10 Israelis were killed and up to 30 wounded, many critically, when Palestinian gunmen ambushed their bus as it waspassing the ultra-Orthodox Jewish settlement of Emmanuel, near Nablus.

The killings immediately triggered a wave of bombing raids by Israeli warplanes, and Israel’s Cabinet last nightvoted to sever ties with Yasser Arafat.

Meanwhile, in the US, two leaders of the militant Jewish Defense League were arrested last night. Authorities chargedthat they were assembling bombs to attack one of Los Angeles’ largest mosques and the local offices of an ArabAmerican congressman. And the offices of the Arab American Action Network and the Arab community center in Chicagowere set on fire last week. Police ruled that the fire was started by an arsonist, but have no leads or suspects.

Today we’re going to have a discussion of violence in the Middle East and U.S. media coverage of the conflict. Butbefore we do that we begin with Ali Abunimah’s story about what happened at his offices in Chicago.

Guests:

• Ali Abunimah, media analyst and vice president of the Arab-American Action Coalition. He is a contributorto a new book by Verso, called ??The New Intifada: Resisting Israel’s Apartheid.
• Hendrik Hertzberg, senior editor of the New Yorker magazine. He was editor of the NewRepublic for some years, and traveled with President Carter to Israel as a speechwriter.

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