Déja vu again, Boston Globe. Judy Balint, June 6, 2002,

JERUSALEM – You know that disquieting sensation where you're sure you've been in a place or experienced a situation before? Just one year ago, we thought we'd reached the pinnacle of hatred as 21 youngsters were murdered waiting to get into the Dolphinarium disco. Then, just last week, we thought we'd seen the most heart-rending photo of a grandmother and her 18-month-old granddaughter, slaughtered the day before while eating ice cream in Petach Tikva. In between, there was 5-month-old Yehuda Shoham, hit in the head with a rock while riding in his father's car, four members of one Jerusalem family wiped out in an instant at Sbarros while buying pizza, and hundreds of other faces staring at us out of the morning paper.

The painful procession of funerals will start today, even though most of yesterday's victims were burned beyond recognition. And for the family of 16-year-old Islamikaze Hamza Samudi from Jenin, the celebrations will begin.

The media circus won't be far behind. CNN has taken to filming interviews with the mothers of Arab homicide perpetrators, in a manner that would make advertisers drop off like flies in any other context. In their coverage of the Petach Tikva murders, CNN excelled even their own dastardly reputation for skewed journalism.

The parents of the infant Sinai Keinan, who was murdered last week in the terror attack in Petah Tikva, were interviewed last week on CNN, and tearfully told the story of their loss.
When they later viewed the program, they said they were alarmed to see that instead of their story, only the mother of the terrorist who carried out the terror attack appeared on the program.

Last Friday Hen Keinan and her husband Lior were asked to be interviewed on the CNN program called "International Hour". This is a program that is broadcast in many countries all over the world. They were asked to talk about their feelings following the murder of their 14 month old infant daughter, Sinai, and Hen's mother, Ruti Peled, 56, who was also killed in the terror attack. Hen, who speaks English well, and her husband Lior, already prepared at the hospital, very carefully, the message they wished to convey to the world, and "especially to the Europeans who give legitimacy to terror."

Before the taped interview began, Hen was asked to speak, in a live broadcast, to an American broadcast of the network, and among other things, she said: "We love you. Help us as much as you can".

Afterwards the two went for a special interview. The journalist who interviewed them, asked Hen, among other things: "How do you feel"? And she responded with a question: "Do you have a mother? Do you have children"? "Close your eyes for a minute and imagine that they were murdered in front of your eyes. Only then will you know in what hell I live". Her husband, Lior, showed the journalist the broken parts of Sinai's baby carriage, and all the members of the broadcast team shed tears.

"That same evening", related Hen painfully, "We sat down to watch the special interview with us, and instead, to our amazement, we got only the interview with the mother of the terrorist who carried out the terror attack in which my daughter and mother were murdered".

Instead, viewers were treated to the interview with an Islamikaze mother, lauding the deeds of her son, butchering a Grandmother and her 2 year old Granddaughter.
"Only the day after were portions of my interview broadcast, in another program, with my statements having been edited", related Hen last night on the Israeli TV show, Documedia. She said that the special interview with her was not even broadcast. She expressed anger about the "unfair and unprofessional" treatment by CNN. Hen said that she expects that in wake of this, the Israeli Foreign Ministry would remove foreign journalists from Israel, as they serve the Palestinian public relations goals. CNN had made no comment to make.

Yossi Olmert, a former head of the GPO, blasted CNN by pointing out that Bob Miller, a CNN correspondent during the first intifada, had issued explicit instructions to remove the mezuzah on the CNN office door. He claimed that he had also seen Miller walking around town with a T-shirt proclaiming, "The Intifada will Win."

Another side of the media debate here is how much publicity should be given to intelligence and IDF warnings of "mega-attacks." One school of thought is that the public has the right to know, and the media has the obligation to pass on information. Another is that there's little the average citizen can do with the information, and the warnings just create an even greater sense of tension in the country. "Such a warning is like a terror attack, without the attack," claims terrorism expert Boaz Ganor. It fuels the goals of the terrorists, which is to instill panic and fear.

Meantime, preparations go on for just such an eventuality. A few days ago, police, firefighters and emergency personnel staged a simulated airplane attack against a skyscraper. The exercise took place in the Tel Aviv suburb of Givatayim and was dedicated to New York police and firefighters. Israeli and U.S. flags flew from the firefighting equipment, and many of the Israeli personnel wore NYC Fire Department patches. At the conclusion of the simulation, the Israelis observed a moment of silence in honor of their New York counterparts who fell in the World Trade Center tragedy.