Rachel Who?

Tom Gross in The Spectator (UK) [registration req'd]
via View from a Height

Rachel Corrie ... an American radical who died in 2003 while acting as a human shield during an Israeli anti-terror operation in Gaza, has been widely featured in the British press. According to the Guardian website, she has been written about or referred to on 57 separate occasions in the Guardian alone, including three articles the Saturday before last....

But Rachel Thaler, unlike Rachel Corrie, was Jewish. And unlike Corrie, Jewish victims of Middle East violence have not become a cause célèbre in Britain. This lack of response is all the more disturbing at a time when an increasing number of British Jews feel that there has been a sharp rise in anti-Semitism.

Thaler is by no means the only Jewish Rachel whose violent death has been entirely ignored by the British media. Other victims of the Intifada include Rachel Levy (aged 17, blown up in a grocery store), Rachel Levi (19, shot while waiting for the bus), Rachel Gavish (killed with her husband, son and father while at home celebrating a Passover meal), Rachel Charhi (blown up while sitting in a Tel Aviv cafe, leaving three young children), Rachel Shabo (murdered with her three sons aged 5, 13 and 16 while at home) and Rachel Kol, 53, who worked at a Jerusalem hospital and was killed with her husband in a Palestinian terrorist attack in July a few days after the London bombs.

Joshua Sharf (blogger at View from a Height) comments:

Sadly the American press doesn't do much better. The Denver Public Library has an extensive full-text newspaper search archive. Here's the score:

Rachel Corrie 685
Rachel Thaler 3
Rachel Levy 19
Rachel Levi 2
Rachel Gavish 0
Rachel Charhi 0
Rachel Shabo 26
Rachel Kol 2

Even this overstates the case. Most of the mentions of Miss Levy come either from reports of the First Lady condemning terror attacks, or from an infamous New York Times piece equating her and her murderer. Rachel Shabo is only mentioned in the context of the Israeli response to the infiltration that killed her, again, carefully juxtaposed to her neighbors' desire for "revenge." And Rachel Kol is only mentioned in one news piece (the other is an oped by Uri Dan), which focuses on the Palestinians' anticipation of the Gaza pullout.

Kol hakavod to Tom Gross and Joshua Sharf for pushing on this issue.

Rachel Thaler, one of three Israelis murdered in a suicide bombing in a pizzeria.

Rachel Levy, murdered in a suicide bombing in a supermarket.

(Sgt.) Rachel Levi, murdered with 7 other Israelis when a Palestinian terrorist crashed a bus into a crowded bus stop.

Rachel Gavish, murdered along with her husband, son and father by Palestinian terrorists inside her home.

Rachel Charhi had 3 children. She was murdered in a suicide bombing in a cafe.

Rachel Shabo (top right), mother to seven children, was murdered in a terrorist shooting inside her home, along with three of her sons: Avishai age 5 (top, 2nd from right); Zvika age 13 (bottom, 2nd from right); and Neria age 16 (bottom, 3rd from left).

Rachel Kol and her husband Dov were murdered in a terrorist shooting as they were driving home from a celebration of the birth of their first grandchild.

You think there's nothing you can do?

You can decide who you will remember.

Comments

[RR]

The situation in the UK: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?apage=1&cid=1129540565026&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

[Daniel in Brookline]

An excellent post! Not knowing how to trackback to you, let me say here that I've linked to you on my own blog. I hope you don't mind. http://daniel-in-brookline.blogspot.com/2005/10/mourn-death-of-rachel.html respectfully, Daniel in Brookline

[Shulamit bat Abraham]

Thank you for the article on all the Rachels. I'm going to link to this article, too, from my blog, "The X-Shiksa Files."

[Kat]

Great post.