Heckle and Jeckle
"Laura Bush heckled in Jerusalem." The headlines mostly say the same thing, but the stories are curiously divergent on exactly what the heckling was.
The version at the Guardian was:
The New York Times not only reports it, it explains it:
Evidently, Steven Erlanger of the "Times" is a mind-reader. Reuters had essentially the same quote, adding another line:
Here's how AP heard it:
But the Guardian said that was shouted when Laura Bush was entering the mosque. They both hardly can be right.
Presumably these quotes all were translated by people other than the writers of the stories. The staff covering Laura Bush's visit seems to be drawn largely from the U.S.-based press corps (AP's Nedra Pickler, for instance; one of my favorite names in modern journalism).
The BBC, however, picked up a quote that was in none of the above articles:
The Washington Post has the same quote, and puts it in the context of Laura Bush's visit into the Mosque -- so other reporters presumably would have heard it, too -- A Palestinian worshiper shouted at the first lady: "How dare you come in here! Why your husband kill Muslim?" The Chicago Tribune version of the story makes clear that this, in contrast to the BBC's version, was shouted in fractured English: "Near the Dome of the Rock shrine in Jerusalem's walled Old City, about two dozen Palestinians gathered around Laura Bush's entourage, and one shouted in English: 'How dare you come in here! Why your husband kill Muslims?' "
Odd stuff. But perhaps none so odd as the version from AFP, the French-based agency, which finds a group of protesters shouting "Death to America" as the first lady enters the mosque (a detail that interests me).
The most amazing thing about the AFP story, however, is the way the editors stacked it up. Most of the stories mentioned that Laura Bush was greeted by both Israeli and Palestinian hecklers. The European press seemed to go to some length to emphasize the Israeli critics, the Americans the Palestinian ones. But AFP -- and remember, this is the only source reporting "death to America," calls this only "slightly more hostile" than the Israelis holding up pictures of Jonathan Pollard and demanding that he be freed.
I wonder what AFP would have considered a "much more hostile" reaction.
The version at the Guardian was:
"You are not welcome here," one Palestinian shouted as she entered the mosque. "Why are you hassling our Muslims? How dare you come in here?"
The New York Times not only reports it, it explains it:
"You are not welcome here!" shouted a protester near the Dome of the Rock. "Why are you hassling our Muslims?" She apparently was referring to the mistreatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and in Afghanistan.
Evidently, Steven Erlanger of the "Times" is a mind-reader. Reuters had essentially the same quote, adding another line:
A Palestinian worshipper cried out at her: "You are not welcome here. Why are you hassling our Muslims? How dare you come in here?"
Here's how AP heard it:
As she left the mosque, one heckler yelled, "How dare you come in here?" and "Why do you hassle our Muslims?"
But the Guardian said that was shouted when Laura Bush was entering the mosque. They both hardly can be right.
Presumably these quotes all were translated by people other than the writers of the stories. The staff covering Laura Bush's visit seems to be drawn largely from the U.S.-based press corps (AP's Nedra Pickler, for instance; one of my favorite names in modern journalism).
The BBC, however, picked up a quote that was in none of the above articles:
"How dare you come here! Why is your husband killing Muslims?", one shouted.
The Washington Post has the same quote, and puts it in the context of Laura Bush's visit into the Mosque -- so other reporters presumably would have heard it, too -- A Palestinian worshiper shouted at the first lady: "How dare you come in here! Why your husband kill Muslim?" The Chicago Tribune version of the story makes clear that this, in contrast to the BBC's version, was shouted in fractured English: "Near the Dome of the Rock shrine in Jerusalem's walled Old City, about two dozen Palestinians gathered around Laura Bush's entourage, and one shouted in English: 'How dare you come in here! Why your husband kill Muslims?' "
Odd stuff. But perhaps none so odd as the version from AFP, the French-based agency, which finds a group of protesters shouting "Death to America" as the first lady enters the mosque (a detail that interests me).
The most amazing thing about the AFP story, however, is the way the editors stacked it up. Most of the stories mentioned that Laura Bush was greeted by both Israeli and Palestinian hecklers. The European press seemed to go to some length to emphasize the Israeli critics, the Americans the Palestinian ones. But AFP -- and remember, this is the only source reporting "death to America," calls this only "slightly more hostile" than the Israelis holding up pictures of Jonathan Pollard and demanding that he be freed.
Among the bystanders, dozens of young women waved photographs of Jonathan Pollard, a Jewish American who was jailed for life in 1987 in the United States on charges of spying for Israel.
A slightly larger group of men, some of them symbolically handcuffed, also shouted slogans calling for Pollard's release.
At the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, the third holiest site in Islam which overlooks the Wailing Wall, the response to her visit was slightly more hostile, with a handful of protestors shouting "Death to America" as she entered the golden-topped Dome of the Rock.
I wonder what AFP would have considered a "much more hostile" reaction.
