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Dear HonestReporting Canada subscriber,

The International Court of Justice hearing into Israel's security barrier concluded Wednesday with presentations by Sudan, the Arab League, and the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). The OIC's representative, a Paris University professor, refused to denounce Palestinian suicide bombings, declaring that “The Palestinians have a legitimate right to oppose the Israeli occupation and it is impossible to denounce suicide bombings without examining the greater picture. Israel, since its inception, has been the one terrorizing the Palestinians”.

That argument goes to the heart of the Arab claim that "Israeli occupation policies are the cause of legitimate armed resistance by Palestinians."

Several Canadian news providers, including the Globe & Mail, Ottawa Citizen and Montreal Gazette, rejected that inversion and asserted that it is not Israel's security measures that cause Palestinian terror, it is Palestinian terror that brings about Israeli security measures.

Editorials

Tuesday's Globe & Mail, in an editorial titled "The intifada is stupid," declared:

The security barrier that the Palestinians are decrying at The Hague is a direct result of the violence. Israel would not even have contemplated such an extreme measure unless it was under repeated attack. In fact, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was against the idea until the public began pressuring him to do something about terrorism. Whether or not you believe the barrier is the right response to the terrorist onslaught (and there are good reasons to think it is not), it is a response. The barrier did not come out of nowhere. Suicide bombings are not a "pretext" for building the barrier, as Mr. Qureia seems to think. They are the main reason for it.

The Ottawa Citizen declared in an editorial:

All decent people long for a world without fences. But the reality is that Israel is surrounded by hostile neighbours, many of whom learn from birth that the Jew is a devil and "martyrdom" is good. Israel has the same right to self-protection as any other state.

And the Montreal Gazette, in an editorial titled "Israel's fence is sadly necessary," declared:

The fence won't stop the terror murders, but it will likely reduce the number of such outrages. The basic Mideast question never changes: what will it take to move from today's situation to meaningful talks aimed at an enduring peace? The answer starts with "a Palestinian will for peace" and "an end to terrorism."


MODS: This is an email from www.honestreporting.ca and therefore I can't excerpt it but rather can only post it in its entirety.

[Resistance]

1. LOL

This is one of the funniest articles I've read in awhile. The whole "Israel is surrounded by hostile neighbors" thing just cracks me up! Who are the comedians writing these editorials? LMAO!

Thanks.

:dem:

[JohnLocke]

10. Interesting.

So you're saying that Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt aren't hostile to Israel?

[Darranar]

16. Jordan and Egypt are both at peace with Israel...

Syria has been showing a willingness to negotiate, and in the current situation there Lebanon will likely follow.

[JohnLocke]

21. Hmm...

Whether or not armed conflicts occur is irreverent to the fact that hostilities remain.

[Darranar]

26. Yes, they still disagree quite a bit...

Mubarak needs to keep his population in check so he can continue serving as a guardian against democracy for the United States, and criticizing Israel is one way to do so. Distractions are always useful when you don't mess up, as the Bush Administration did in Iraq.

Jordan's regime is acting similarly. This "sympathy for the Palestinian people" rhetoric also manages to distract attention from the fact that Jordan's human rights record in regard to the Palestinians is anything but clean.

[dudeness]

2. yet more orwellian doublespeak..

war is peace..you know the rest..it just depends on which propaganda model you like to adhere to..

[Resistance]

3. the way I read it

Israel demands the right to rob, steal, and murder as they please, without any complaints or criticisms.

[Jim Sagle]

4. My reading is so different.

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[bemildred]

6. Wonderful irony.

Thanks.

[dudeness]

9. LOL

:)

[Resistance]

11. nice one, b

:thumbsup:

[dudeness]

7. Like I said jim..

depends on your taste in propaganda models..

[Jim Sagle]

8. I thought Chomsky said that.

[dudeness]

12. He may well have..

you like to read chomsky??

[Jim Sagle]

15. Yes, but he has a blind spot or two.

[dudeness]

17. I have yet to read

any particular author that demands religious zealotry and chomsky is no different..naturally he cannot appeal to everyones POV but his commentary is carefully researched and thought provoking..

[Resistance]

13. CHOMSKY RAWKKKS!!!

:headbang:

[Jim Sagle]

14. No way. He SUXXXXXXXXX, dewed!!!!!!!!!!

Although the KKK part is strangley apropos.

[Resistance]

18. DeWd!!

You callin' my boy Chomsky a Klan man? Them's fightin words chief!!

Take it back!!

[Jim Sagle]

19. Sorry...but the holocaust revisionists iz down wit their homesky.

Wazzup wid dat?

[bemildred]

20. Admitted, it wasn't one of Noam's better moves. nt

[Resistance]

23. admittedly, he should have known better

than to assume people would let their intelligence guide them on the matter

[bemildred]

25. I see we agree. nt

[Resistance]

22. Freedom of speech, dawg.

Either we have complete freedom, or we don't.

Which one do you want?

[bemildred]

24. That was Noam's POV, IIRC.

And I'm down with that, let the yahoo's yap, I say.
But I don't think Noam really needed to pick that bozo to
make the point.

[Resistance]

27. It was a waste of his time

But then, in my view there are lessons to learn from following an accurate account of the events as they unfolded. (Chomsky's biography written by Robert F. Barsky tells it very fairly; if you haven't come across that book, it is good.)

And I don't mean the lesson of "don't pick the holocaust revisionist" in defending free speech; what I do mean is the lengths people will go to try to smear a writer like Chomsky. The intentional stretching of facts way beyond their limits; the distortions and outright lies ... is absolutely despicable. Most every thinking person can clearly see that his defense is of free speech, not in denying the holocaust, yet you have all these so-called political pundits using the emotion of the holocaust for the purposes of smearing a speaker who's views they don't want others to pay attention to.

Yeah, I really learned a thing or two from following this particular story. For anyone that might be interested, I'd suggest doing some research and finding out what I mean. Influential people today are still trying to slam Chomsky, knowing full well that his defense was of free speech and not of the views of the writer he picked to defend. In my view, it's an atrocious insult to the victims of the holocaust, to capitalize on the emotion of the Nazi's crimes, just to try and gain an upper hand on a writer who says things you don't like hearing.

[dudeness]

28. bravo..bravo

well said..resistance..

[Resistance]

30. thanks dudeness.

And, sorry to get all serious down here in the basement - I don't know what came over me. Let's get back to the party!

:party:

[_Jumper_]

31. Really?

What did he say about the Holocaust?

[lefty_mcduff]

29. Heh, heh, heh. To quote an organization

called 'honest reporting' (translation - Pro-Israel reporting)' that in turn quotes the Montreal Gazette and The Ottawa Citizen as examples of unbiased reporting regarding the ME is absolutely hilarious!

Do a little bit of research on Can-West, Izzy Asper, and his reputation of incredibly Pro-Isreal leanings and pressure on editrorial staff to excise reporting sympathetic to Palestinians.

Here's a quick link -

"He was a myopic and dangerous hyper-patriot who would otherwise be reduced to caricature status were he of any other nationality. This is the guy who said in one of his famous after-dinner speeches that "honest reporting would tell you that it is a war to destroy Israel and kill or expel or subjugate all the Jews." This is a guy who held up the likes of Joseph Farah as being the ideal journalist - the same Farah who equates homosexuals with brownshirts and all Arab countries with Nazi Germanyl".

http://www.hour.ca/news/firstwatch.aspx?iIDArticle=653

[_Jumper_]

32. Joseph Farah

For those that don't know, he runs the ultra-right-wing site Worldnetdaily.

[Lithos]

33. Locking

Not a recent news or op-ed piece

Lithos
FA/NS Moderator
Democratic Underground