New York Times Editorial, "Four Horrific Killings": What the Times Is Not Telling Us

In an editorial entitled "Four Horrific Killings" (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/08/opinion/can-israeli-and-palestinian-leaders-end-the-revenge-attacks.html?ref=opinion), subtitled "Can Israeli and Palestinian Leaders End the Revenge Attacks?," The New York Times addresses the recent murders of four teenagers - three Israelis and one Palestinian. The Times concludes:

"Despite the pain and anger, there have been gestures of compassion and understanding. Mr. Khdeir’s grieving father made an appeal for 'both sides to stop the bloodshed.' On Sunday, the uncle of Naftali Fraenkel offered his condolences in a phone call with Mr. Khdeir’s father. President Shimon Peres and Reuven Rivlin, who is succeeding Mr. Peres later this month, wrote in a joint essay in Yedioth Ahronoth, an Israeli newspaper, that there would be no cover-up in the investigation of Mr. Khdeir’s murder and called for an end to incitement on both sides.

These deaths should cause the two communities to think again about the need for a permanent peace, but the loss of four young men may not be motivation enough."

What isn't the Times telling us? I'm no fan of Netanyahu, but as acknowledged even by Al Arabiya News (http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/07/07/Netanyahu-calls-father-of-slain-Palestinian-teen-.html), the Israeli prime minister called the family of the Palestinian victim to express his profound sorrow. The Times makes no mention of this phone call.

In a statement issued by his office, Netanyahu also declared:

"I would like to express my outrage and that of the citizens of Israel over the reprehensible murder of your son.

We acted immediately to apprehend the murderers. We will bring them to trial and they will be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law.

We denounce all brutal behavior. The murder of your son is abhorrent and cannot be countenanced by any human being."

The Times refers to Netanyahu's "days of near silence" prior to this denunciation. It doesn't occur to the Times that Israel first needed to find the killers, which was done swiftly and efficiently.

Query: Where were the denunciations by Arab leaders, other than that of Abbas, of the murders of the Israeli teenagers? (For that matter, why did the EU take so long in denouncing the murder of the Israeli boys?)

Hamas? The Times editorial acknowledges that "Israelis have long had to cope with Hamas’s violence, including a recent increase in rocket attacks from Gaza." A "recent increase" in rocket fire? In fact, some 100 rockets have been fired from Gaza at Israeli civilian targets in the past 24 hours.

Why does Hamas target Israeli civilian targets? The answer is to be found in its charter, which calls for the murder of all Jews, not just Israelis.

The New York Times has in the past been keen on vilifying Netanyahu, but there is an inordinate difference between his conduct relating to the murders and that of Hamas.