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Tuesday, November 30 2004Worth reading today
* A disturbing review of the spread of anti-semitism in Southeast Asia in Asia Times. The author, though, grants a modicum of legitimacy to the conspiracy theorists that is itself disturbing. Regarding their accepted 'truth' that Jews run the world: The problem with this "truth" is that the evidence to back it up is sketchy at best, relying on questionable facts and a selective interpretation of events and information. There is a vacuum of conclusive data, and corroboration can't be found in the mainstream media. A 'vacuum of conclusive data'? We're not talking greenhouse gases here... we're talking Protocals! * The Sacramento Union published a strong anti-Arafat piece, then was bowled over by pro-Palestinian complaints. The paper responds. Continue reading "Worth reading today" Moore checkpoint context, please
In yesterday's Washington Post, Molly Moore had a long (2,100 word) article on IDF checkpoints. The main focus -- decrying abuse of Palestinians (who must move through 'lanes resembling cattle shutes'), and amplifying statements of soldiers who are frustrated with the task. These are Moore's two cursory references to the need for strict checkpoints in the West Bank and Gaza: Continue reading "Moore checkpoint context, please" HR: The biblical context
Rav Mordechai Kamenetsky mentioned HonestReporting in his commentary on last week's Torah portion: 'No News is Jews News' From Iran: 'Sgt. Shimon's Exploding Doll'
[The actors are supposed to be speaking Hebrew (there are Persian subtitles), but since the Hebrew is so bad, MEMRI superimposed their own Hebrew subtitles. It doesn't seem to be available in English yet...but a non-Hebrew speaker can still get the jist of it.] Monday, November 29 2004UN to finally condemn terror?
The Daily Telegraph (req. reg.) reports that a UN panel will issue a report recommending that the UN ban terror attacks on civilians or risk losing its moral authority: In a report to be unveiled on Thursday, seen in part by The Telegraph, a panel appointed to reform the UN said it must send "an unequivocal message that terrorism is never an acceptable tactic, even for the most defensible of causes". The panel's report also offered its own definition of terror: "any action that is intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants, when the purpose of such act, by its nature or context, is to intimidate a population, or compel a government or an international organisation to do or to abstain from doing any act". Will the UN adopt the findings? Stay tuned... Fatah shakes off the dust
The dominant Palestinian party, Fatah, plans on holding internal elections next August -- its first elections in twenty years. They apparently need ten months to prepare. The last time Fatah held internal elections, Michael Jackson's Thriller topped the charts, Michael Jordan was drafted by the Chicago Bulls, and the UK celebrated the birth of Prince Harry. Jackson went on to great fame, Jordan established himself as the most recognized athlete of his generation, and Prince Harry's in his "gap year" before military training at Sandhurst. Meanwhile, Fatah's leadership has ossified, creating tensions between "old guard" and "young guard." Sunday, November 28 2004Barghouti = 'firebrand'
* AFP: 'Israel rules out freeing Fatah firebrand Barghuti', 'The 45-year-old firebrand…' '… the 45-year-old firebrand said in a statement … ' * Reuters: 'Firebrand uprising leader Marwan Barghouthi came under pressure from his Fatah faction...' * BBC: 'The jailed firebrand was said to be considering challenging Mr Abbas…' * Washington Post: 'Abbas Rival Withdraws Challenge: Palestinian Firebrand Won't Seek Presidency From Israeli Prison' * Toronto Star: 'But Palestinian political insiders say the firebrand Barghouti, 46, is likely to… ' * Times of London: 'Firebrand withdraws bid for Palestinian presidency' Firebrand: [n] someone who deliberately foments trouble How about a more accurate term -- 'convicted murderer' ? Barghouti has been convicted of five counts of murder, and is serving five life sentences. Expanding blogosphere
ClickZ reports that the blogosphere is experiencing an explosion of growth. Thursday, November 25 2004Ending the Incitement
The latest HonestReporting communique, 'Ending the Incitement', has just been released. To receive HR communiques in your inbox, just sign up above. Please use the comments below for discussion of this communique. Wednesday, November 24 2004'Relentless' in WSJ
HonestReporting's documentary film 'Relentless' is mentioned in today's Wall Street Journal, in an interesting article on the reluctance of Holywood powerplayers to confront the reality of terrorist Islam. Official PA paper: US raping Iraq
Palestinian Media Watch reports: As the Palestinian media slowly return to their regular routine following Arafat's death, their well-documented hate promotion and incitement are likewise reappearing. One common theme that has quickly returned due to the war in Iraq is the depiction of the US, verbally and visually, as the cruel and inhuman enemy. Here's the cartoon. No wonder Sharon is demanding the elimination of incitement in Palestinian media.
BBC not reporting Israel complaints?
The BBC reports quarterly on the complaints they have received on publicly-funded BBC programs (which includes their online news and radio programs). See this year's 'Complaints Bulletins' here. It's very surprising that of the 641 items that generated complaints so far this year, only 2 are associated with Israel. We find that hard to believe, since HonestReporting subscribers have written to the Beeb on at least five items: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. (And that's not counting blog entries from BackSpin, which also generate considerable feedback to news outlets.) Is the Beeb denying having received these complaints, or is there some other explanation for this omission?
Tuesday, November 23 2004Worth reading today
* Chicago Sun-Times staff ed: 'Sharon has reasonable request for advancing peace' Sharon is asking for something of great symbolic and practical importance: a reduction in the poisonous hate toward Israel that Palestinians are force-fed daily in school and on TV. "The venomous propaganda in the Palestinian media and education system is the root and foundation of the expansion of the suicide terrorism phenomenon,'' Sharon said. Palestinians should have taken care of this long ago, if they really want to someday live in peace with their neighbors. * Michael Oren in the JPost: No Palestinian leader today is capable of reversing the warlike brainwashing of children and of reeducating them for coexistence... At this stage it would be premature, if not counterproductive, for the U.S. and the other members of the Quartet to designate some Palestinian as Arafat's successor and railroad him into signing a treaty he might be either powerless or unwilling to fulfill. * David Gerstman critiques Friday's New York Times editorial that called on Sharon to aggressively support Abu Mazen. It's remarkable that the Times considers the fact that Abu Mazen hasn't yet delivered anti-Israel speeches a major forthcoming act on his part, worthy of international approbation and immediate Israeli concessions. * In The New Republic, Ilene Prusher finds Abu Mazen lacks the charisma and guerilla/terror credentials necessary to rally significant Palestinian backing. That, of course, is the heart of the problem -- the bulk of the Palestinian people don't accept Israel's legitimacy, and therefore won't support any Palestinian politico who makes gestures in that direction. Until this changes, it's hard to see real progress on the peace track. Monday, November 22 2004Rising protest at Columbia U
The NY Daily News reports on the growing protest against lecturers at Columbia University who deny Israel's right to exist and intimidate Jewish students who think differently. A pro-Israel professor at Columbia says scores of Jewish students - about one a week - have trooped into his office to complain about bias in the classroom. The problem is addressed more fully in the film 'Columbia Unbecoming' -- details here. HR's November mission to Israel
Participants on the latest HonestReporting mission to Israel just headed home after a week-long stay. It was another fantastic trip, with top-notch speakers and visits to essential sites. Here are a few images (more to follow...): -- Participants on the mission listen as Shay Ben Yeish (below), the vice-mayor of Sderot, describes the effect of 500 missiles landing on his town in the past few years:
-- Participants in the HonestReporting mission sit in an underground factory which secretly produced 2 million bullets prior to the outbreak of the 1948 War of Independence:
Sunday, November 21 2004AFP anthropology
An unbelievable photo caption from AFP: A British hooligan in the streets of Belgium. The typical Briton is polite, witty and phlegmatic, but lacks a certain style and has a dental hygiene issue while having an occasional drinking problem BBC Road Warriors
Recommended Reading
* The Toronto Star reports that conspiracy theories regarding the causes of Yasser Arafat’s death have taken on a life of their own. Even if Arafat’s medical details are ever released to the public, it may be too little and too late to combat rumors that the U.S. gave Israel a green light to poison the PA chairman: "Arafat will join JFK as the subject of the all-time great conspiracy theories. Every Palestinian wants to see him as a hero; they expected him to be martyred," said Mohammed Yaghi, executive director of the Palestinian Center for Mass Communication, a Ramallah-based think-tank. * Commentary in the Washington Post regarding the lack of change in the ossifying world of Arab leadership -- the only term limit is an autocrat’s death: Just as happens to any system that lacks a way to reinvigorate itself with competition, new ideas and younger blood, the result is predictable: corruption grows, innovation wanes and progress halts. Economic monopolies get sluggish and unresponsive, and so do political ones. * Newsweek vividly describes how Iraqi insurgents systematically break all rules of warfare, and score propaganda points when the US errs. A classic case of Western values being used against Westerners: For the insurgents, Iraq has become a war without rules, and yet the militants also score big propaganda victories every time Americans break their own codes of warfare. In the battle for Fallujah the insurgents feigned surrender, waving white flags to approach within killing range of U.S. Marines and Iraqi government forces. They positioned their fighters in mosques, medical centers and civilian neighborhoods. They booby-trapped their fallen comrades' corpses and shot at crews trying to collect the Muslim dead. Practically every taboo has been discarded. Women, children and international relief groups have become deliberate targets. Ambulances are used to smuggle weapons. Torture of hostages has become a public spectacle, with videos passed out like press kits to TV stations, and posted on the Internet when the Arabic channels balk at showing such atrocities. * In the Washington Times, a critique of the Israeli Goliath vs. Palestinian David media spin. Reality-Hasbara TV
Reuters reports on a new Israeli reality TV show on which contestants fight Israel’s image problem around the world: Devised by an American-Jewish benefactor, the series begins airing next week with contestants in business suits plying their propaganda skills at various foreign locales, a Channel Two advertisement said on Thursday. The Jerusalem Post reports that that filming will take place in Washington, New York, France and the UK, and that more than 5,000 people responded to an looking for potential participants. (Hat tip: Daily Alert) Al-Jazeera's Al-Qaida Connections
Wednesday, November 17 2004Anti-Sharon public signs in Spain
JPost: 'Along with the local time and temperature, venomous slogans against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Israel appear on the municipal information board in the northern Spanish town of Oleiros. '"Let's stop the animal, Sharon the assassin, stop the neo-Nazis," reads the bright-red illuminated sign in the town of a few thousand people located in the Galicia region.'
Why in the world would some tiny Spanish town do such a thing?! The European media has apparently whipped the public into a manic frenzy against Israel. More at Arutz Sheva. UPDATE 11/18: Signs have been removed. AP's bad history lesson
AP's report on the Hezbollah rockets fired into northern Israel included this background on the period when the IDF held a security zone in southern Lebanon: During the Israeli occupation, Hezbollah guerrillas fired Katyusha rockets into northern Israel in response to Israeli attacks on civilians in southern Lebanon. Israeli 'attacks on civilians'?! The IDF never attacked civilians. Has AP adopted Hezbollah propaganda on the history of the Lebanon war? Comments to: feedback@ap.org Tuesday, November 16 2004Second wave
-- Octogenarian White House correspondent Helen Thomas (pictured): This is a requiem for Nobel Peace Prize winner Yasser Arafat, the fallen leader of the benighted but unbowed Palestinian people. He never achieved an independent state for his people or the return of thousands of exiled Palestinians to their homeland, but there was no question he was their unchallenged spiritual and political leader. -- Eric Margolis rationalizes Arafat's terror in the Toronto Sun: Along the way, Arafat and his lieutenants resorted to what we call terrorism -- the only way the weak can fight the strong. Though Margolis later acknowledges Arafat's flaws, terror isn't among them: In waging his epic struggle, Arafat made many grave mistakes. He was autocratic, allowed corruption to flourish, and always secretive. His management of Palestinian finances may well blow up into a tawdry scandal tarnishing his reputation. He was seen even by Arab admirers as too foxy and clever by half. -- Waikato Times (NZ) staff-ed rationalizes terror: Palestinians are oppressed and Arafat must have come to the conclusion in his younger days that bloodshed was a necessary evil. After all, in 1947 when the UN, in its stupidity, decided to divide Palestine between Palestinian Arabs and Jews, leaving Arabs with 47 per cent of their land, Palestinians did not accept the decision. War broke out and newly declared Israel expanded its state to about 75 per cent of Palestine by 1949. Since then, Israel has continued to forcibly expand and occupy Palestinian land despite UN resolutions calling for its withdrawal.
Squaring off in Chicago
Chicago Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg skewers Chicago Tribune coverage of Arafat's death: Before we leave Arafat, someone should observe how his death caused TV stations to go into Full Lady Di Grief Mode. As surprising as this was, the biggest shock came from our competitor. I know the Chicago Tribune is hopelessly biased against Israel. But even knowing that, never could I have imagined that it would publish on its front page a giant full-color PLO press office photo of Arafat looking like a Yosef Karsh portrait -- a cross between Churchill and Albert Schweitzer. I need to slide by Tribune Tower to see if the flag is at half mast, or the doorway draped with black bunting. Maybe they're saving that for the funeral.Here's the Trib's Arafat bio. Arafat memorabilia
Deutsche Welle asks: Will Yassir Arafat become the first pop icon of the 21st century? Che Guevara for Generation Y? Well, let's see what's available on Ebay: -- Yassir Arafat signed baseball (current bid $399)
-- Yasser Arafat signed kefiyyah (yours for just 5 grand!) Do some browsing yourself, if you'd like. Monday, November 15 2004Arab TV salutes Arafat
Hani Al-Hassan of the Fatah Central Committee clarifies the tactics of the largest Palestinian party -- terror softens up the scene for 'diplomacy': In Fatah we have a rule: the armed struggle sows and the political struggle reaps. He who doesn't sow doesn't reap, and he who sows and refuses to reap is a criminal. Therefore, when Oslo didn't bring results, the sowing came in the form of the Intifada. The question now is whether the current period is a stage of reaping or is it a stage of sowing. We think that the current period is a phase of sowing, until we see results in the international position. We see today that there is a change in the world. Europe has changed and its position has become more clearly in our favor. America is bogged down in Iraq and doesn't know what to do. Colin Powell should see this while he's packing his bags for Tel Aviv. Saluting Yassir
HonestReporting just released a new communique: 'Saluting Yassir' To receive HR communiques in your inbox, just sign up above. Please use the comments section below for discussing this communique. UPDATE: Tom Gross has an article in the Jerusalem Post on this topic as well. Sunday, November 14 2004Palestinian art exhibit in NY
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- A Jewish assemblyman said Friday that an exhibit of Palestinian art and crafts, scheduled for a one-day display in a building owned by Westchester County, should be canceled because it is anti-Israel and "promotes terrorism and violence." Here's that Houston exhibit. One painting shows Ariel Sharon 'in the act of torturing a Palestinian' -- an image right out of the historical anti-Semitic blood libels:
On objectivity
NY Times' Public Editor Daniel Okrent comments on journalistic objectivity and uncritical use of experts. There certainly are some lessons here for coverage of the Mideast conflict -- in particular, the uncritical reprinting of absurd statements from the likes of Saeb Arekat. Friday, November 12 2004FrontPage Magazine features HR
FrontPage Magazine is featuring HonestReporting's Arafat film on its homepage, and has a lengthy interview with HR's Michael Weinstein. Thursday, November 11 2004Platitudes for a terrorist
Jeff Jacoby brings two examples:
More: - CNN's special page has a quote from the late Ra'is that conveys the opposite of what his life was all about: "The battle for peace is the most difficult battle of our lives.” - Tom Gross says Arafat got the 'Princess Di treatment' in the British media, which is entirely consistent with their history of adoring coverage:For example, one BBC profile in the summer of 2002... described him as a "hero" and "an icon." It spoke of him as having "performer's flair," "charisma and style," and "personal courage." He was not only "respectable," but "triumphant" and "the stuff of legends."- David Gerstman fisks Washington Post coverage - AP's timeline of Arafat’s life was very widely reprinted, but it doesn’t note any of the terror attacks he was responsible for, so one can only wonder what kind of terror he 'renounced' on Dec. 12, 1988... -- Edmonton Sun headline: 'Patriarch of Palestine dead''Palestine'? Not a nation. But it might have been if the 'patriarch' hadn't rejected that offer. What about those 'loose links'?
'Al Aksa now Arafat Martyrs Brigades' Here's more on the history of this bond. Source of Palestinian poverty
Tony Auth, Philadelphia Inquirer:
Unrealized prophesies
"Isn't it better to die bringing down your enemy than to await a slow, miserable death?" - Arafat, 1969 "I will die in Palestine and I will not leave." - Arafat, 2003 Yassir Arafat: 1929-2004
HonestReporting has produced two original works to mark the occasion: 1) A one-minute online film: Arafat's Legacy Please view the film, then forward the link to friends, family, local media outlets, and community leaders. 2) A detailed biography of Arafat's life, chronicling his corruption and terror activities ― with a wealth of links to online sources. You are encouraged to use this biography to respond to distortions of Arafat's legacy in your local media outlets.
Please share your feedback on the film and biography in the comments below. Wednesday, November 10 2004Today's cartoons
J.D. Crowe, Mobile Register:
Tom Toles:
Dick Wright, Columbus Dispatch:
Mike Lester, Rome (Ga.) News-Tribune:
BBC's selective scare quotes
From BBC coverage of Hezbollah's drone-flying over northern Israel:
Why is the Beeb so careful to use scare quotes around 'terrorist' and any Israeli statement, but here allow 'Zionist violations' to pass as is? Comments to: newsonline@bbc.co.uk Tuesday, November 9 2004BMJ publishes rebuttal
The British Medical Journal has published a rebuttal to the Derek Summerfield article in the BMJ that we critiqued here. Cartoons of the day
Sandy Huffaker:
Bob Englehart, Hartford Courant:
The scene in Paris
Baltimore Sun's Todd Richissin describes Arafat's aides having to deal with Suha:
Press pass to terror
 Haaretz reports on the arrest of the driver for last week's Tel Aviv suicide bomber. How did he enter Israel?
Arafat, 'freedom fighter'
We've seen a number of pre-obituaries that whitewash Arafat's terrorist history, but this semi-literate one from South Africa's City Press outdoes them all:
Take a deep breath, read it over, and send City Press your comments. (Hat tip: It's Almost Supernatural -- who does a fine job fisking the column.) UPDATE: The French would seem to agree with this article's assessment. Freedom squelches terrorism
From Harvard's Kennedy School of Government comes another study showing that poverty doesn't cause terrorism:
Monday, November 8 2004Followups
-- A followup to the HR communique 'Not an Apartheid Wall': Benjamin Pogrund has a full-length essay that puts the slander to rest: 'Israel and the Apartheid Lie' -- A followup to the HR communique 'Weeping for Yassir': Stephen Pollard in the Times of London doesn't understand what all the fuss is about:
Sunday, November 7 2004The cartoonists' turn
Bob Gorrell:
Jim Morin, Miami Herald:
Steve Benson, Arizona Republic:
Dignity of Life
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