell, titled ‘British hostage dies amid fears of wider Gaza offensive.’ The title ignored two important facts. The first is that the announcement made by Hamas about the hostage said that he was killed by an Israeli air strike, which was corroborated by an article published by Al Jazeera. The Times concealed Israel’s culpability and spoke of this dual Israeli citizen solely as “British.” Failing to mention that he was an Israeli makes it sound as if he was captured because he was British. It got worse with the Times’ subtitle which stated: “The death was announced as residents in northern Gaza and eastern Rafah were told to move to humanitarian areas, raising concerns of further military assaults.” The subtitle did not even mention that it was the Palestinians who were told to leave their homes, denying their entire existence. Instead, it referred to them as “residents” — as if they are renting their land and not its indigenous inhabitants. Additionally, the Times decided not to mention that it was Israel that ordered another displacement of the Palestinians, who had already been displaced several times during the past few months by Israel. This is consistent with the mainstream media pattern of using the passive mood and avoiding attributing any guilt or responsibility to Israel, as if the Palestinians are always the wrongdoers — never mind the Israeli occupation of their land and their 76 years destitution and suffering, which continues to this day. AJ+ Video: “Do Palestinians “Die”? Or Are They “Killed”? Since a number of Palestinians who were kidnapped by the Israeli army died recently in Israeli custody, including the head of orthopedic department at al-Shifa hospital, Dr Adnan Albursh, I searched the Times site for coverage of these deaths, some allegedly involving torture. I couldn’t find any. Of course, it is no surprise to see this bias in the Times, given that it is owned by Rupert Murdoch–whose vast media empire includes titles like the Times, and the Sun in the UK as well as the Wall Street Journal and Fox News in the US. The language used by politicians is also carefully selected to send a message to the public and influence their way of thinking. For example, when the Baptist (Mamadani) hospital was bombed, killing almost 500 Palestinians, US president, Joe Biden said that it was done by “the other team.” Whether that was true or not, clearly Biden’s choice of words implied that the Palestinians are the others, not the ones we stand with. The otherness is a massive statement that dehumanizes those referred to as others. It means that their values, culture and beliefs are seen as incompatible with ours and therefore they are inferior humans and whatever happens to them is acceptable. At the same time, Biden implied that Israel would never bomb a hospital. The Israeli government then went on to disable or destroy almost all of the 36 hospitals in the Gaza Strip, as well as killing tens of thousands of Palestinians — mainly women and children — and openly denying the civilian population basic necessities such as food, water, medicine and fuel, even starving some Palestinian children to death. Yet Israel is the one on our team and who are like us in the West and we should support them no matter what they do. It also showed that Biden never learnt from his first mistake when repeated the Israeli lies about the beheading of babies which was soon debunked. The list can go on. When Palestinians are killed by Israel, they are often referred to by the media as “people” instead of Palestinians and the passive “died” is used instead of “killed.” They do the opposite in the case of the Israelis, referring to “conflict” instead of occupation and terming Israeli-squatter-settlements on Palestinian land “disputed” rather than “illegal” (as they are according to the Geneva Convention). This pattern demonstrates the importance of scrutinizing and challenging the language used to deal with the Israeli occupation and oppression of the Palestinian people. Protesting San José State University’s Suspension of Professor Sang Hea Kil, Advisor of Students for Justice in Palestine Committee on Academic Freedom | Middle East Studies Association | – Cynthia Teniente-Matson President, San José State University sjsupres@sjsu.edu . . . Dear President Teniente-Matson and colleagues: We write on behalf of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) and its Committee on Academic Freedom to express our grave concern at the […] |
Committee on Academic Freedom | Middle East Studies Association | – Cynthia Teniente-Matson President, San José State University sjsupres@sjsu.edu . . . Dear President Teniente-Matson and colleagues: We write on behalf of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) and its Committee on Academic Freedom to express our grave concern at the decision of the San José State University (SJSU) administration to suspend Professor Sang Hea Kil of the Department of Justice Studies from all faculty duties. There is good reason to believe that this action constitutes an egregious violation of Professor Kil’s academic freedom as well as of her right to free speech. MESA was founded in 1966 to promote scholarship and teaching on the Middle East and North Africa. The preeminent organization in the field, the Association publishes the prestigious International Journal of Middle East Studies and has nearly 2,800 members worldwide. MESA is committed to ensuring academic freedom and freedom of expression, both within the region and in connection with the study of the region in North America and outside of North America. Professor Kil served as faculty advisor to SJSU’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and has acted as a liaison between the students and your administration. On 25 April 2024 SJSU’s Title IX Office informed Professor Kil that she was being investigated because she had allegedly “engaged in behavior that disrupted the university’s business operations and encouraged students to do the same” at a 19 February 2024 protest event organized by SJP. On 24 May 2024 Professor Kil received an amended “notice of investigation” citing another alleged instance of potential misconduct, on 8 May 2024. Neither notice provided any details or evidence of the alleged misconduct. Nonetheless, on 24 May 2024 – the very same day on which SJSU issued its amended notice – Senior Associate Vice President for University Personnel Joanne Wright informed Professor Kil that she had been placed on administrative leave with pay and barred from her office, “for reasons related to the disruption of programs and/or operations, the safety of persons or property, and investigation for formal notice of disciplinary action.” Professor Kil has vigorously denied that she engaged in what your administration characterized, in its letter suspending her, as “unprofessional and exploitative conduct towards students and others…engaging in harassing and offensive conduct and comments directed towards colleagues individually and as a group, targeting at least one colleague and/or a group of colleagues for engaging in their work duties by publicly posting their picture and/or group description with inflammatory comments and creating a risk of harm to them; and activities with and/or directives to students for your own personal interest or gain.” Article 17 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the California Faculty Association and the California State University system requires “strong and compelling evidence” to justify the suspension of a faculty member, yet no such evidence, or even specific details of what Professor Kil is alleged to have done, have been adduced. The allegation that Professor Kil somehow manipulated the members of SJP with whom she worked as faculty advisor to serve her own ends is also disturbing. We are therefore led to conclude that your decision to suspend Professor Kil, without a full and transparent investigation of the allegations against her conducted in accordance with commonly accepted norms and procedures, constitutes a violation of her academic freedom and of her right to speech. In these fraught times university leaders have a heightened responsibility to protect the freedom of speech, academic freedom, and physical safety of all members of the campus community. We call your attention to the statement issued by MESA’s board of directors and its Committee on Academic Freedom on 6 May 2024 which denounced actions by university leaders to delegitimize and repress campus advocacy opposing Israel’s war in Gaza. We also remind you of the statement on “Academic Freedom in Times of War” issued by the American Association of University Professors on 24 October 2023, which is directly relevant to your disciplinary action against Professor Kil: “It is in tumultuous times that colleges’ and universities’ stated commitments to protect academic freedom are most put to the test. As the Israel-Hamas war rages and campus protests proliferate, institutional authorities must refrain from sanctioning faculty members for expressing politically controversial views and should instead defend their right, under principles of academic freedom, to do so.” We therefore call upon you to immediately rescind Professor Kil’s suspension, formally apologize to her for the abusive treatment to which she has been subjected, and publicly reiterate your commitment to protect the academic freedom and the free speech rights of all members of the SJSU community. We look forward to your response. Sincerely, Aslı Ü. Bâli MESA President Professor, Yale Law School Laurie Brand Chair, Committee on Academic Freedom Professor Emerita, University of Southern California Why Are Any of Us Paying for the Scam That is Medicare Advantage? By Thom Hartmann | – ( Commondreams.org) – They’re competing unfairly with Medicare, and you and I are paying for it. It’s obscene. When former U.S. President George W. Bush and congressional Republicans (and a handful of bought-off Democrats) created Medicare Advantage in 2003, it was the fulfillment of half of Bush’s goal of privatizing […] |
( Commondreams.org) – They’re competing unfairly with Medicare, and you and I are paying for it. It’s obscene.
When former U.S. President George W. Bush and congressional Republicans (and a handful of bought-off Democrats) created Medicare Advantage in 2003, it was the fulfillment of half of Bush’s goal of privatizing Social Security and Medicare, dating all the way back to his unsuccessful run for Congress in 1978 and a main theme of his second term in office.
Medicare Advantage is not Medicare. These plans are private health insurance provided by private corporations, who are then fully reimbursed by the Medicare trust fund regardless of how much their customers use their insurance. Thus, the more they can screw their customers and us taxpayers by withholding healthcare, the more money they make.
These giant insurance companies ripped off our tax dollars last year to the tune of an estimated $140 billion over and above what it would’ve caused us if people had simply been on real Medicare.
With real Medicare, if your doctor says you need a test, procedure, scan, or any other medical intervention you simply get it done and real Medicare pays the bill. No muss, no fuss, no permission needed. Real Medicare always pays, and if they think something’s not kosher, they follow up after the payment’s been made so as not to slow down the delivery of your healthcare.
With Medicare Advantage, however, you’re subject to “pre-clearance,” meaning that the insurance company inserts itself between you and your doctor: You can’t get the medical help you need until or unless the insurance company pre-clears you for payment.
These companies thus make much of their profit by routinely denying claims—1.5 million, or 18% of all claims, were turned down in one year alone—leaving Advantage policy holders with the horrible choice of not getting the tests or procedures they need or paying for them out-of-pocket.
Given this, you’d think that most people would stay as far away from these private Medicare Advantage plans as they could. But Congress also authorized these plans to compete unfairly with real Medicare by offering things real Medicare can’t (yet). These include free or discounted dental, hearing, eyeglasses, gym memberships, groceries, rides to the doctor, and even cash rebates.
You and I pay for those freebies, but that’s only half of the horror story.
This year, as Matthew Cunningham-Cook pointed out in Wendell Potter’s brilliant Healthcare Un-covered Substack newsletter this week, we’re ponying up an additional $64 billion to give to these private insurance companies to reimburse them for the freebies they relentlessly advertise on television, online, and in print.
And here’s the most obscene part of the whole thing: The companies won’t tell the government how much of that $64 billion they’ve actually spent. They just take the money and say, “Thank you very much.” And then, presumably, throw a few extra million into the pockets of each of their already very-well-paid senior executives.
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For example, the former CEO of the nation’s largest Medicare Advantage provider, UnitedHealth, walked away with over a billion dollars in total compensation. With a “B.” One guy. His successor made off with over a half-billion dollars in pay and stock.
Good work if you can get it: All you need do is buy off a hundred or so members of Congress, courtesy of Clarence Thomas’ tie-breaking vote on Citizens United, and threaten the rest with massive advertising campaigns for their opponents if they try to stop you.
Project 2025 and candidate Trump both promise to end real Medicare “immediately” if Trump or when another Republican becomes president.
And while the companies refuse to tell us how much of the $64 billion that we’re throwing at them this year to offer “free” dental, etc. is actually used, what we do know is that most of that money is not going to pay for the freebies they advertise. As Cunningham-Cook noted, in one study only 11% of Advantage policyholders who’d signed up with plans offering dental care used that benefit.
Another study showed over-the-counter-drug freebies were used only a third of the time, leaving $5 billion in the insurance companies’ money bins just for that goodie. A later study found that at least a quarter of all Advantage policyholders failed to use any of the freebies they’d been offered when they signed up.
That’s an enormous amount of what the industry calls “breakage;” benefits offered but not used. Billions of dollars left over every month. And, used or not, you and I sure paid for them.
In my book The Hidden History of American Healthcare: Why Sickness Bankrupts You and Makes Others Insanely Rich, I lay out the story of this scam and how badly so many American seniors—and all American taxpayers, regardless of age—get ripped off by it.
When he was president, Donald Trump substantially expanded Medicare Advantage, calling real Medicare “socialism.” Project 2025 and candidate Trump both promise to end real Medicare “immediately” if Trump or when another Republican becomes president.
These giant insurance companies ripped off our tax dollars last year to the tune of an estimated $140 billion over and above what it would’ve caused us if people had simply been on real Medicare, according to a report from Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP). If there was no Medicare Advantage scam bleeding off all that cash to pay for executives’ private jets, real Medicare could be expanded to cover dental, vision, and hearing and even end the need for Medigap plans.
But for now, the privatization gravy train continues to roll along. The insurance giants use some of that money to buy legislators and some of it for expensive advertising to dupe seniors into joining their programs. The company (Benefytt) that hires Joe Namath to pitch Medicare Advantage, for example, was recently hit with huge fines by the Federal Trade Commission for deceptive advertising.
The FTC news release laid it out:
“Benefytt pocketed millions selling sham insurance to seniors and other consumers looking for health coverage,” said Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “The company is being ordered to pay $100 million, and we’re holding its executives accountable for this fraud.”
And what was it that the Federal Trade Commission called “sham insurance”? Medicare Advantage. Nonetheless, the Centers for Medicare Services continues to let Benefytt and Namath market these products: Welcome to the power of organized money.
And it’s huge organized money. Medicare Advantage plans are massive cash cows for the companies that run them. As Cigna prepares for a merger, for example, they’re being forced to sell off their Medicare Advantage division: It’s scheduled to go for $3.7 billion. Nobody pays that kind of money unless they expect enormous returns.
Traditional Medicare has been serving Americans well since 1965: it’s one of the most efficient single-payer systems to fund healthcare that’s ever been devised. But nobody was making a buck off it, so nobody could share those profits with greedy politicians. Enter Medicare Advantage, courtesy of George W. Bush and the GOP.
While several bills have been offered in Congress to do something about this—including Reps. Mark Pocan’s (D-Wis.) and Ro Khanna’s (D-Calif.) Save Medicare Act that would end these companies’ ability to use the word “Medicare” in their policy names and advertising—the amounts of money sloshing around D.C. in the healthcare space now are almost unfathomable.
So far this year, according to opensecrets.org, the insurance industry has spent $45,173,132 showering gifts and persuasion on our federal lawmakers to keep their obscene profits flowing.
It’s all one more example of how five corrupt Republicans on the U.S. Supreme Court legalizing political bribery with Citizens Unitedhave screwed average Americans and made a handful of industry executives and investors fabulously rich.
Thus, here we are, handing billions of dollars a month to insurance industry executives so they can buy new Swiss chalets, private jets, and luxury yachts. And compete—unfairly—with Medicare itself, driving LBJ’s most proud achievement into debt and crisis.
Enough is enough. Let your members of Congress know it’s beyond time to fix the court and Medicare, so scams like Medicare Advantage can no longer rip off America’s seniors while making industry executives richer than Midas.
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