| Media scorecard on "secret memo" fiasco Posted: 16 Aug 2012 06:00 PM PDT Here is a scorecard on how well different media outlets handled the fake "scoop" of supposed Israeli war plans that were revealed by the egomaniac serial liar and anti-Israel blogger Richard Silverstein:
Media outlet |
Quote | Skepticism about story and Silverstein |
Grade |
Arutz-7 |
What will an Israeli strike on Iran look like? American blogger Richard Silverstein on Wednesday published what he claimed is an Israeli briefing document outlining Israel's war plans against Iran. |
None |
D |
Forward |
A prominent left-wing blogger has published what is claimed to be an outline of Israel's attack plan against Iran. Richard Silverstein, on his blog Tikun Olam, has posted a report that is based, according to Silverstein, on a briefing document prepared by the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Silverstein's blog is known for breaking news banned for publication in Israel due to military censorship. |
Finds him very credible with a track record (!) |
F |
YNet |
Any Israeli attack on Iran will open with a "coordinated strike, including an unprecedented cyber-attack which will totally paralyze the Iranian regime and its ability to know what is happening within its borders," American blogger Richard Silverstein wrote Wednesday. |
None |
D |
BBC | Richard Silverstein told the BBC he had been given an internal briefing memo for Israel's eight-member security cabinet, which outlined what the Israeli military would do to prevent Iran developing nuclear weapons. | They did say they couldn't verify, but they gave him an interview |
D- |
972mag | I don't doubt that the document is real. I don't doubt that it came from somewhere inside the Israeli government. What I doubt is the veracity of Silverstein's source's claim that this document is being used to "persuade high-level Israeli officials." | Believes him completely |
F |
Christian Science Monitor |
Is the document real? It would be a shocking security breach if so, and Silverstein offers no evidence of its accuracy beyond his anonymous sources and his own judgement. But there is plenty of strategic messaging, smoke, and mirrors to go around on Israel's war plans for Iran. |
A little skepticism |
C- |
Business Insider |
While the validity of the report is seriously in question, it does outline a rather spectacular 21st century attack....The news of the "leak" is blossoming around the Web, but David Cenciotti at The Aviationist brings his experience to bear on the subject and offers some of the most unique insights that conclude with the likelihood it's all nothing more than speculation. |
Some followup, but only at the end |
C+ |
ABC News Radio | A U.S. blogger says he has been given leaked documents by a high-placed Israeli source that detail that country's plan for stopping Iran's rogue nuclear program. | No skepticism |
D |
Jerusalem Post |
The official, meanwhile, dismissed a report on a left-wing, anti-Netanyahu blog called Tikun Olam Wednesday purporting to have "an Israeli briefing document outlining Israel's war plans against Iran." ...One government official said there is "a lot of press speculation out there, and everyone has their 'secret source.' It is not the government's policy to comment on any piece of speculation." |
Reasonable doubt but not enough to show the lies |
B- | Altogether, the media behaved abysmally. And none of the reports that gave the leak credibility have been updated to reflect the fact that virtually the same text was published as a "what-if" scenario days before Silverstein's posting. Similarly, none followed up with the evidence that Silverstein lied about the story, repeatedly, especially his attempts to claim that the virtually identical forum post was not similar at all to his "source."
Anyone who reads Silverstein's pathetic excuses knows that he has no credibility. Too bad that the media is unwilling to change their initial enthusiasm for the story - because by choosing to ignore the new information, they show themselves to be hardly more credible than the liar who spread this fantasy around. If this angers you, you should contact these media outlets and demand to know why they feature stories from people who are not credible to begin with. And the lion's share of the blame goes to the BBC, because their publication of the story and interview of the Israel-hater gave cover for many other outlets to run the story themselves, simply by quoting the Beeb.
See also The Algemeiner and Honest Reporting. 
 |
| Turkey censors "Imagine" lyrics on Olympics telecast Posted: 16 Aug 2012 02:15 PM PDT From Hurriyet Daily News: A presenter for Turkish state broadcaster TRT omitted part of iconic British musician John Lennon's lyrics that call for "no religion" during the broadcasting of the Olympic Games' closing ceremonies, NTV reported on its website.
One of Lennon's most famous songs, "Imagine," was included in the Aug. 12 ceremonies and was translated into Turkish by the TRT presenter as it played in the background.
The verses of the song which called for people to imagine a world with no countries and no reason to kill or die for were correctly translated into Turkish, but the presenter skipped the part where Lennon sang for "no religion."
The presenter translated the remainder of the lyrics correctly. Reminds me of a classic episode of WKRP in Cincinnati from 1981: 
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| Muslims speak out against Toronto "Qods Day" hatefest Posted: 16 Aug 2012 12:30 PM PDT From HuffPo Canada, by Tarek Fatah, founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress: Did you know there are Canadians among us who are inspired by a mass-murderer?
Canadians who take their cue not from our constitution or the values we have developed over the past 400 years of western civilization, but from the words of a hate-monger whose sinister image to this day instils fear and casts a shadow of misery wherever his tentacles reach.
Indeed, there are such Canadians, and on Aug. 18 they'll defile the lawns of the Ontario Legislature to rally to the call of Ayatollah Khomeini for the destruction of the State of Israel -- the observance of "Al-Quds Day."
Khomeini first introduced Al Quds Day rallies in Iran in 1979, ostensibly to show solidarity with the rights of Palestinians.
However, the real agenda was to undermine and sabotage the Camp David Accords signed by Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin on Sept. 17, 1978. Khomeini's message was not one of peace and reconciliation. He was not fighting for the right of the Palestinians for a state of their own, at peace with Israel. In fact, he declared: "We must all rise, destroy Israel and replace it with the heroic Palestinian nation." Palestine merely became the fig leaf behind which Khomeini and his fellow Islamists -- ranging from Shia Hezbollah to the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood -- camouflaged their deep-seated Jewish hatred.
This is why most of the people who attend these rallies are not Palestinian or Iranians, but Shia Pakistanis, radical backers of the Muslim Brotherhood, pro- Hezbollah Lebanese and a scattering of left-wing useful idiots. Last year when this motley crew of Khomeini cheerleaders descended on Queen's Park, they were led by a lifetime backer of the Iranian Islamic regime and a fan of Osama bin Laden, Zafar Bangash.
Mocking U.S. President Barack Obama as "that black man in the White House" and Israel as a "parasitical state," Bangash declared amid cheers of Allah O Akbar: "Insha'Allah I see the day when we the Muslims will march on Palestine and liberate Palestine for all the people of the world ... Under Islamic Law they will all be living as equal citizens." Equal citizens? Tell that to the Christians of Egypt and Hindus of Pakistan; the Kurds of Turkey and the Baloch of Iran. "Wherever you see injustice happening, understand that there is a 1%, 2% or 100% involvement of the 'Zionist Regime'. The same Zionist regime that sucks the resources, the blood that belong to the people all across the world. " These words are vintage hatred with barely concealed threats to eradicate the state of Israel from the map of the world. Seeped in anti-Semitism, such language had not accorded respect in the West after the 1940s, until now. This article was also reprinted in The Muslim Times. An ex-Iranian co-write another op-ed opposing the rally. Toronto may be reconsidering allowing the hatefest. Looks like the London version will go on without a hitch, though. 
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| Today's anti-semitism in mainstream Arab media Posted: 16 Aug 2012 11:00 AM PDT From a column by D. Fayez Rashid in Al Quds (UK): The Zionist movement exploited the Holocaust to find a justification for legal rape of Palestine and the expulsion of its people, and bring immigrants and the establishment of its statehood. And to blackmail the European countries, particularly Germany. The writer also criticizes any Palestinian Arab who acknowledges that the Holocaust happened or anyone who teaches about the Holocaust to Palestinian Arab children (which UNRWA once considered then backed down from all the criticism.) Rashid then goes on to characterize Jewish contacts with the Nazis before the Holocaust to save millions of Jewish lives as if it proves that Zionists and Nazis were collaborators. He also supports Holocaust revisionists like David Irving. 
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| Thursday link-a-dink Posted: 16 Aug 2012 09:15 AM PDT From Ian:
Will the West Bank Become the Next Islamic Emirate? by Khaled Abu Toameh "Hamas continues to operate in the West Bank under the cover of hundreds of Islamic charities and organizations. An Israeli pullout from any part of the West Bank, under the current circumstances, will undermine the Palestinian Authority and most likely lead to its collapse, paving the way for radicals to seize control." A Lost Opportunity of Historic Proportions "Ninety years ago last month, the League of Nations, the precursor to today's United Nations, approved the Mandate for Palestine, out of which Israel was to emerge in 1948. Israel's neighbors have been in varying states of war and hostility with it from that date to this. As this conflict has flared up across the decades and is even cited, persistently but wrongly, as the root cause of regional and even global turbulence, its origins repay attention." Israel Would Strike Iran to Gain a Few Years, Oren Says "Israel would be willing to strike Iran's nuclear facilities, even if doing so only delayed its ability to produce nuclear weapons for a few years, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren said.
"One, two, three, four years are a long time in the Middle East -- look what's happened in the last year" in terms of political change, Oren said today at a Bloomberg Government breakfast in Washington. "In our neighborhood, those are the rules of the game." R2P and intervention in Syria: where we are now It seems quite clear that Syria is now a prime candidate for application of the R2P concept, so what now? UNWatch: OIC suspension of Syria sparks renewed call to expel Assad from U.N. human rights committee Iran's Al-Quds Day at Queens Park Politicians and Jewish organizations have raised the alarm about the potential for antisemitic hate speech at the annual 'Al-Quds Day' anti-Israel protest to be held this Saturday at Queen's Park. Canada's United Church affirms settlements boycott Church votes to boycott goods produced in the West Bank, East Jerusalem; Jewish organizations voice outrage at decision. Despite Alarm by U.S., Europe Lets Hezbollah Operate Openly Israel Removes Roadblocks in West Bank, Increases Aid to PA Pro-Obama campaign video looks to Sderot Probe sought of alleged shoddy work at Arafat tomb  MEMRI Al-Azhar Cleric Hashem Islam Issues Fatwa Allowing the Killing of Anti-Morsi Demonstrators Despite South African 'boycott' call, Zulu king to visit Israel Just days after Pretoria's deputy foreign minister said it was improper to associate with Israel, King Goodwill Zwelithini promises to 'intensify bilateral co-operation' Lenny Kravitz bids Israel 'Shalom' ahead of first-ever tour 'It's time. I must go now,' says half-Jewish rocker who plans to 'hang out a bit' in the Holy Land after the show Israel Israel Daily Picture: Jewish Shopkeepers in Jerusalem's Old City -- More than 100 Years Ago Related: President Lincoln's Secretary of State Describes Jerusalem in 1871, Attends Friday Night Services at the Hurva Synagogue
Also, Muslim hotel owner discriminated against Jewish group, jury finds Photo of second man involved in Burgas bombing released 
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| "The storm in Syria has reached Lebanon now; there is no going back" Posted: 16 Aug 2012 07:24 AM PDT From AFP/Daily Star: Lebanon's president held urgent talks with security chiefs and ministers Thursday after an eruption of violence in Beirut, including mass kidnappings, over events in neighboring Syria.
Several Gulf states ordered their nationals Wednesday to leave Lebanon, with the United Arab Emirates warning that the situation was "very dangerous."
A Shi'ite Muslim clan claimed Wednesday it had kidnapped 33 Syrians and a Turkish man after a family member was kidnapped this week by a Syrian rebel group which accused him of being a Hezbollah sniper.
And dozens more Syrians were kidnapped and their shops vandalized by rioters in Shi'ite areas of Beirut on Wednesday, according to the state-run National News Agency.
"What happened today is a clear indication that we are [on] the brink of major chaos in Lebanon," a senior political source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Daily Star Thursday.
"The storm in Syria has reached Lebanon now and there is no going back," the source added. 
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| Egypt starts ignoring Camp David Posted: 16 Aug 2012 05:30 AM PDT Remember how Morsi promised to respect all signed agreements? Well, not so much. Ha'aretz reports: The Egyptian army has been deploying large anti-terrorist forces in parts of the Sinai peninsula without informing Israel in advance. The peace treaty between the two countries limits the Egyptian military presence in Sinai.
Some of the Egyptian forces in the peninsula were sent there with Israel's consent, but Haaretz has learned that forces have also been deployed without Israel's prior approval. Israeli government officials only learned about it after the fact. Although Israeli defense officials declined to comment on the matter, they did note that there has been good security cooperation between the two countries, adding that there is regular contact between the two sides.
According to the 1979 peace agreement negotiated at Camp David, Egypt is not allowed to introduce tanks into certain areas of Sinai, including the vicinity of Al-Arish, to which dozens of tanks have been transported over the past several days. The treaty also bars the use of fighter aircraft, including helicopters, but that was approved retroactively by the Israeli security cabinet.
At the moment, Israel has decided not to respond to the unilateral Egyptian moves, apparently to avoid a confrontation. Nonetheless, it is seen as a source of future problems, particularly with the entrenchment of the Muslim Brotherhood's power in Egypt. The Egyptians could ask to have their current troop presence remain in Sinai until the end of their military operations there, although it is not clear when that would be.
The situation puts Israel in a dilemma. Just three days ago, Mohammed Gadallah, legal adviser to President Mohammed Morsi, said the president was considering amendments to the Camp David Accords to provide Egypt with "full sovereignty" over the peninsula. (h/t Yoel) 
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| ElderToons: Sage White House Advice Posted: 16 Aug 2012 03:02 AM PDT
(UPDATE - Improved punchline.) 
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