Does Sunday Independent columnist Rob Amato read It's Almost Supernatural (IAS)?
In this week's Sunday Independent Rob Amato writes a column about things he finds vulgar. One of them caught my attention.
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Now I follow the media quite closely, and there is only one place I know of that has recently referred to Stephen Friedman as a token Jew. I referred to him as a "token Jew" in this entry on IAS!
| Finally, we have the token Jew, Stephen Friedman - Friedman is a South African freelance journalist who has repeatedly called for a one state solution and written about Israel being an Apartheid state. |
It is quite obvious that Amato reads this blog. I referred to Friedman's inclusion on a biased anti-Zionist panel as representing the token Jew on that panel; I did not call him a token Jew in and of himself. Amato is clearly confused - or he is just being sensationalist.
If mainstream South African media columnists are going to criticise what this blog says then they should have the guts to mention this blog's name. Some context around their criticism should also be provided.
Anyway, here are some gems from Amato's confused column.
Amato writes that it is sinister and vulgar for Israel and the US to discuss ways to destabilise the Hamas Palestinian government by starving them of money and international connections.
| They say Hamas will be given a choice: recognise Israel's right to exist, forswear violence and accept previous Palestinian-Israeli agreements - as called for by the UN and the West - or face isolation and collapse. |
Can an honest person really claim that those demands are sinister and vulgar?
Amato continues
| What Erlanger does not say is that this destabilisation strategy if officially endorsed (as one fears it may be by Bush's vulgar government) would be a grossly unfair approach by Israel and the US to the first democratic election in the legal process started so long ago by the Oslo Convention that set up the Palestinian Authority. |
The problem with Amato's confused analysis is that Oslo's foundational documents for the PA precluded Hamas from ever being part of the government.
The Oslo interim agreement that Amato refers to contradicts his entire thesis. Annex 2, Article III (1995) outlines eligibility for PA elected office:
| The nomination of any candidates, parties or coalitions will be refused, and such nomination or registration once made will be canceled, if such candidates, parties or coalitions: (1) commit or advocate racism; or (2) pursue the implementation of their aims by unlawful or nondemocratic means. |
As Honest Reporting point out - Hamas fall under both categories. "its official charter (calling for jihad against all Israelis and universal conversion to Islam) is as racist as they come, and its terrorist means are certainly 'unlawful and nondemocratic'"
Can anyone in their right mind really expect Israel to accept a one state solution in combination with radical Muslims who's display of intolerance after the mere drawing of 12 cartoons is of such a level that one can only try and imagine what their reaction would be if forced to live side by side with the very Jews that they have openly hated for the past 60 years. Get real, guys and stop deluding yourselves. If you were in the position of the Israelis, would you happily accept this fate ?
Posted by: Victor | February 20, 2006 at 17:08