I happened to be in New York on Sept. 11 last, at the same time as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Every word that this genocidal anti-American, anti-Western, and most of all anti-Semitic arch terrorist uttered was not only published in print, but was plastered all over the TV networks. Most astonishing was the flat reportage about his press conference at the U.N. and the interviews he gave to CNN and Time Magazine, which outdid itself by giving this well-known Holocaust denier a cover story glorifying him and turning him into a star of Hollywood proportions – with a close-up photo to match.

It would be bad enough if this maniac's previous statements were given so much publicity. But the media went further than its usual apology for terrorists, giving the crazy man from Tehran an even larger platform to express a new gem: that there are no Jews in the state of Israel – only Zionists.

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There is nothing strange about the press presenting different points of view, however abhorrent. What is inexcusable in this case is the moral relativism with which the issue was treated, as though blatant anti-Semitism on the part of a world leader is no different from a movie actress talking about her midlife crisis.

The media, in its desperate search for new stars, becomes a very dangerous equalizer in times of the war on Islamic terrorism.

Another example is the way Hamas is treated journalistically. Reportage using the term "National Unity Government" to describe a potential merger between Abu Mazen's Fatah Party and the terrorist organization that advocates in its charter the killing of every last Jew (and when he's found "hiding behind a bush or a rock", he must be murdered) and commits daily acts of brutal terrorism with Qassam missiles, is a serious abuse of communications. The phrase "National Unity Government" is supposed to refer to the joining of political parties within a democracy.

The confusing of language and images does enormous political and moral damage to freedom and democracy, precisely in a time when we are supposed to be defending these values with all our might – particularly when a figure like Ahmadinejad has his finger on the nuclear button.

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