Elder of Ziyon Daily News |  |
| Miftah attacks me, refuses to condemn its blood libel Posted: 30 Mar 2013 08:15 PM PDT Miftah has responded to my exposé of their anti-semitic article last week: The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy, MIFTAH strongly denounces the smear campaign being carried out against it and, by association, its founder Dr. Hanan Ashrawi. The obscure pro-Israeli website "The Elder of Ziyon" has wrongly accused MIFTAH and Dr. Ashrawi of promoting Jewish blood libel during Passover through its publication of an Arabic-language article that briefly addressed the subject.This is truly amazing. The reason they took the article down wasn't because of its pure hate, its slander against an entire people, its invocation of the worst of all historic anti-semitic canards. The reason is "to avoid further misunderstanding." Let's be clear: An editor at Miftah, an NGO dedicated supposedly to principles of democracy and peace, saw this article and decided - according to Miftah's own words here - that the classic blood libel against Jews is a legitimate part of "its mandate for open dialogue." Fully half of the article talks about the blood libel. It didn't "briefly address the subject," as Miftah's ridiculous attack on me suggests - it was the linchpin of the entire article, asking how President Obama could possibly support Israel and have a Passover Seder at the White House in light of the "fact' that Jews drink Christian blood on Passover. In no way was it only "briefly mentioned." In no possible way was this an oversight. And yet, even after publishing this, Miftah claims that "Neither MIFTAH nor Dr. Ashrawi has ever been associated with anti-Jewish or anti-Semitic campaigns due to their philosophy of promoting accurate and credible information." In other words - Miftah does not denounce the article, and does not even say that it is inaccurate today! Miftah refuses to condemn it, it will not call it anti-semitic, it indignantly will not apologize for publishing it, it will not denounce the prominent Jordanian author of the piece, it will not say that it will change its policies on accepting articles - but instead it accuses me of "slander"! A supposedly liberal Palestinian Arab NGO refuses to condemn the ugliest Jew-hatred published in its name by its own editors, and instead claims that it is part of "open dialogue" and implies that it is "accurate and credible information." But keeping it up on their site might promote 'misunderstanding." Please. They took it down because it embarrassed them, not because they found it offensive. As far as their claim that they only published it because of their commitment to "open dialogue" - how many pro-Israel articles can one find in their website? Yup, that's right. As I wrote on Friday, Miftah also published an article romanticizing female suicide bombers who targeted innocent civilians. That article was written by a Miftah employee, their main editorial writer named Joharah Baker. Indeed, Miftah's work does speak for itself. If Miftah is so convinced that it has nothing to hide and it is so proud of its work, then it should welcome people emailing to the EU and US NGOs that fund it to question its editorial policies. It should not be running scared about the possibility of losing funding, rather it should be confident that it acted appropriately when it published the article by Nawaf al-Zaru, whose anti-semitism has been on display for at least four years. It should be proud of its adamant refusal to apologize for publishing pure Jew-hatred. Isn't that how a liberal, pro-democratic organization should act? And I feel free in asking my readers again to email to these same NGOs and ask them if they want to be associated with an organization that cannot force itself to squeeze out even a half-hearted apology for publishing, promoting and promulgating this sickening filth.           |
| Posted: 30 Mar 2013 05:00 PM PDT From Ian: Dore Gold: What would Kissinger do? For Kissinger, peace remains an important objective, but it can only come about through a process of regional stabilization and security, for he was aware that whenever peace was the "primary objective of a power or group of powers, then the international system has been at the mercy of the most ruthless member." Whether the regional stabilization process is in fact adopted depends as much on the initiatives proposed in Washington as much as the policies of Ankara and Jerusalem. It also depends on whether the Obama administration and its local partners in the region effectively tackle the "most ruthless" power in the region — namely Iran. Behind Obama's Turkey Win How Bibi Netanyahu handed the American president a big trophy—and got what Israel wanted all along From Netanyahu's perspective, it's all to the good that Obama is getting the credit for the reconciliation. Bibi got what he wanted from Erdogan and gave Obama a big trophy to put on his shelf. The Turkish premier, despite his bluster, has little choice but to swallow it, and the American president now owes Bibi a favor. Netanyahu—often denigrated as a clumsy politician and preachy ideologue—is in fact a much more adroit statesman than he is typically believed to be. The truth behind the news photograph How the photographer helps shape the Arab-Israeli conflict. Unfortunately, news photos of Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict have many times done the very opposite, giving the undiscerning audience a misconstrued angle of a highly sensitive story. Salvadori believes that new models must be created that will lead to a transparent and sustainable way to make the public more involved with the production process of documentary photography. CAMERA: Columnists Fail 'Breath-a-lyzer' Test for Op-Eds on Obama's Israel Trip Zakaria asserts that the argument "Israel is surrounded by enemies" is out-of-date, the country not having to fear Syrian or Iraqi armies backed by the Soviet Union. He never mentions the tens of thousands of short- and medium-range rockets and missiles possessed by Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, those organizations' genocidally anti-Jewish charters, or their past attacks on Israel and continued probing. Extensive Terror Network Uncovered Near Bethlehem The Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), in cooperation with the Israel Defense Forces and Israel Police, broke up an extensive terror network in the village of Beit Fajjar near Bethlehem over the course of January and February, Israel Hayom reported. Canada's FM: No Guarantee to Renew Palestinian Authority Funding Ahead of a trip to the Middle East Thursday, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said that the country is making no promises to renew Canada's $300 million in aid spending for the Palestinian Authority. Iran, Syria and North Korea block UN arms treaty Both Iran and North Korea are under UN arms embargoes over their nuclear programs, while Syria is in the third year of a conflict that has escalated to civil war. Amnesty International said all three countries "have abysmal human rights records — having even used arms against their own citizens." 'Ship carrying Iranian weapons en route to Syria' Opposition officials urge Egypt to detain and inspect cargo vessel at Suez Canal 'The ship is said to be carrying 8,500 tons of weapons and ground missiles from Iran to be given to the Syrian regime,' the source said. 'It is scheduled to make a 'fuel stop' at a Syrian port where it will unload its cargo.' ADL Slams Muslim Group for "Malicious and False" Ads in NY Train Stations The Anti-Defamation League issued a statement Thursday slamming an American Muslim group for posting billboards in New York train stations that accuse Israel of apartheid. Israel's Authentic Diversity This past month saw an elegant Miss Israel, Yityish 'Titi' Aynaw (the first Ethiopian Israeli to hold the title) in photo ops with President Obama. Standing at 5'11 " (not counting her 5" heels), she was referred to by President Shimon Peres of Israel as "our modern Queen of Sheba." Israeli wins European women's science competition For the third year running, the Israeli winner of the L'Oréal-UNESCO "Women in Science" prize has gone on to take the winning title for all of Europe. Dr. Osnat Zomer-Penn, who was one of three Israelis chosen to compete in the finals, received the European award in a ceremony at the Sorbonne in Paris on Thursday. Israel Daily Picture: The Jewish Legion, Part 3, The Liberators The history of the Jewish Legion that fought in Palestine in World War I is relatively unknown. Many of the soldiers were recruited from the ranks of the disbanded Zion Mule Corps, Palestinian Jews exiled by the Turks in April 1917 who were recruited in Egypt, or from Diaspora Jewry recruited in Canada and the United States.      |
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