What's Really Driving the Jerusalem Housing "Crisis"

A number of observers have pointed out that the recent so-called “crisis” between Israel and the US over Jerusalem has been artificially flavored by the Obama administration's issuing of unreasonable and, even, unhelpful demands.

And despite the fact that the issue is relatively obscure – not touching on holy sites or on questions of future borders (as Ramat Shlomo, the neighborhood concerned in the original flap, consists of 20,000 Jews and has never been considered up-for-grabs in any final status negotiation) – and has produced no real violence, the issue is still making major headlines.

It's this latter fact that points to the real source of the crisis. A quick look at Google Trends shows that neither “Israel” nor “Palestine” nor any other related indicator makes it onto the top ten hot topics or hot searches lists of the ubiquitous search engine. Instead, people are wanting information about “UK budget” (the #1 current topic), “healthcare lawsuit” (#2), “Bullock” (as in Sandra, at #3), “Baby sling” (#4), and “Stupak” (#5) -- among other domestic topics. A quick look at major American news sites carrying the Israel story prominently – for example, The New York Times and The Daily Beast – show no stories specifically about these top five topics.

Americans are relatively unconcerned about this issue; the media, on the other hand, couldn't be more concerned. With news agencies like AP running stories about the Saudis calling Israel “arrogant” as hard news, the mystery of why this minor and even academic issue over Jerusalem building has become a roar in the public ears presents its own solution.

Bearing in mind that a recent Rasmussen poll found that 60% of all media mentions of Obama in the week leading up to the health care vote were positive, it's clear that while the Obama administration might have manufactured the current crisis, it's the media who has taken up the task of selling it.