"You do not read or hear substantial criticism of Israel in the mainstream US media"
Wonder if this has to do with the financial and political friends Israel has in high places - and, of course, those who would excuse atrocities and human rights abuses by claiming "it is very, very far from being the worst country on Earth"   

Re the murder of probably over 3,000 unarmed refugees faciltated by and participated in by Israel, headed by a later to be Israeli Prime Minister
"Although International Commission found Israel directly responsible, no one was prosecuted
It took an International Commission of Inquiry headed by Sean MacBride to find that Israel was "directly responsible" because the camps were under its jurisdiction as an occupying power. [16] Yet, despite the UN describing the heinous operation as a "criminal massacre" and declaring it an act of genocide [17], no one was prosecuted.
2001 law suit filed in Belgium by survivors of massacre was blocked by US interference"
http://citizenactionmonitor.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/truth-about-israels-vile-role-in-1982-sabra-shatila-massacre-of-palestinians/
Jim Carroll