Electronic Intifada's Falsehoods, Erekat's Jenin Fictions - by Gilead Ini

...It bears repeating that 52 Palestinians, not 500, were killed during intense urban warfare in Jenin. And it bears remembering who, in the days and months that followed, tried to deceive the public — not only Saeb Erekat with his lies about Jenin, but also Ali Abunimah with his lies about Saeb Erekat’s lies.

Gilead Ini..
CAMERA..
05 July '18..

In 2002, during the campaign of Palestinian suicide bombings known as the “Second Intifada,” and at the height of Israel’s counter-terrorist offensive to stop the attacks, Palestinian officials took to CNN to allege an Israeli “massacre” in the West Bank city of Jenin.

This charge, and the more specific allegation that Israel killed 500 people in the city, quickly spread through the media. Almost as quickly, it was walked back, after it became clear that just over 50 Palestinians, mostly combatants, and about two dozen Israelis, were killed during intense house-to-house fighting in the city.

“That’s not 500,” conceded one critic of Israel, in an article lamenting the “credulous response” by many of his fellow left-wing activists to false Palestinian claims about Jenin.

Reputations suffered. One of the Palestinian officials most responsible for the false rumors, Saeb Erekat, was ridiculed as “Mr. 500 dead in Jenin” by the director of the Center for Israeli Studies at University College in London. The New York Post was more direct, titling a column about Erekat and his accusations “Why TV News Loves a Liar.”

(Continue to Full Post)

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

.

Surprise? Quds News and Ali Abunimah cheer terrorist disguised as media member

...Perhaps next time Al Jazeera gives Ali Abunimah a platform to air his views, they could ask him why he cheered this abuse of media credentials that are meant to protect staff working in conflict zones. No doubt Abunimah will come up with some excuse, and of course his sympathies for terrorism have not been a secret.

Petra Marquadt-Bigman..
The Warped Mirror..
17 October '15..

This Friday, a knife-wielding Palestinian terrorist posing as a member of the press attacked and wounded an IDF soldier. As Reuters reported:

“[A] Palestinian posing as a journalist wounded an Israeli soldier with a knife before being shot dead near the West Bank town of Hebron, the Israeli military said.

Reuters television footage showed the Palestinian rolling on the ground and surrounded by Israeli troops after the attack. He was holding a knife and wearing a fluorescent yellow vest over a t-shirt marked “PRESS”.

The foreign press association in Israel and the Palestinian territories said it deplored the attack and called on Palestinian media organizations to verify all staff credentials.

The Palestinian journalists union said the knife attacker had no links to any media outlets and urged Israel not to use the event as an excuse to attack its press members.”

Concerns that this abuse of press credentials might endanger members of the media were also expressed on Twitter by the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg: “Palestinian knifemen disguising themselves as journalists are going to get actual reporters hurt.”

The Reuters report on the incident included a photo by Bilal al-Taweel with the caption: “A Palestinian (R) posing as a journalist runs after a wounded Israeli soldier to continue stabbing him before being shot dead near the West Bank city of Hebron October 16, 2015.

Now if you want to call it Gaza’s 9/11…

...The statement that “Palestinians are stuck in a repeating cycle” is actually one of the few true pieces of information conveyed in this graphic, but as so many surveys show, this vicious cycle is entirely the Palestinians’ own making. When almost three quarters of a population have confidence that Osama bin Laden would “do the right thing in world affairs” and almost 80 percent believe a war that resulted in more than 2000 dead, more than 10 000 injured and considerable destruction was a “victory” for the terrorist organization that started it, there is unfortunately no basis for any constructive development.

Petra Marquadt-Bigman..
The Warped Mirror..
11 September '14..

When Israel bombed a few high-rise buildings in Gaza shortly before Hamas finally accepted the ceasefire that had been offered for weeks, anti-Israel activists took to comparing what happened in Gaza to the terrorist attacks in New York on 9/11. Writing at his Electronic Intifada, Ali Abunimah claimed that “the overall death toll in Gaza since Israel’s bombardment began on 7 July proportionately far exceeds those attacks” and – on the basis of whatever mathematical exercises he was doing – he concluded that “Gaza has experienced about 125 ‘9/11s’ since 7 July” because “Israel has dropped the equivalent of an atomic bomb on Gaza.”

In a second piece on the same subject, Abunimah presented an “infographic” entitled “The Five Stages of Grief” that supposedly “reflects on the shared experiences of grief of Americans [after 9/11] and Palestinians in Gaza, while contrasting the stages of healing and recovery.”

If so-called “pro-Palestinian” activists have the chutzpah to make this comparison, it’s only fair to recall that the Palestinians were among those who cheered and celebrated on 9/11. While there were later attempts to claim that this was not true and while the Palestinian Authority made every effort to suppress reports of Palestinian jubilation, the respected Pew Research Center monitored Muslim public opinion about Al Qaeda and bin Laden for a decade after 9/11, and the survey results document that throughout this decade, Palestinians remained bin Laden’s most ardent admirers.

(Continue)

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Check-it out!
.

The proud supporters of terrorism, kidnapping and bigotry at the Electronic Intifada

...Supposedly, the content offered by EI reflects “the commitment of its cofounders and editors to universal principles of human rights, international law, anti-racism and equal justice.” However, the EI does not hide that when it comes to Israel and its Jewish citizens as well as supporters of the Jewish state, these laudable principles are replaced by a truly Orwellian definition of antisemitism that reflects Abunimah’s preposterous view that “Zionism is one of the worst forms of anti-Semitism in existence today” and that support for Zionism “is not atonement for the Holocaust, but its continuation in spirit.”

Petra Marquadt-Bigman..
The Warped Mirror/JPost..
15 June '14..

Shaped largely by its co-founder and “Executive Director” Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada (EI) is described on its own website as an award-winning and widely recognized “news publication and educational resource focusing on Palestine.” While the site caters mainly to anti-Israel activists like proponents of BDS campaigns calling for boycotts against Israel, it is sometimes cited by well-placed journalists like Robert Mackey of the New York Times.

Supposedly, the content offered by EI reflects “the commitment of its cofounders and editors to universal principles of human rights, international law, anti-racism and equal justice.” However, the EI does not hide that when it comes to Israel and its Jewish citizens as well as supporters of the Jewish state, these laudable principles are replaced by a truly Orwellian definition of antisemitism that reflects Abunimah’s preposterous view that “Zionism is one of the worst forms of anti-Semitism in existence today” and that support for Zionism “is not atonement for the Holocaust, but its continuation in spirit.”

Given these views, it is hardly surprising that Abunimah sometimes finds it difficult to conceal his enthusiasm for the kind of murderous “resistance” practiced by terrorist groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad. It is equally unsurprising that Abunimah would now refer to the three recently kidnapped Jewish teenagers as “settlers” and to the security forces searching for them as “occupation gangs” – which, in the context of Abunimah’s ideology, implies that the three yeshiva students were legitimate targets of the “resistance” that Abunimah supports.

A few hour after this tweet, Abunimah referred to the kidnapped teens as “Boers” and mocked Israeli statements reminding the Palestinian Authority of its responsibility to prevent terrorist activity.

However, compared with his EI colleague Rana Baker, Abunimah was almost restrained. Baker could not control her joy when she heard the “wonderful news” of the kidnapping of three “settlers.”

But Abunimah presumably shared Baker’s sentiments, since he supported her in the thread that developed from her jubilant “wonderful news” tweet. It is of course also revealing that Baker felt that the kidnapping of three Jewish teens would be cheered by everybody except for “Zionists.”

Meet "Electronic Intifada", where accuracy and integrity can be rare commodities indeed

Gilead Ini..
CAMERA Media Analyses..
15 August '13..

Electronic Intifada has a problem with quotations. The virulently anti-Israel website can’t seem to use them accurately or discuss them honestly, most recently stumbling into a controversy about a letter penned by Israeli founding father David Ben Gurion.

This probably shouldn’t come as a great surprise. After all, those behind the site, which directs its wrath not only at Israel but also at peace talks and Palestinian moderates, have repeatedly demonstrated problems with accuracy.

Falsehoods

Electronic Intifada founder Ali Abunimah, for example, belittled the rockets fired by Palestinian terrorists into Israel, claiming the projectiles "carry about a charge, or an explosive charge, of about two pounds." In fact, at the time of he made this remark, Palestinian rockets carried warheads of up to 40 pounds. That is, Abunimah reduced the actual weight of the warheads by as much as 95 percent.

He also flatly lied by saying The New York Times had published an equal number of front-page photographs depicting Israeli vs. Palestinian mourning during the 2008-2009 Gaza war. "It's like almost 1 to 1, or even more images of mourning Israelis," he insisted. Actually, in the relevant time period, six front-page pictures depicted Palestinian suffering; none depicted Israeli suffering or mourning.

Abunimah again fibbed in a recent article about threatening messages sent to Animals lead singer Eric Burdon.

The Electronic Intifada piece, which tried to discredit Burdon’s manager who reported the threats, also goes after activist Avi Mayer. Mayer posted on Twitter that "BDS thugs threaten 72-year-old. Eric Burdon of The Animals cancels concert in Israel, citing threats." (BDS is the acronym for the fringe anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.)

Avi Mayer @AviMayer

#BDS thugs threaten 72-year-old. // @EricBurdon of The Animals cancels concert in Israel, citing threats - http://bit.ly/18xvXU7 

7:00 PM - 23 Jul 2013

According to Abunimah, though, the article Mayer links to in his Twitter post "does not support his claim."

Except it is glaringly obvious, upon clicking on Mayer's link, that the article does support his claim. Already in its very first sentence, the piece notes that "former lead singer of The Animals Eric Burdon on Tuesday announced he is cancelling his planned concert in Israel, citing threats." The news story then quotes Burdon’s manager, who wrote, "We are under increasing pressure, including many threatening emails that we are receiving on a daily basis. I wouldn't want to put Eric in any danger."

(It is worth noting, too, that the Ali Abunimah who implies Burdon’s manager was cynically lying about threats against the singer is the same one who unquestioningly accepts such allegations when anti-Israel groups claim to be the victims of threats.)

Ali goes to Gaza

Petra Marquadt-Bigman..
A Warped Mirror..
26 May '13..

He tried and failed several times before, but this week, Ali Abunimah finally made it to Gaza. Obviously, the co-founder of the Electronic Intifada and passionate anti-Israel activist has devoted fans in the Hamas-ruled territory, and they eagerly awaited his arrival. Everyone – including Abunimah himself – was apparently a bit worried that there might be problems crossing the Egyptian-controlled border, which had been recently closed by Egyptian police to protest the kidnapping of several colleagues by Islamist gunmen. And it’s safe to assume that the fact that Israel couldn’t be blamed for the closure and other problems at the crossing made it all so much harder to bear…

Obviously, during his stay in Gaza, Ali Abunimah will do his very best to come up with many reasons to blame Israel. Indeed, his popular “narratives” about the bottomless evils of Israel and Zionism have presumably led to his invitation to the currently ongoing Palestine Festival of Literature (PalFest) – though it is a bit strange that an activist who likes to present himself as a serious reporter and political commentator would be invited to a festival that is supposedly devoted to literature and the arts. But perhaps Ali Abunimah’s advocacy should indeed be regarded as an art form that deserves to be featured in an event supported by organizations like the British Council and the Arts Council England?

I for one would never accuse Ali Abunimah of sticking to facts or bothering much with reality.

And sure enough, one of his first tweets after crossing from Egypt into Gaza illustrated one of Abunimah’s favorite fairy tales: that Israeli cities like Ashkelon are “occupied” Palestinian towns.

An open letter to Dan Yaseen

Fresnozionism.org
16 September '10

So, you are probably asking, who the hell is Dan Yaseen?

He’s the Vice President of our local “antiwar and social justice” organization, called ‘Peace Fresno‘. I’ve met him and he seems to be a nice guy.

Dear Dan,

Yesterday I listened to your program on KFCF, “Speaking Truth to Empire,” on which you interviewed Ali Abunimah. I tuned in late, unfortunately, so I didn’t hear the whole program. But the part I heard was all about Israel.

I heard you ask him friendly questions to elicit his opinion on this subject. And I heard him, in his polished way, spew a stream of lies. I heard him assassinate the character of a whole nation. I heard him implicitly advocate genocide — yes, you read me right, because this is what his support for Hamas means in practice.

I didn’t hear you disagree with a word of it.

Peace Fresno is supposedly against war. So how come you are on the side of those who have brought almost continuous war to the Middle East since Israel was founded (actually, since before that, because those same forces were killing Jews who wanted to live in the region since about 1920)?

(Read full post)

If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.
.

Hamas Isn't the IRA

And when it comes to the peace process, the Middle East isn't Northern Ireland.


Michael Weiss
Slate
17 September '10

With the resumption of Arab-Israeli direct talks comes the regurgitation of a minority view that these talks are destined to fail because Hamas is excluded. The first salvo in this ongoing campaign came from Palestinian-American blogger Ali Abunimah, an advocate of the one-state solution, who expounded upon the need for recognizing Hamas in the New York Times. Peter Beinart made the same case in a broader Daily Beast column about Obama's failed foreign policy. What both had in common, apart from thinking rather generously of a totalitarian and anti-Semitic Islamist party, is use of the Irish Republican Army and Northern Ireland as a convenient analogy for the Middle East peace process. Didn't the British government eventually sit down with Sinn Fein, the IRA's "political wing," after decades of murderous mayhem in Belfast and Tube, pub, and other bombings on the mainland? And can't the same lessons learned from the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which inaugurated the end of the Troubles, be applied to the Arab-Israeli conflict?

There are many obvious reasons why this analogy fails. The IRA never employed suicide bombers or called for the wholesale destruction of Great Britain. Nor was it the client of a theocratic state intent on becoming a nuclear power. It was also thoroughly integrated with Sinn Fein and could therefore act with greater strategic cohesion than the fragmented Hamas, whose political and paramilitary leadership is spread throughout Gaza, the West Bank, and Damascus, Syria. But, most important, the analogy misconstrues the history of the Northern Ireland peace process and the ultimate aim of the Good Friday Agreement, which was, chiefly, to undermine the terrorists, not to legitimize them.

(Read full article)

If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.
.

NY Times hits bottom, sticks

Fresnozionism.org
29 August '10

One would have thought that the New York Times could not possibly descend any lower, with regular columnists like Roger Cohen and Nicholas Kristoff — and then they strike the semi-solid layer of excrement at the bottom of the bubbling pool of filth in which they live and feed, and give a platform to Ali Abunimah.

Market forces will soon flush away this sh--ty little newspaper, as it well deserves. It can’t happen too soon.

Abunimah’s arguments are barely worth discussing. He draws an analogy between Hamas and Sinn Fein, suggesting that the initial refusal of the British to negotiate with the latter can be compared with Israel’s shunning of the former.

Of course Catholic nationalists did not intend to rid Northern Ireland of Protestants, nor did they believe that God commanded them to murder Protestants wherever they could be found. They did not believe that Ireland was a Catholic waqf and that the only solution to the presence of any Protestants on Irish soil was violent jihad (Hamas says all this and more about Jews and Israel).

It is one thing to enter negotiations with a group that has committed terrorist acts. It’s another entirely to talk to one that believes that it is their religious duty to kill you, all of you.

(Read full post)

If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.
.