Last week Joel Pollack managed to get a right of reply from the Mail & Guardian to the earlier Ronnie Karils article on the myths of Zionism. Op-Ed pieces at the M&G website are generally for subscribers only but the Kasrils article is available for free for anyone to read. The reply from Pollack however is in the premium content section and can only be read by subscribers.
Here however are some snippets from Pollack’s excellent reply.
| In 1993, Nelson Mandela declared that the African National Congress recognised both Palestinian and Israeli Claims: "As a movement we recognise the legitimacy of Palestinian nationalism just as we recognise the legitimacy of Zionism as Jewish nationalism." By trashing Zionism, Minister of lntelligence Ronnie Kasrils has removed himself from this consensus and moved toward a radical Position. |
Pollack rips through many of the Kasrils myths.
| Kasrils tells us that in 1948 , the Arab League sent “only five” armies to invade Israel, implying that this was a minority. But in 1948, the Arab League only had seven members. |
Pollack also informs that Kasrils uses the radical Palestinian advocacy group, the Media Review Network (MRN), as one of his sources.
| In a speech he delivered in Sandton in July 2002, Kasrils stated: “I wish to place on record my appreciation of the Media Review Network for providing me with much of the material referred to. |
On Friday last week the Laudium Sun published an article from Iqbal Jassat (Chairperson of the MRN) entitled “Iran’s anti Israel stance stuns Bush, Blair and Sharon but Ahmadinejad echoes sentiments of Muslims globally.”
Jassat says that “recognising Israel would be a betrayal of the Palestinian freedom struggle". He ends the article with this display of arrogance
| Apart from Musharraf, Mubarak, Hussein and Abdullah, find me a Muslim prepared to recognize Israel. |
Btw, this week no fewer than 3 op-ed pieces by MRN members appeared in mainstream SA media.
Posted by: Steve | February 09, 2006 at 22:40