Covering Jerusalem

Juan Cole notes how the American media downplayed an Israeli settler protest in Jerusalem in comparison to the Muslim reaction. Many Muslims believed the settlers were planning to destroy the Dome of the Rock, something Israeli extremists have long threatened. It's possible, of course, that all the American media had information that such a threat had never been made, but it could also fall into a pattern I've noticed regarding media coverage of that area in general: The American press is reluctant to portray Israeli extremists as the crazies they really are, while seldom hesitating to do so with Palestinians. You see the same thing when anti-Semitic statements by Muslim religious figures make the news, but hardline rabbis safely preach to the choir.