Equivalence?

The New York Times reports:

JERUSALEM — Seven Israeli teenagers were in custody on Monday, accused of what a police official and several witnesses described as an attempted lynching of several Palestinian youths, laying bare the undercurrent of tension in this ethnically mixed but politically divided city. A 15-year-old suspect standing outside court said, “For my part he can die, he’s an Arab.”

This unfortunate incident is newsworthy, but the tone and prominence of the NYT article smacks of a ham-handed attempt to draw some moral equivalence between the despicable acts of a group of Israeli teenagers and the continuing, government sponsored terrorist attacks by Palestinians against the Israeli population.

It's interesting to note that the teenagers were promptly arrested and will be tried for their assault. On the day following the incident, The Jerusalem Post editorialized:

...a clear distinction must be made between legitimate acts of self-defense aimed at protecting Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, and pointless, immoral acts of violence and bigoted, undemocratic sentiments directed against Arabs and Palestinians that undermine Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. The trend of tolerance toward these sentiments and actions has to stop.

Let's contrast this to the typical reaction with Palestinian territories in which perpetrators of terrorist attacks that kill multiple Israelis (including children) are not only never arrested, they are often lionized as "martyrs" and have had streets named after them.

The NYT further notes that almost 40 percent of greater Jerusalem is Arab. Although violent incidents like the one reported do occur, the Arabs within Israel are generally safe and are allowed to work, pray, and live without threat. Can the same be said for any remaining Jews in any Arab country, where a subtle form of Judenrein has been practiced for decades?

The NYT can't resist the far-Left narrative that implies that there is no difference between Palestinian violence and Israeli response. For the incident reported, there is once importance difference—Israelis apply the rule of law, arrest the perpetrators and try then and unequivocally condemn the incident. Can the same be said of the Palestinian response to a rocket attack or the bombing of a Israeli Pizzeria? But that doesn't fit the narrative, so the NYT simply chooses to ignore it.