Phyllis Chesler at FrontPage (thanks to Jerry Gordon) zeroes in on HBO's propaganda piece "Death in Gaza," which airs tonight. At her own website is Pierre Rehov's antidote.
(And for a useful summation of how I feel about the Palestinian Muslims, see here.)
The Great Propagandists focus only on the Palestinian "refugees" who are seen as the innocent victims of Israeli aggression. They never show us the human face of the true refugees of the Middle East who are (persecuted) Jews from Arab countries whom Israel absorbed with no help from the UN, or from UNRWA, nor do they explain that Palestinian suffering is primarily due to corrupt and murderous Palestinian and Arab leadership. In my view, Israel is definitely and regrettably responsible for at least 5% of Palestinian suffering; but no more. I have gone on record over the years, as have many other Jews, protesting this 5%. It is important not to pretend that 5% responsibility is equal to 95% responsibility.On August 12, 2004, HBO will be airing James Miller's BBC/Channel 4 film, “Death in Gaza,” (in Arabic and Hebrew) in which he interviewed Palestinian children only. Presumably, Miller was going to interview Israeli children too but he never did. Miller's widow, Sophy, has gone on record accusing the Israelis of purposely killing him on his last day of shooting in Gaza; if this was indeed his last day then perhaps Miller did not plan to interview any Israeli children after all.
After his death, Miller's wife and colleagues finished the film for him, and began a campaign seeking "Justice for James Miller." The film has been aired at many film festivals to rave reviews. The fact that the script was written by acclaimed journalist, Saira Shah, with whom Miller worked on “Beneath the Veil,” which was broadcast by CNN, ensures a devoted and vocal following. Shah, who is the English-born daughter of an Afghan father, is also the author of the “Storyteller’s Daughter,” which is a beautifully written book about her search for her Afghan roots.
Nearly four years ago, propagandists claimed that Israelis purposely killed the young boy, Mohammed al-Dura; the photo of al-Dura in his father's lap instantly became the icon for the al-Aqsa Intifada. By now we know that the boy most definitely was not killed by Israelis; ongoing investigations may soon reveal that the boy either may not have died at all--or may have been killed by Palestinians on purpose. Crazy? But what if it's true? Mohammed Bakri's film “Jenin, Jenin,” showed the Israelis committing a massacre there. Like “Death in Gaza,” Bakri's film has also been acclaimed at numerous film festivals. But, although Bakri is the darling of the Israeli left, and has been protected by the Israeli Supreme Court, the film is a lie.
There is only one filmmaker who has presented the truth in the matter of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and his nom de guerre is Pierre Rehov. I interviewed him in my home a few weeks ago. Rehov lives in Paris and, until the al-Aqsa Intifada, only visited Israel "for fun in Eilat." That changed in 2000. Since then, he has made six films about the Arab-Israeli conflict and is currently working on a seventh. When he could not get a distributor in France for his first film, he simply enclosed it in the copies of the magazine that he himself distributed monthly in France. Soon, everyone was talking about--and pirating the film. His “The Road to Jenin” was a huge success on Israeli television.
Rehov has not yet attracted a network to showcase his six films nor does he have a distributor in the United States. His latest film, “Hostages of Hatred,” will be shown at the upcoming Hampton International Film Festival. His films have been seen in both France and Israel. Indeed, on the anniversary of the Park Hotel Passover massacre in Netanya (which led to the Israeli incursion into Jenin), Rehov showed his film about Jenin and dedicated it to the 24 Israeli soldiers who died going into Jenin on foot from booby-trapped house to booby-trapped house, vulnerable to sniper-fire every inch of the way. Rehov invited the families of the dead soldiers and the survivors of the Park Hotel massacre. He personally fed 400 people. A former chief rabbi of Israel presided at a Passover seder table which stood in the exact spot where the suicide terrorist had blown himself and 32 Israelis to pieces. The rabbi said: "The only time that the blood libel against the Jews was ever true, (that Jews used non-Jewish blood to make matzot), was here, where the suicide bomber's blood mingled with Jewish blood on this Passover."
In Peter Bergson's/Hillel Kook's honor I have resolved that I must, in a small way, act as Kook would have done at this moment in history. Thus, starting today, on August 11, 2004, my website, (www. phyllis-chesler.com), will be hosting the recent films of Algerian born Jew, Pierre Rehov. I want those people who will watch “Death in Gaza” to finally have the option to see "the other side," in my view the truer side, which Rehov captures in his films. “Silent Exodus” is about the approximately one million Jews who had to flee Arab countries and about what their lives were like under Islam before Israel became a sovereign entity. “Hostages of Hatred” is a film which primarily interviews Palestinians--including children--about their views. The hero of “Hostages” is, perhaps, Bassam-Eid, the Director of Human Rights Monitoring for Palestine who bravely "tells it like it is." “The Road to Jenin” is Rehov's film about what really happened in Jenin.
The esteemed Bergson/Kook paid for ads in the NY Times when the major media (other than Hearst's publications) refused to print the truth. I can do no less. It is little enough to do. Please view his films at my website. Please send us your comments. Please help him find a distributor and a network.
I live in Europe, and most of the time don't dare to turn the Telly on. I gave up watching the news a long time ago. The madia has lost a plot, and conducting a witch hunt against Israel. I tried to write letters in the begining (when the intifada started), but i gave that up as well, because if you appear to be on the Israeli side, they won't care about your complain. I
Well, I've thought about this for approximately 1/2 of a split second. Yes, my support remains fully with Israel, because their so-called "Agression" is simple self-defense and self-preservation. Retaliation for barbaric acts carried out by Palestinians.
Why is it that so many of these amateur journalists continue to fall for this garbage?
I wouldn't be surprised if Michael Moore backed this thing. Any way to find out?
The reason why the journalists are on the Palestinian side is because it is Israel the JEWISH state is on the other side. No matter what horrific act Palestinians commit, and no matter if the Israeli reactions are mare acts of self defence, the media side with the Palestinians because it is Israel (the Jewish state) they are fighting.
And yes Michel Moore backs the Palestinians all the way. I've just read an article (I’ll try to find where I can't remember), and one of his friends said that he wanted to make a documentary already about the Intifada. Moore's friend said that if Michael makes a documentary about the Intifada, you'll see the real Michael (whatever that may mean, but I’m sure it's no good news for Israel). He also made some very negative comments about Israel, and Bush only caring for oil (the leftists mantra). I'll find the article if I can.
DC Watson,
From what I see in the European media, there is no such thing as Israel's right to self-defence. Israel should just take it. They should just die, or leave, as far as the European media is concerned. No matter how humane the Israeli actions are, no matter how much sense they make, no matter how effective they are, Israel has no right to act even as self-defence as far as Europe is concerned. I know now that Anti-Semitism has never left, it was hidden for a while, it was a bit out of fashion for a bit, but now it's back. It's a nightmare.
Gary,
I found the article, it was in the Front Page magazin, called "Hezbollah's Hollywood Hero" by Jacob Laksin, it was published on the 6th of July 2004 It is a really good article.
http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=14097
It says: "Though it’s largely forgotten today, in the early '90s Moore was workshopping an idea for a movie about the Palestinian Intifada. The project, provisionally titled Yitzhak and Me or West Bank Story, was never made. But John Foren, a reporter for the Flint Journal in Michigan, Moore’s adopted hometown, had no illusions as to what it would look like. “If Michael touches that [the Intifada], you're going to see the real Michael," Foren told the Washington Times in 1990. "And it's not something that people are going to love."
Moore also said about Israel:
"One clue comes from Moore’s book Dude, Where's My Country?, in which Moore contends that Israelis "know they are wrong, and...would be doing just what the Palestinians are doing if the sandal were on the other foot."
and
"Another clue is Moore’s naked contempt for the Jewish state. As Moore told an audience in Liverpool, Israel is part of his personal axis of evil: “It's all part of the same ball of wax,"
But the whole article is great.
The Rehov film sounds like something that should be aired on the pathetic Link TV (available through both Dish Network and DirectTV), which shows such garbage as John Pilger's Palestine is Still the Issue (see http://www.worldlinktv.com/programming/programDescription.php4?code=palestine)
The reason why the media gives the palestinian arabs such a spotlight and only gives their side of the story is simple. Most Western journalists are extreme liberals who are taught the "evilness" of the "white man" at college. They have been indoctrinated to think that Europeans have committed the most savage acts against ethnic people.
The palestinian arabs are perceived as "brown" ethnic people who are victims and the Isrealis are perceived as white European colonialists who are taking over their land. Never mind that the Jews actually lived there first.
The atrocities carried out by the muslim MAJORITY in Sudan, Iran, Afghanistan etc against the other MINORITY religious and ethnic groups pale in comparison to the Israelis treatment of palestinians. However this never makes the news because to show "non-white" people in a bad light is to be considered a racist.
The irony is that this "white guilt" causes more deaths of ethnic people around the world due to the lack of media attention and resulting inaction due to the lack of knowledge.
For example I had heard of the massacres and slavery in Sudan about 3 years ago and wondered why it never made it to the mainstream news.
Same thing with the Rwandan genocide.
Michael Moore's idea of the modern day Minuteman is someone who launches rockets at elementary schools. The man is an intellectual black hole.
Dear SonofMoses,
I fully agree with you on your point that Europe cannot get over its colonial past. I agree that Europe just won't let go of the guilt that comes from its colonist dark days, which lead to the view that everybody who is white and rich(er) must be bad, and everybody not white, and poor(er) must be good, regardless of the circumstances. Full Stop. I also agree with you that by now the Media won't even talk about atrocities committed by not white people. I heard about Sudan over two years ago, but when I mentioned it to others, they thought I’d lost the plot, because they’ve never even heard of it (and by that time it had gone on for years).
But I think that in Israel's case the Media goes further than this. It is quite usual in the European Media to compare Israel to the Nazis, to compare Sharon to Hitler, to compare the situation in the West Bank to the concentration camps etc. I've also read articles, which question Israel's existence all together (Guardian for example). I just think that when it comes to Israel, there is much more than just the collective guilt of the colonial past.
But I think that in Israel's case the Media goes further than this.
This doesnt surprise me. Europe has always been mostly anti-semetic. For hundreds of years the church has preached the collective guilt of the Jews for the death of Christ. Even today much of the new testament speaks of the Jews as a different entity to that of Jesus and his followers.
Unfortunately for us Jews, both the Christian faith and the muslim faith have developed at the expense of Jews. Fortunately for us Jews, the Christians in the USA see Jews as an integral part of Christianity and value us as "partners" in the worship of God. I think in Europe that Jews are the "evil people" is the prevalent thought and thats why there is a desire to present Jews as nazis. Ironically Israel would never have been created had Jews not been persecuted and abused in Europe by the nazis. Most Jews had lived there for centuries and had no desire to emmigrate to a patch of desert in the middle east.
I'm 40 years old and I still cannot understand why Jews are hated so much. How can something that occured with a small bunch of Jews who opposed Christ over 2,000 years ago lead to an ongoing hatred of a people who just want to live like everyone else does and practice their faith?
Maybe God has a sick sense of humor ;)
Son of Moses
There is the collective guilt that you posit as one reason why BBC and Western media is pro-Arab. Another reason is fear. In the Lebanon war in the eighties, journalists soon realised that fair and fearless reporting of Arabs, carried a severe penalty viz kidnap and murder by Palistinian , Amal or sundry Arab gunmen. But BBC journalists had to show, if to no one but themselves, that they were fearless in their reportage. So Israel was easy to report 'fearlessly', as it carried no penalty of murder by gunmen.
This message was continuously reinforced by Arafat, just in case Western reporters forgot the lesson. The Italian cameraman and his employers who apologised to Arafat, because he had filmed the dismemberment of two Israeli soldiers, is a case in point.
Dear SonofMoses,
I agree with everything you said. I'm half Jewish, and 30 years old, i've also been trying to figure out why we are hated so much (i'm consider myself Jewish). I guess i've got a lot more thinking to do.
What the Europeans have forgotten already, despite their experience with the nazis, is that the Jews are like the "canary in a coalmine"
Jews are typically the first and an easy target, and then later its everyone else. These Europeans will find out sooner or later, the hard way, that after the Jews have been dealt with, the Christians will be next.
I look forward to the day that the muslims offically take over France and turn the Eiffel tower into the minaret for Europes biggest mosque and Yves St Laurent are only allowed to sell designer hajibs.
Son of Moses wondered "I'm 40 years old and I still cannot understand why Jews are hated so much."
Mark Twain actually explained this very simply. "There is nothing people hate more than a good example."
If you could delete Jews and their legacy from the world, and all their attendent nonsense about morality and ethics, kindness, tzedakah (charity), faith, belief in the goodness of G-d and the goodness of everything in the world because G-d is good and incapable of creating anything bad --we may want to rethink this part a little ;-)--then you would have a world truly of Satan.
Vast numbers of the world's population would be free to act on their basest, most animalistic instincts, they would be able to steal, rape, plunder, or kill without anyone shaking a finger and saying "That's not right." You would have much of the world where there are no absolutes, where crimes may be unacceptable one day and encouraged the next. Some people want to embrace a world such as that. They long childishly to cast aside responsibility and live heedlessly. Who would be the final authority? Who would be able to say what was good. Or what was evil through all of time, through all of history, from age to age, one epoch to another. People would say "Times change. We don't have to pay attention to prohibitions against stealing. If I want something and someone has more of it than I do, why shouldn't I take what I want? If I want to commit adultery, why should I care if my spouse's feelings are hurt or my children lose their respect for me? I must do what satisfies me, no matter who is hurt."
But there are absolutes to truth and the law. People do have rights. Jews remind the world we are held accountable for our actions in front the highest court of all, the judgement of G-d.
Why are Jews hated Son of Moses asks? Because of an incident on Mount Sinai where someone else named Moses received the Ten Commandments. Jews were chosen not because they were so wonderful, there are many examples in the Torah to argue against that, but for whatever reason G-d had, maybe being able to see into the future, maybe knowing Jews would persist when others would not, maybe who knows what because man cannot read the mind of G-d, thru the Jews G-d gave the world law.
And that is what is the unforgivable sin of the Jews in the eyes of the world.
There is truly nothing people hate more than a good example.
I think that Christians have hated Jews because Christians ripped off their religion. I think that muslims hate Christians and Jews for the same reason.
There is a good quote in the movie "Becket", where Richard Burton, who plays Becket says, "one always hates those whom one has wronged."
I think that Christians have hated Jews because Christians ripped off their religion. I think that muslims hate Christians and Jews for the same reason.
There is a good quote in the movie "Becket", where Richard Burton, who plays Becket says, "one always hates those whom one has wronged."
The bottom line is: NEVER AGAIN.
The Europeans like to insist that Israel is equivalent to Nazis because, in so doing, they can fully absolve themselves of the stain of their own history (fascists and antisemites during WWII were NOT exclusively Germans).
They can say: "We were then no worse than the Jews themselves are today - indeed, we're BETTER, because we're standing up for the poor, oppressed 'Palestinian' victims...."
Here's a classic example of how Muslims are running our Universities in Canada,it's bad enough
they rioted,assualted police,spit on Jews and then trashed Concordia U. because a
auditorium was booked for a Israeli to talk to Jewish students.
Below is a link to a flyer that asks Muslims to denounce terrorism and reclaim Islam for the peaceful and tolerant religion its said to be,sadly the Pro-Palestinian student group that actually is a Pro-Islam propaganda wing,petitioned the Government to ban the Jewish student body because they new the gutless PC leaders would bow down to the threats of these Islamist. By the way,most of the Muslim students are in Canada on compassionate grounds to get a Tax-funded education which is usually in Political-Science taught by middle East professor's from Islamic Countries.
This is common at the majority on Canadian Universities,Jew-bashing is the choice of recreation for the Muslim thug that are recruiting Jihadist by their propaganda to demand a Islamic state in Canada.
CAIR Canada doesn't give a F**k about the bombing
of Churches in Iraq,their webpage is screaming bloody murder about a Mosque in Hamilton that was hit with a egg during the summer break for young kids that may do pranks. Remember that most Mosques in Canada are vacant building or ex-Churches,some new Mosques are getting built and let see if they get hit with eggs once kids know
what they are.
http://www.caircan.ca/downloads/UWO_scan.jpg
This is common at the majority on Canadian Universities,Jew-bashing is the choice of recreation for the Muslim thug that are recruiting Jihadist by their propaganda to demand a Islamic state in Canada.
There's a good saying that goes, "When you lie with dogs, you get fleas"
Those Canadians, like the Europeans, will soon discover the evil they have allowed to grow in their backyward. Once the muslims takeover and impose their sharia law they will have no choice but to fight or be submissive. Maybe thats what it will take for them to take action. Maybe if a few muslims gang rape their wives and daughters like they do in Australia they will wake up. If not, then too bad, but its their loss.
Evil can only flourish when good men do nothing.....
BTW Its not surprising that its happening in Canada since half of those people are descendents of those spineless frenchmen.
I found a good article on it and its not surprising that it happened in Quebec, the French dominated province. Just like they bend over in France for the muslims, they also do so in Quebec. I always wondered how Napoleon could have ever won any wars with those French soldiers.
Here is the article, also a lot of good references to whats written in this thread.
http://www.root-1.co.il/concordia.htm
Isreal has been warning the world about radical
Islam for decades but nobody heard them. I hope somebody in Haifa, Israel
will invent solar energy and
we can get rid of Allah(swt)'s oil. The lazy Saudis must work or else become another Bangladesh.
USAgirl: Here's the article you wanted.
If anybody can get a hold of her, below is the link to the article on an Islamic site that brags about Islam and Muslim history is being taught in the Canadian Public School system with the support from various levels of Canadian Governments and the NDP and Teachers Union's connected to the NDp as financial supporters.
Please read the story and see how the sick people are exposing children to the horrors of the WTC attack and brainwashing kids that Muslims had nothing to do with the attacks.
The story also claims that Muslims founded America long before Columbus,their plan is to indoctrin kids with a false history to be open to sympathy and conversion to Islam when their adults.
CAIR loves to defend a separation of Church and State so it can assure sole access to brainwash our kids,CAIR Canada's website spews a overt hatred of non-Muslims and treats them as guilty befor proven innocent. CAIR is now demanding that the Ontario Government stop the use of the word "Shariah" in their push for Shariah Law in Canada for disputes among Muslims.
Yes you heard it again folks,
CAIR "DEMANDS" the infidels submit to the will of Allah and allow the Quran to control Muslims and not our Charter of Rights they used to get into Canada as a persecuted foreigner.
Wake-up Canadians,the Khadr family is living among us and the Mother wants her sons to dies as Jihadists for Allah,the Khadr son is demanding Canada issue him a Pasport to get into the USA.
Remember the Somali conflict and how the Warlord Adid sent his wife here with the 4 or 5 kids and held a press conference with her lawyer to demand
walfare money as a refugee. Lets not forget the U.S. special that showed her Son that had a big house in the States and a high paying job, yet her warlord husband shipped her to the "Sucker-Nation" called Canada to free up money
for shooting down a U.S. helicopter and dragging a dead American through the streets of Moghdishu.
The Millenium bomber that try to blow up the LAX Airport lived on welfae in Canada for 5 years and got all our social programs and housing paid for by the tax-payer. Our Universities are recuiting center for Jihadists and now controlled by the Muslims that use the threat of violence to get their way.
Once Islam is being taught in every public school and our Government allows Shariah law we
will be forced to adjust to avoiding offending Muslims and racism will continue to be use to make all of Canadian schools run be Islamic teaching.
parents, check out what your school is doing and demand to see the anti-racism booklets and
their application in the classroom. Muslims are not a race so Islam has no right in the public schools as well as other faiths,remember that all kids will be indoctrined with the knowledge of Islam and Sihks and Hindu's shouldn't be forced to sit through this crap.
Supporter of this program say the classroom is where all faith need to be taught and it will make better adults and tolerant citizens.
Bull, Islam is a death cult out to rule the world under the guise of bringing peace,I know this because the Jesus in the Quran was a prophet that predicted it and Muslims can't even see the truth of this prophecy that was to protect us from Islam and Muhammed.
http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2004-06/22/article06.shtml
No offense to any Canadians who visit here, but are your people stupid?
You pride yourselves on a multicultural society, but have allowed muslims to force their culture on the other cultures. How can that be called multiculturism??
Multiculturism can only exist if every culture is respected as an equal. It sounds like the only culture thats respected is islam, and at the expense of all other cultures.
Granted we know thats the way of the muslim, but why is Canada bending over so that the muslims can shove a minaret up your collective asses??
That IslamOnline site is fascinating. In the one article you posted they said this:
"Other activities also promote alternative examples of Muslim women as social and political activists rather than the stereotyped images of oppressed victims."
Then if you click on the quaran page it says this
"It is the actual Word of Allah, not created but revealed for the benefit of all mankind. Allah says: "It is He Who sent down the Criterion to His servant, that it may be an admonition to all creatures" (Al-Furqan: 1). "
But in the quaran itself, which is the word of allah, it says that a husband can beat his wife. And it also says that a women is a possesion of her husband like a domestic animal is.
How do these people manage to claim that women are not oppressed under islam and say its a stereotype when this is how their quaran says women should be treated??
Why are we the ones who created this stereotype when that is what they teach in their society??
These people are really something else.....
ala,
Thanks for the article, I shall be checking with my sons schools as to whether or not they are teaching this evil and shall take action if they are. Prayer is not allowed in public school, there is NO WAY that my children will be taught the sanatized version of this vile sickness by some greasy smiling bearded freak of a muslim...no way!!
On topic...
On wednesday a documentary was aired on CBC about the jenin "massacre"...it was so nice to see the pals portrayed as liars and the Israelis portrayed on the "good" side. The documentary centered on a soldier who wanted his name cleared with regards to "war crimes" that were supposedly committed in jenin...the pals of course said that over 500 civilians were killed and the camp destroyed by "evil" Israeli bulldozers....when the smoke cleared and the truth knocked those vile pals on their shaved arses...26 civilians dead and 7%(just the part that the major fighting was in) was destroyed. The idiot pals were even bragging to a reporter how they "drew the Israeli soldiers into the most populated areas" once again confirming the cowardice of muslims...hiding behind women and children. The film even shows footage from a spy drone of the pals staging a funeral...they were caught wrapping a LIVE person in a burial cloth...I have no sympathy for the pals at all.
son of moses wrote above:
'Even today much of the new testament speaks of the Jews as a different entity to that of Jesus and his followers. '
i challenge anyone to give me one anti-jewish
statement in the new testament.