In April this year, our benighted former Minister of Totalitarian Affairs Intelligence, Ronnie Kasrils, unleashed one of his typically rancorous anti-Israel pieces in the Star newspaper. The article was accompanied by 3 images claiming to illustrate the bloody path that Israel has chosen to embark on.
One of the images claimed that there had been a “massacre” in Jenin and another claimed that Israel had perpetrated a bloody massacre at the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps in Lebanon. The third image depicted some of the carnage that resulted in the recent war with Hizballah in Lebanon, a war started by Hizballah.
The media team of the South African Zionist Federation took the incident to the Press Ombudsman and the Star has today, issued an apology, but only for the reference to a massacre in Jenin.
It’s a small victory for us, but it some sections of the ruling should cause us to question the neutrality of the ombudsman.
The image of the Sabra and Shatilla massacre gave the distinct impression that Israel carried out the massacre. That was a lie, so why no correction?
The Ombudsman writes:
| A more careful reading of the Kahan report implicates Israel much more deeply than Ms Goldman accepts. For example: “The Chief of Staff, together with the people accompanying him, went to the Phalangists' headquarters, where, according to his testimony (p. 210), he ordered the Phalangist commanders to effect a general mobilization of all their forces, impose a general curfew on all the areas under their control, and be ready to take part in the fighting.”
And: “Brigadier-General Yaron spoke with the Phalangists about the places where the terrorists were located in the camps and also warned them not to harm the civilian population. He had mentioned that, he stated, because he knew that the Phalangists' norms of conduct are not like those of the I.D.F. and he had had arguments with the Phalangists over this issue in the past.” |
Even though the Ombudsman notes that (1) Israel didn’t actually perpetrate the massacre, and (2) Israel warned the Phalangists not to harm the Palestinian civilians, he still rules against the Zionist Federation’s complaint.
The Ombudsman ends his analysis of the photos with this piece of certain knowledge:
| Whether one agrees or disagrees with Kasrils on the source of the violence it is true that Israel has been on a bloody path. The intention of the newspaper in using these pictures was to illustrate that path. |
It may be correct to say that Israel has been on a bloody path in so far as the Arab nations have forced her hand – but Kasrils uses the phrase to suggest that Israel has single-handedly and unprovokingly caused all of the bloodshed. This is the pig-headed opinion that the Ombudsman has decided to side with.
Today’s edition of the Star published the apology along with the entire ruling by the Ombudsman. The apology reads:
|
Apology: In an article in The Star on April 7, we carried an analysis by Ronnie Kasrils entitled “A Call to Confront the Past” in which the writer examined what he regarded as terror conducted on the part of Israel to induce the Palestinians from the land of their birth. A complaint was directed to the Press Ombudsman by the Zionist Federation, and a ruling has been made. We apologise for inaccurately describing the events at the Jenin Camp between April 3 and April 18 2002 as a massacre. |
You can read the entire Press Ombudsman hearing here: The South African Zionist Federation vs The Star and the Cape Argus
Related
Could you post the other two photos.
Why does the Star not use the photo of Sabra and Shatilla to hilite the disunity and fractious relationships between Muslim and Christian factions in Lebanon. Whenever this massacre is brought up the Phalangists get off scott free and the Israelis get all the blame, yet it is the former that did the crime.
Posted by: L. King | October 28, 2008 at 03:07
Hi,
You can view the other photos (all 3) in this older post we did: http://supernatural.blogs.com/weblog/2008/04/the-star-sticks.html
You quite right - I reckon there is no other event in history that has been abused or used to scapegoatn as much as this one.
I cant remember who perpetrated them (wow, my knowledge is in rapid decline) but a few years after S&C far worse massacres were perpetrated either by the Lebanese Sunnis (or Shiites). Thomas Friedman writes about it in From Beirut to Jerusalem and asks why these latter incidents are never remembered. Perhaps we should find the dates and write letters to the local press commemorating these massacres...
Posted by: Steve | October 28, 2008 at 14:45
HI Steve
I agree with you, the ombudsman was extremely reluctant to write anything that could be seen as him agreeing with the zionist fed, you can see how much time he spent trying to get out of positive ruling. I mean really how many people in South Africa have read the Khana report in full length? I bet he didnt look for anything else once he found the passage that supposedly backed up his claims.
But what is more interesting is that despite his obvious bias he was still unable to call Jenin a massacre.
It is interesting, the two holy cows of Palestinian propaganda, Al Dura and Jenin are increasingly being shown for what they really are. Jenin is especially well milked in this neck of the woods and I shall very much enjoy pointing out that a major newspaper had to say sorry for making use of that kind of terminology.
Posted by: Bigben | October 29, 2008 at 12:57
Great point.
In fact, you can say that 2 newspapers have had to apologies because the Sunday Independent apologies way back in 2004 for calling it a massacre :)
Posted by: Steve | October 29, 2008 at 13:08
http://www.dangerouscreation.com/index.php/2008/11/23/why-israel-must-be-dismantled?blog=2
The other side?
Posted by: Questioner | November 24, 2008 at 01:33