Eretz Israel is our unforgettable historic homeland...The Jews who will it shall achieve their State...And whatever we attempt there for our own benefit will redound mightily and beneficially to the good of all mankind. (Theodor Herzl, DerJudenstaat, 1896)

We offer peace and amity to all the neighbouring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all. The State of Israel is ready to contribute its full share to the peaceful progress and development of the Middle East.
(From Proclamation of the State of Israel, 5 Iyar 5708; 14 May 1948)

With a liberal democratic political system operating under the rule of law, a flourishing market economy producing technological innovation to the benefit of the wider world, and a population as educated and cultured as anywhere in Europe or North America, Israel is a normal Western country with a right to be treated as such in the community of nations.... For the global jihad, Israel may be the first objective. But it will not be the last. (Friends of Israel Initiative)

Sunday 30 January 2011

Pollard on Palileaks and Sacerdoti on Israel, the PA, and Current Middle East Developments

Full marks to Jewish Chronicle editor Stephen Pollard for his robust denunciation, in the 27 January issue of his paper, of the despicable way in which the Guardian spun the leaked memos by PA negotiators with Israel that comprise the so-called “Palestine Papers”.

‘The Guardian's behaviour this week, even by its own often disreputable standards over Israel, has been simply shocking,’ Mr Pollard writes, inter alia.
‘Not presented them so much as lobbed them, doused with petrol, into a tinderbox – and hoped for a result....
What is very wrong is the way the paper chose to present its story: the distortions, the bias, the agenda, the spin and the breathtaking arrogance of its handing down instructions to the Palestinians of how they should behave. Make no mistake: the Guardian's presentation was, as David Landau puts it, "intended to poison the Palestinians against their leaders". And to poison the world against Israel....The Guardian crossed a line this week. It has not practised journalism but rather hardcore political activism, playing with people's lives.’
See the entire editorial here: http://www.thejc.com/blogpost/guardians-shame

And here’s Jonathan Sacerdoti, executive director of the UK Zionist Federation, in a discussion with Guardian journalist Polly Toynbee, London-based Palestinian editor Abdel Bari Atwan, and others on BBC News 24's "Dateline London" programme today. 
(Hat tip: Jonathan Hoffman)

4 comments:

  1. The ventriloquists's dummy and sock puppet Abdel Bari Atwan, who Al-Beebzeera love to roll out to cause those of us who honour truth to become apoplectic, reminds me of a taxi driver I encountered last year in Bethlehem who said ''I give you good Arab price, good Palestinian price'' and then charged me 10 times the going rate. As for Polly Toynbee, she should stick to hosting tupperware parties.

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  2. Daphne,

    I very much doubt that the PA ever made the offer that the Palestine Papers claim they did. There's just no logic to it. They would know they could never sell that deal to the Palestinians or the Arab world in general. And they would know that the Israelis could blow the fact that they'd made the offer any time they wanted to and kill their credibility with their people - and hand the latter straight over to Hamas. They would be hostage to potential blackmail forever.

    I think these papers were doctored - as Abbas himself said, they switched the speakers around, so what was the Israeli position was attributed to the Palestinians. Abba was quoted as saying something like, 'Of course there can be no right of return. That would mean the end of Israel and that's unacceptable'. Now an Israeli would say that, but it's quite unfeasible that Abbas would - and on the record to boot.

    The worst part of this is that what was alleged (I believe falsely) to be the PA's position is realistic and pragmatic and what most reasonable people would recognise as the only possible final settlement.

    Now, thanks to al Jazeera and al Guardian, the Palestinian leadership will never be able to walk itself to that position, nor attempt to take its people there.

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  3. Even if I was not on the Side of Israel, against anti-Semitism, against the vilification of Jews, against the global Islamisation that is happening, even then I would find the way in which the anti-Jewish/pro Arab/Islamist lobbyists interrupt and shout over their protagonists*, extreeeemly irritating . And they do it each time. Here in France at the moment, being a political animal, I am in heaven with their nearly wall-to-wall political discussion programmes on TV, but that irritating modus operandi above is so much in evidence that I often simply switch off in frustration.

    *) in this discussion above (although for a BBC person, the moderator here seemed surprisingly even-handed and in control), you still see the that Arab editor rudely interrupting Mr. Jonathan Sacerdoti and talking over him when he mentiones "neighbourhoods", while no-one interrupted his tirades.

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  4. Thanks, Roger, Rob, and Rita!
    I haven't blogged re Palileaks - nothing I could possible say would improve on the great coverage and analysis on CiF Watch.

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