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Freedom House Map (CLICK TO ENLARGE)
H/T Garry
As we approach the Palestinian Authority’s efforts to unilaterally declare statehood, the question you almost never hear asked is, precisely what kind of state will “Palestine” be?
Will it be democratic, respect the rights of minorities, the LGBT community, and the rights of citizens to peacefully dissent and criticize the government?
Well, per Freedom House, the case is pretty clear that the human rights record of “Palestine” is abysmal and currently mirrors the similar dearth of political freedom in the Arab world.
“The Palestinian Authority–administered territories’ political rights rating declined from 5 to 6 [the lowest possible rating] due to the expiration of President Mahmoud Abbas’s four-year term in January 2009, the ongoing lack of a functioning elected legislature, and an edict allowing the removal of elected municipal governments in the West Bank.”
Further, notes Freedom House:
“The judicial system is not independent.”
And:
“Personal status law, derived in part from Sharia, puts women at a disadvantage in matters of marriage, divorce, and inheritance. Rape, domestic abuse, and “honor killings,” in which women are murdered by relatives for perceived sexual or moral transgressions, are not uncommon. These murders often go unpunished.”
Finally:
“The media are not free in the West Bank and Gaza. Under a 1995 press law, journalists may be fined and jailed…Journalists who criticize the PA or the dominant factions face arbitrary arrests, threats, and physical abuse.”
This last report certainly puts today’s story in the Jerusalem Post, PA arrests professor who criticized Nablus University, in perspective, and should give those pause who live on the borders of this future Palestinian state.
A prominent Palestinian professor who wrote an article criticizing the universityadministration where he works was arrested on Thursday by Palestinian Authority security forces in the West Bank.
Palestinian sources said that Abdel Sattar Qassem, who works at An-Najah Universityin Nablus, was ordered to be held in custody for 48 hours following a complaint from theuniversity president, Rami Hamdallah.
Because of his public criticism of the PA, Qassem was targeted in the past by PA security forces. At one point he was shot and wounded shortly after launching a scathing verbal attack on PA chairman Yasser Arafat.
Qassem said that the problem was not only with this case…“but with the people who see the corruption and don’t do anything. Many officials see themselves as being above the law and justice. Perhaps they want to appoint themselves as gods or emperors, as they see that the educated are keeping silent and the youth movement is largely absent.”
Recently in Israel, a left-wing columnist for the Jerusalem Post, Larry Derfner, penned an essay in his personal blog (which he’s since removed) explicitly justifying Palestinian terrorist attacks against his fellow citizens. While there has been, of course, much justifiable criticism of Derfner, and his employer is currently looking into the matter, Derfner wasn’t beaten up by a mob for his apostasy nor arrested by Israeli security personnel.
The fact that the PA, who clearly has a lot to learn from their bitter Zionist enemies, doesn’t even meagerly respect the value of free expression and basic democratic norms should provide an entirely new meaning to the chant, “FREE PALESTINE”!
Related articles
- Israel fires back at Harriet Sherwood (cifwatch.com)
- Harriet Sherwood’s truncated history of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (cifwatch.com)
- Peace: Harriet Sherwood’s Palestinian Caricature (cifwatch.com)
- Harriet Sherwood finds her favorite kind of Israeli – the anti-Zionist variety (cifwatch.com)
- The Israeli humanity, and terrorist malice, which Harriet Sherwood will never report (cifwatch.com)
- What Harriet Sherwood won’t report: PA kindergarten students sing “Martyrdom for kids” (cifwatch.com)
- Harriet Sherwood’s talent for avoiding use of term “terrorist” when characterizing Palestinians who’ve murdered Israeli civilians (cifwatch.com)
- Harriet Sherwood’s shocking report! Israel detains Palestinians who, umm, riot and commit acts of violence (cifwatch.com)
- Jews build homes in Israel: Harriet Sherwood and the political orthodoxy of the Guardian Left (cifwatch.com)
- Another in the series: Where in the world is Harriet Sherwood? (cifwatch.com)
Chas Newkey-Burden is back!
No, I’m not ashamed to say that I was moved beyond words when Chas emailed me with news that, after a thankfully short absence from the Zionist blogosphere, he is back and once again blogging at OyVaGoy.
Noted Chas in his most recent post:
I enjoyed taking a break. It’s always nice to remember what a big world there is out there. I have a brilliant and busy life as it is, so I was never naturally disposed to ‘activism’ anyway. But as I said, Israel is worth digging deep for. And to clarify, my break had nothing to do with any change of feelings about Israel; blog or no blog, you can bury me a Zionist.
Now I’m back, I’ll be posting on new topics including initiatives to counter cyber-bullying, and also the efforts to build a loving legacy for Amy Winehouse. However, my love and respect for Israel will probably always be at the heart of this blog. I might even find time to write about shawarma and the NaNachs from time to time. You know me.
I aim to keep this blog even more positive and upbeat going forward. There’s enough darkness and fear-mongering in our corner of the internet as it is. I’d rather keep things light. If that sounds a bit Christian happy-clappy then all I can say is that I’m neither Christian nor clappy, but I am happy.
I’m happy to be back.
Chas has no idea how happy WE are that he’s back.
Being an Israeli in a world increasingly hostile to the Jewish state’s very existence – and especially in the aftermath of last week’s brutal terrorist attacks against innocent Israeli civilians – it is really comforting to know that we are not alone.
No matter how serious the threats posed by state and non-state actors who openly seek our destruction, as well as the legitimization such reactionary forces receive from the Guardian, one thing is certain:
Chas Newkey-Burden has our back.
Related articles
- Geary Theory: A Goy contemplates “As-A-Jews” (cifwatch.com)
- In Praise of Chas Newkey-Burden (cifwatch.com)
- Chas Newkey-Burden’s essay in The JC. “Blogland: Here be dragons.” (cifwatch.com)
Per a statement by British Israel Coalition on this Sunday’s pro-Israel rally in London:
“After terror attacks left 8 Israelis dead, anti-Israeli rallies have taken place all across the country. Events such as Al-Quds march on Sunday demonstrated strong support for Hamas and Hezbollah, who praised the attacks.
Come along to the North Terrace of Trafalgar Square this Sunday (28th), 12:00pm - 3:00pm, to show your condemnation of terrorism, support for Israel and for peace. We shall provide flags and flyers, but please feel free to bring your own material – placards, flyers, posters etc.
As Christians, Muslim and Jewish supporters of the only free state in the Middle East, let’s show some urgently required solidarity. Please share and invite all your friends.”
See their Facebook page, here.
Hamas member, and CiF Contributor, Osama Hamdan
A large H/T goes out to our friends at Just Journalism for publishing a well-documented report which empirically demonstrates what this blog is continually exposing: the Guardian’s continuing assault, through editorials and commentary, on Israel’s very legitimacy.
Just Journalism’s six-month study of the comment pieces by Israelis and Palestinians that appeared in the Guardian is a qualitative and quantitative analysis that documents how “The Guardian instinctively promotes the views of those who oppose the very concept of two states for two peoples.”
Regarding their report, Just Journalism’s Media Analyst, Chris Dyszyński, says:
‘The Guardian has long been associated with its endorsement of the Palestinian cause, and its criticism of the occupation. However, this new report suggests that the real sticking point for the paper is not the number of settlements in the West Bank, but Israel’s very nature as a national home for the Jewish people. While you would expect ‘the world’s leading liberal voice’ to endorse Israeli concessions in the name of the two state solution – and to promote the views of liberal Israelis who don’t believe their government is doing enough for that solution – it seems perverse to overwhelmingly plump for Palestinians who don’t share that view. The decision to repeatedly offer a platform to signed-up Hamas members is the logical, if distasteful, outcome of its preference for those who fundamentally disagree with Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state.’ [emphasis mine]
Here’s the executive summary:
- The Guardian published more op-eds by Palestinians than by Israelis during the first half of 2011, with eleven comment pieces by nine Palestinian contributors in comparison with six by four Israelis
- Three of the Palestinians who contributed op-eds during this period were either members of Hamas or strongly affiliated with it, and have endorsed terrorist attacks
- Four further Palestinians were secular nationalists who also reject Israel’s legitimacy and endorse policies that would turn it into an Arab majority state
- All of the Israelis given op-eds are associated with the left-wing of Israeli politics that supports the concessions needed to create a Palestinian state in order to facilitate two states for two peoples
- The majority of comment pieces by Israeli contributors dealt with the repercussions of the Arab Spring, rather than directly with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict itself.
Related articles
- How the Guardian downplays terrorist attack on innocent Israelis (cifwatch.com)
- Guardian issues ‘progressive in good standing’ card to Carlos Latuff: racist and anti-Semite (cifwatch.com)
- Harriet Sherwood’s truncated history of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (cifwatch.com)
- Immutable Victim: The Guardian continues to champion Jewish anti-Zionist writer, Tony Kushner (cifwatch.com)
- Comment is Free warns of Islamophobia, and sees no Judeophobia (cifwatch.com)
- What the Guardian won’t report: Pro-Palestinian activists in London – “Israel must be destroyed!” (cifwatch.com)
- Neighborhood bully? The Guardian’s selective moral outrage (cifwatch.com)
- Harriet Sherwood finds her favorite kind of Israeli – the anti-Zionist variety (cifwatch.com)
- CiF’s Sam Bahour passionately opposes the “act of aggression” known as Israel’s existence (cifwatch.com)
- Jews build homes in Israel: Harriet Sherwood and the political orthodoxy of the Guardian Left (cifwatch.com)
On Sunday, August 21st, Lauren Booth joined hundreds of marchers at the Al Quds Day terror rally organised by the Islamic Human Rights Commission in London’s Trafalgar Square, who swore their allegiance to Hamas and Hezbollah.
Among the placards seen at the rally, were:
- “Israel Your Days are Numbered”
- “Death to Israel”
- “Down down Israel”
- “For World Peace Israel Must Be Destroyed”
- “The World Stopped Nazism, The World Must Stop Zionism”
As the Stephen Roth Institute said of the IHRC:
IHRC is a radical Islamist organization that uses the language and techniques of a human rights lobbying group to promote an extremist agenda. Formed in 1997…the IHRC supports jihad groups around the world, campaigns for the release of convicted terrorists and promotes the notion of a western conspiracy against Islam. [Leaders of the] IHRC subscribe to the radical Islamist belief that Jewish conspiracies are afoot to undermine Muslims, and they liken Jews and Israelis to Nazis. Members of the IHRC’s board of advisors have even called on Muslims to kill Jews.
Typically, the Guardian didn’t so much as mention the organized pro-terror, hate march.
But, on August 23rd they published a commentary at CiF by David Miller, “Thinktanks must drop this Cold War approach to Islamism” which not only downplayed the threat posed by the radicalization of Britain’s Muslims, but argued that the greater threat is the rise of Islamophobia as the result of such anti-radicalization efforts.
Specifically, Miller vilifies “Conservative thinktanks” for ignoring the threat posed by radical right groups, and for focusing so heavily on Islamism, which he breezily dismisses as “the catch-all term for politically active Muslims“, and further warns that such concerns may “end up condemning the peaceful political activism of Muslim groups” – such as, presumably, the “politically active” Muslim groups who “peaceably” marched against Israel’s existence in London’s Trafalgar Square on Sunday.
Miller’s white wash of the threat posed by radical Islam in the UK elicited quite a few comments beneath the line, but one commenter’s take was particularly worth noting, as it represents how such CiF commentary emboldens those who subscribe to such radicalism.
A commenter using the moniker “moretheylie“, had a field day defending Islamism while many who were critical of such views had their comments deleted by CiF moderators.
Here are few of “moretheylie’s comments, which serve as an instructive case study in such a extremist world view.
Here, right away, “moretheylie” leverages the CiF narrative to deflect attention away from radical Islam and pivots nicely to his true aim, Zionists – and makes the ludicrous argument that EDL was created as a street militia for Neocons and Zionists.
Then, when called out on his gratuitous attack on Zionism, “moretheylie” responds with even more fictitious charges – this time leveling the bizarre accusation that the EDL has forged links with the “(USA) Zionist Federation”. (Of note, there is no such organization as the the USA Zionist Federation) Again, another off-topic conspiratorial attack on Zionists which was not deleted.
When again called out on his anti-Israel obsession, he makes a strange and rather telling semantic argument – namely, that he’s not talking about Israel or Jews at all, merely “Zionism”.
Then, responding to another critique, “moretheylie”, piggybacking on Miller’s downplaying of the radical ideology, suggests that “Islamism”, as its commonly understood, is a mere figment of the “Neocon” imagination.
Then, when called out on the extreme homophobia practiced in states informed by Islamic law, “moretheylie” reassured readers that gays are executed in Iran not due to their homosexual orientation per se, but, rather, their homosexual acts – which, I’m sure, is very comforting for Iran’s LGBT community!
Finally, “moretheylie”, and the author of the CiF essay, is challenged on their refusal even to accept that that Islamism is distinct from Muslims, nor that you can be highly critical of the former without demonizing the latter. And, “moretheylie’s” reply: That “neocon” journalists and the Zionist Federation propagate lies about Islamism, which is merely a construct, and that this cabal is responsible for the terrorist acts of Anders Behring Brevik.
Comment is Free: clearly the platform of choice for Islamist apologists and anti-Zionist conspirators.
Related articles
- Blogger, heal theyself (cifwatch.com)
- Muslim Public Affairs Committee UK spokesman: “Zionists are most vile animals to walk the earth” (cifwatch.com)
- Geary Theory: A Goy contemplates “As-A-Jews” (cifwatch.com)
- Vile anti-Zionist logic at Guardian’s Comment is Free (cifwatch.com)
- What the Guardian won’t report: Pro-Palestinian activists in London – “Israel must be destroyed!” (cifwatch.com)
- The Guardian finds fresh new talent to whitewash terror connections of flotilla movement, and demonize Israel (cifwatch.com)
- The Guardian, Haneen Zoabi and Raed Salah – a Case Study of the Red-Green Alliance (cifwatch.com)
- Harriet Sherwood finds her favorite kind of Israeli – the anti-Zionist variety (cifwatch.com)
- Guardian correspondent inspired by Arab resolve to overcome Zionism & Jewish Supremacism (cifwatch.com)
Islamic Jihad
Despite the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Palestinian terrorist groups, a renewed barrage of rockets hit Israel’s south on Wednesday evening.
Five grad rockets fell in open areas, one near Ofakim, one south of Ashkelon and three in Be’er Sheva.
Rockets also fell in the Eshkol Regional Council.
A three-month-old baby was injured after a rocket fired at the Ashkelon Regional Council hit a car and caused it go up in flames.
The rockets were fired by Islamic Jihad which was evidently avenging an Israel Air Force air strike earlier in the day in which a senior operative, who was planning attacks against Israel from Sinai, was killed.
Earlier on Wednesday, seven rockets were fired at south Israel from Gaza.
The first landed at around 7 pm and exploded near Ashkelon. Minutes later, two rockets hit an open area near Ofakim, which was followed by four additional rockets fired at the Eshkol Regional Council.
Related articles
As with so many reports of Israeli villainy, Jonathan Glennie’s Guardian piece, “Aid alone won’t help the desperate Palestinians“, Aug. 24 – which blames Palestinian economic problems on Israel’s “checkpoints, the separation wall, and general restrictions on the movement of people and goods” – doesn’t once acknowledge Palestinian moral agency.
Reading Glennie’s report, which completely erases the context of terrorism, you’d think that such defensive measures weren’t motivated by legitimate security concerns as the result of the 2nd Intifada but, rather, by Israeli malice.
Glennie argues:
“Israel continues [their] attempts to undermine any chance the [Palestinian] economy has to get back on its feet, let alone prosper.”
However, the fact is that, despite Israel’s security measures, Palestinian Arabs are still better off than many of their neighbors, per the UN’s own Human Development Index (HDI).
HDI is a comparative measure of life expectancy, literacy, education and standards of living for countries worldwide, and is used to measure each nation’s quality of life.
The Palestinian Authority HDI rank is 97, right in the middle of the 193 countries in the world – ahead of Egypt, and well ahead of other Middle East nations such as Syria and Morocco – and is even, surprisingly, significantly higher than non-Middle East countries such as South Africa and India.
Moreover, even the UN Report cited by Glennie shows quite clearly that real GDP (Gross Domestic Product) in the Palestinian Authority has increased dramatically over the last several years, and is now above pre-Intifada levels:
Characteristically, Glennie completely omits any hint that Palestinians have some responsibility for their plight: No mention of the Palestinian Authority’s notorious and well-documented corruption and lack of transparency, their culture which promotes anti-Semitism, terrorism and intransigence (including PA payments to families of terrorists), and the absence of basic democratic checks and balances.
Glennie concludes thusly:
While donors [to the PA] showcase their increasing generosity to Palestine in their annual reports, that generosity appears more than ever to be a function of their inaction in the face of. Aid, as so often, is a sop for political failure.
Yes, Palestinian cultural, moral and political failures continue to create the biggest obstacle to economic and social progress.
No amount of international aid – nor a unilateral declaration of statehood – will ameliorate such endemic and institutional political pathologies.
Related articles
- Neighborhood bully? The Guardian’s selective moral outrage (cifwatch.com)
- What the Guardian won’t report: Selling land to Jews punishable by death in Palestinian territories (cifwatch.com)
- Guardian issues ‘progressive in good standing’ card to Carlos Latuff: racist and anti-Semite (cifwatch.com)
- How the Guardian downplays terrorist attack on innocent Israelis (cifwatch.com)
- Harriet Sherwood’s truncated history of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (cifwatch.com)
- UK Dep’t for International Development or Palestinian Solidarity Campaign? (cifwatch.com)
- Jews build homes in Israel: Harriet Sherwood and the political orthodoxy of the Guardian Left (cifwatch.com)
- Some reflections on CiF Watch’s 2nd Anniversary, and a few questions to our loyal readers (cifwatch.com)
- Yvonne Ridley, Palestinian terrorist attacks, and peanut allergies (cifwatch.com)
- Peace: Harriet Sherwood’s Palestinian Caricature (cifwatch.com)
- What Harriet Sherwood won’t report: PA kindergarten students sing “Martyrdom for kids” (cifwatch.com)
- The Israeli humanity, and terrorist malice, which Harriet Sherwood will never report (cifwatch.com)
This is cross posted by Arieh Kovler at Fair Play Campaign Group
I’ve been having a Twitter argument with Yvonne Ridley. I know I shouldn’t.
This is the second argument I’ve had with Yvonne. The last one was in 2003 or 4, when I was at university. She came to speak at Bristol University as part of an official ‘response’ to a pro-Israel article in the student newspaper (another part of the same ‘response’ was a seven-page screed by Tim Llewellyn attacking the student journalist who wrote the article).
I was a student in the mood for a good argument, so I challenged her from the audience with some of the more outrageous comments, like saying suicide bombers were martyrs.
At the time I felt like I got the better of her, but perhaps that was just my student bravado.
Afterwards, one of her minders followed me out of the room. He addressed me by name, even though I hadn’t given it and he wasn’t a student. He made a couple of comments, smiling and friendly, but the thrust of them was that he knew exactly who I was. He never introduced himself.
Anyway, back to the present. Yesterday Yvonne suggested on Twitter that Israel was opening the Erez Crossing to plan a ““self-defense” pogrom, with as few outside witnesses as poss“. She also tweeted ”more Israelis die from peanut allergies than are killed or injured by rockets from Gaza“. Although she didn’t make her billed appearance at the pro-Iranian Quds Day rally in London, she’s been arguing with Jeremy Newmark, Joe Millis, CIF Watch and me about it.
The pogrom comment is clearly nonsense, and the peanut remark is disgusting and distasteful. It’s like responding to to domestic violence against women in by saying “more women die from breast cancer every year than are killed by their husbands“. It may be true, but it’s not to the point at all. Murder is different from accidental death.
It may be true. But is it true? Where has this claim come from in the first place?
When I challenged Yvonne on Twitter for her source, she responded that ”the answer lies within Lowkey’s lyrics“.
Lowkey is a rapper and a fan of 9/11 troofer conspiracy theories. He’s popular among Stop-the-War and anti-Israel groups and is often performs at their rallies. The lyrics which Ridley directed to me are in Lowkey’s “Terrorist“. As well including references to popular troofer tropes (“Building 7″ and “nanothermite“) it has the following lyrics:
I know you were terrified when you saw the towers fall
It’s all terror but some forms are more powerful
It seems nuts, how could there be such agony
When more Israelis die from peanut allergies
Well, that doesn’t mean anything at all. More Israelis die than what? The song doesn’t say. Anyway, it’s just a song, not evidence or a statistic. I challenged Yvonne on this and she responded that she was quoting the “official stats” and had only mentioned the song in passing.
Where did these ‘statistics’ come from? My preliminary research didn’t turn up any official statistics on the number of peanut-allergy deaths in Israel, but it should be possible to make an educated guess based on other statistics.
Food allergies have become much more common in the last 30 years. Nobody knows why, though there are all sorts of theories. People with serious food allergies can go into anaphylaxis, which untreated can be fatal. Because of this, many allergic people carry epi-pens to inject chemicals that can stop the anaphylaxis.
According to a 2006 Department of Health study (pdf), anaphylaxis from allergens kills approximately 10-20 people a year in the UK, though it is not always recorded on the death certificate. Of these 10-20, not all will be the victims of food allergies; some might be allergic to chemicals, dust or other exotic allergens. Some certainly will be food allergy victims.
People can be allergic to all sorts of foods. In young children, milk and eggs are the most common allergies, though most children grow out of them. Other common trigger foods are celery, soya, shellfish, fish and citrus fruit, but one of the best-known allergies is the nut allergy (and the peanut allergy).
Peanuts aren’t nuts. They’re peas.
Peanuts are a legume, a bean that grows under the ground. True nuts grow on trees. Some people with nut allergies can eat peanuts, and vice versa, though many people who have one allergy have both.
Peanut allergies are common in much of the world, but in Israel they’re rarer. A 2008 study compared the incidence of peanut allergy between Jewish children in the UK and Jewish children in Israel. It found:
Jewish children in the UK have a prevalence of P[eanut] A[llergy] that is 10-fold higherthan that of Jewish children in Israel.
Though nobody knows for sure, scientists note that in Israel, babies eat peanuts from a very young age in the form of Bamba, and that this might be one reason for the lower allergy rates. It’a not all good news though; Israel’s ‘version’ of the peanut allergy is sesame allergy, which is much more common than it is in Europe or America.
Reviewing what we know:
- In the UK, 10-20 people die a year of all allergies
- Some of these 10-20 are food allergies, and some of these are peanut allergies.
- Israel has abut 10% of the population of the UK
- Israel has 10% of the incidence of peanut allergy compared to the UK
Based on these statistics – even allowing for possible better acute care in the UK – you’d expect about one or two allergy deaths a year in Israel, of which only a few, say one every few years, was a peanut allergy death. A recent case in Israel involving a hazelnut allergy fatality (not peanuts) was a major national story.
Where does this wrong statistic come from? I can’t be sure, but the best candidate is the earliest reference I can find: in late 2008, on a Youtube video made by Steve Johnson for the US-focused website stopfundingIsrael.com. This website calls YouTube “Jew-tube”, and warns of the:
“zionist infiltraitors (sic) in Australia, Canada, UK and USA. They have infiltrated the Govt. They have infiltrated the media even popular culture…”
Steve Johnson co-wrote a ‘book’ called The Truth: Mossad did September 11th 2001. His speciality piece seems to be calling up those who he considers supporters of Israel, hassling them, and making them into YouTube videos for the Stop Funding Israel YouTube channel.
This channel is fascinating. Most of the videos are by Steve Johnson. The first one claims that the Norway massacres were a false flag operation done by Israel. The next is an interview with a climate-change-sceptic scientist who also seems to deny plate tectonics: earthquakes are caused because the Earth is getting bigger. Really. There’s also a video saying the Bali bombings were really the work of the Australians.
It is Steve Johnson who called up the International Fellowship of Christians & Jews to complain about their advertising campaign, which highlighted the threat of rockets from Gaza. He said:
“From 2000 to 2008, 458 have died from peanut allergies. That’s 24 times the amount that have died from Hamas rockets”
Note that unlike Yvonne Ridley, Steve Johnson doesn’t say more Israelis die from peanut allergies than are killedor injured by rockets from Gaza; only more than are killed. But even Steve Johnson can’t even back up this weaker claim. After being challenged on his peanut statistics, he added the following in the comments to that YouTube video:
Researching the Peanut Allergy I found surprisingly that because Israel feeds their young peanuts and peanut allergies have in fact the worlds LOWEST casulty rate.
The research statistics I was quoting were actually from SESAME ALLERGY REACTIONS within Israel..Which runs from 150-200 per year.
So, he wasn’t talking about peanut allergies, and he wasn’t talking about deaths. He was comparing Israeliskilled by Hamas rockets with Israelis who had allergic reactions to sesame. If the original comparison was disgusting, this one is obscene.
Still, lies are persistent and lies about Israel – even accidental lies – find themselves being repeated year after year.
Rocket fire on civillian populations is a weapon of terror. The rockets don’t have to kill very often for people to be frightened of them crashing into their homes, their schools and their places of work and worship. Since this Thursday, an Israeli has been killed by a rocket and tens have been injured. A synagogue was hit, hurting worshppers. A school has been hit too, injuring children.
All this means that Yvonne Ridley is not only being offensive and insensitive when she says “more Israelis die from peanut allergies than are killed or injured by rockets from Gaza“.
She’s also wrong.
update: Yvonne Ridley has responded in the comments, below. Between insults, she writes:
I suppose I should be flattered all the same, you follow my words closely. problem is you have no idea when someone is pulling your leg, exhibiting a bit of satire or being serious.
Anyone have any idea what that means? Is she saying she was only joking?
Related articles
The famous Israeli ‘Tsabar’, צבר or Sabra, after which native-born Israelis are named
Anniversaries are always a time for taking stock and so at this juncture we should probably note the fact that – although still far from perfect – it can be said that there has been some improvement in the Guardian’s moderation of comments on ‘Comment is Free’, including the closure of threads at night when presumably fewer personnel are available to deal with offensive comments.
However, we note that increasing numbers of Israel-related articles are appearing without comments at all, which in some instances may be a blessing, but also prevents readers from correcting the erroneous claims of some of CiF’s writers.
There appears to have been little done in the way of injecting balance into the sheer proportion of articles dealing with Israel-related subjects. That, presumably, is partly a result of the fact that the Guardian elects to keep a full-time correspondent in safe and comfortable Jerusalem rather than in Damascus or Beirut: bread and butter must, after all, be earned.
Nevertheless, the Guardian’s focus on Israel compared to the rest of the Middle East is still obsessive and clearly - to borrow a word much beloved at CiF HQ – disproportionate.
Moreover, the continued commissioning of CiF articles from members and supporters of terrorist organisations as well as writers who are active in trying to bring about the dissolution of the Jewish state is an especially dangerous dynamic.
In addition to our monitoring of CiF articles and comments, we at CiF Watch are constantly debating among ourselves how to make our site more useful to you the reader, so this is your opportunity to tell us what you would like to see.
Do you find our running news updates on incidents such as deteriorations in the security situation or cross-border infiltrations useful?
Are there subjects about which you would like more background information in order to help you in composing your own comments on CiF or elsewhere?
Are our ‘information packs’ on subjects such as the organisations and people behind the flotillas or the Methodist BDS decision useful to you?
Are there aspects of Israel or Israeli life about which you would like more background?
What would you consider useful information in the run-up to a possible Palestinian declaration of independence next month?
So, please tell us in the comments what shape you would like CiF Watch to take as it enters its third year, and of course raise a glass – L’Haim – to life!
This is cross posted by Simon Plosker at the blog of Honest Reporting
The Guardian’s Harriet Sherwood just keeps demonstrating her gross ignorance of the region that she is meant to be covering. In May we caught her mistakenly claiming that Israel’s Knesset and other national buildings were located on Palestinian-owned land.
Prior to that, Sherwood was critiqued by HonestReporting for referring to the Western Wall as Judaism’s most holy site while promoting the Palestinian narrative of the Temple Mount as a primarily Muslim site.
This, despite the incontrovertible fact that the Temple Mount is Judaism’s holiest site.
Evidently, Sherwood doesn’t learn from her mistakes. In an article concerning US broadcaster Glenn Beck holding rallies in Jerusalem, Sherwood writes:
Reinforcing his point, the rally is to be staged in the shadows of the Old City, close to boththe Western Wall, the holiest site in Judaism, and the Haram al-Sharif, also known by Jews as the Temple Mount, which is revered by Muslims.
We don’t deny the attachment of Muslims to their holy sites but Sherwood not only gets her facts wrong but peddles a false historical narrative that denies and delegitimizes Jewish roots in Jerusalem.
See our previous expose of Sherwood’s error and why the Temple Mount is Judaism’s holiest site here.
Related articles
Associate a political activist with the bucolic imagery evoked by the term “Arab Spring” – a movement whose often decidedly illiberal aspects are routinely ignored by the Guardian and most of the MSM - and, no matter how compromised the person is by a quite reactionary ideological orientation, the halo effect is secured.
The Guardian’s Jack Shenker, writing in the Art and Culture section, “Carlos Latuff: The voice of Tripoli – Live from Rio“, Aug. 22, bestows upon Latuff the honor of “progressive” political cartoonist in service of the “democratic” ideals of the Arab revolution.
Shenker benignly characterizes Latuff, thusly:
“a Brazilian cartoonist who has become an unlikely star of the Arab spring – and, more recently, cartoonist to protests and conflicts around the world. A smiling, shaven-haired 42-year-old who still lives with his parents in Rio.”
Shenker, later in the piece, says:
“Latuff has become known for his support of the Palestinian cause; some campaigners claim his work is antisemitic. “Part of the supposed ‘evidence’ for my antisemitism is the fact that I’ve used the Star of David, which is a symbol of Judaism,” he says wearily.
Of course, Shenker, conventiently fails to note the extreme left activist’s well-documented record of not merely “using the Star of David”, but publishing cartoons which demonstrate an obsessive, visceral, and vicious hatred of Israel which, quite often, employ the Star of David to characterize the Jewish state as morally equivalent to Nazi Germany - imagery which often devolves into other expressions of outright anti-Semitism.
Indeed, Latuff appeared quite prominently in my essay for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, “Anti-Semitic Cartoons on Progressive Blogs.”
When he’s not using his “art” to promote the Arab Spring he can be seen advancing racist depicitions of Jews and, on at least one occasion, African Americans.
His body of work pertaining to Israel and the Palestinians evokes an immutably villainous Jewish state similar to what can be found in the most anti-Semitic Arab media – and include clear assertions that Israelis take pleaseure in murdering innocent Palestinian children.
Israel as Nazi Germany: Here’s one out of dozens of Latuff cartoons which portary Israel as the new Nazi Germany and Israeli Jews the new Nazis.
He’s also not beyond illustrations containing even more explicit anti-Semitism.
Dual Loyalty and conspiratorial notions of Jewish control: The Jewish lobby (and/or Israel) controls the U.S. government
Jewish supremacism: Mockery and distortion of Jews as the chosen people
As this blog continually documents, the greatest and most dangerous ideolgocial vice of Guardian commentators, reporters, and correspondents is not, per se, explicit expressions of anti-Semitism but, rather, anti-Semitic sins of omission: Their capacity to ignore those who advance clear and unambiguous Judeophobic narratives.
In this case, the Guardian’s Jack Shenker could have easily, with a few Google hits, uncovered Latuff’s record of using his political cartoons in the service of evoking hateful narratives of Jews and Israel.
Editors of a paper which truly championed liberal values would never have white washed such rank bigotry.
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#Tweet4Shalit
August 27, 2011 in Comments which are off-topic, ad hominem, racist, vulgar or include threats of violence will be deleted | Tags: Gilad Shalit, Hamas | by Adam Levick | 2 comments
The following is a press release by the grassroots human rights campaign, #tweet4shalit:
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