Everywhere I turn — or so it seems — attacks on Israel and Israelis are in process. The other day, after a long day of writing, I idly, instinctively channel surfed — and there was the infamous Christiane Amanpour grilling Israeli Foreign Minister Ehud Barak. Oh, how this half-British, half-Iranian journalist relished this task. All her questions were hostile and were meant to embarrass or castigate both him personally and Israeli policies in general. CNN’s poor excuse for Oriana Fallaci never paused to take a breath; she gave Minister Barak absolutely no quarter. Except once. That’s when Amanpour told Barak that he was still saying the same things about peace that he’d said ten years ago when she’d interviewed him, at which moment, she flashed back to that very interview.
Minister Barak said that he’d aged since then, but she seems to have gotten younger.
Many hairdressers, makeup specialists, perhaps a plastic surgeon or two may account for this, but still Amanpour smiled with embarrassed pleasure. She was looking good, better than she usually does. The flak jacket was gone, her hair was not salad-tossed, she wore an elegant suit and expensive gold earrings.
I admit: I did not watch the entire interview. I could not bear to do so. I have seen too many Israelis grilled in just this way — and too many Palestinians flattered and fawned over by the same American journalists.
From March 1st to March 14th, the sixth annual Israeli Apartheid “Week” will take place in 57 cities around the world. I have suggested that we launch an Islamic Apartheid Month because Muslims are the world’s largest practitioners of both gender and religious apartheid. The scapegoating of tiny Israel is merely a way of diverting the world’s focus away from the actual apartheid practices that characterize Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Egypt, Somalia, Yemen, Sudan, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Muslim-majority regions in Africa and Asia.
Israeli Apartheid Week is the continuation of Durban by another name and is meant to insure the continued isolation and demonization of the Jewish state. The race is on for world-wide sanctions, divestment, and boycott — not of Iran or Sudan, but of Israel. At the same time, Obama’s administration is refusing to sell arms to Israel and is simultaneously refusing to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons. From 2004 on, I have been writing about another attempted genocide of the Jewish people. Now, that’s what Ahmadinejad specifically says.
So: The good news matters more than ever. And there is some. Various groups (Hasbara, Christians and Jews United, Bnai Brith of Canada, and Stand With Us, among others) are joining the students at York University in Toronto to counter the lies by telling the truth. They are sponsoring an Israel Defense Forces week to explain Israel’s right to defend herself. Honest Reporting also has campus-worthy online materials to use to counter the Big Lies of Israeli Apartheid Week. So does CAMERA.
I too am deeply embarrassed whenever I have to watch and listen to Ehud Barak being interviewed by anyone, Israeli or foreign. Ehud Barak is the leader of the largest and most pro Palestinian Left wing party in the Israeli political spectrum, the Israeli Labor Party. What is most disturbing about Ehud Barak is that most of his Labor party’s positions are actually more extremely anti Israel and pro Palestinian than those of Ms. Amanapour, but unlike her, his party has done actual physical and moral damage to Israel with the Oslo Accords.
I am entirely at ease with non Jewish artists expressing their support for the good guys, that is us Israelis, in this war with the Islamic Arab world. I especially applaud their work at a time when far too many Jews both abroad and in Israel, groups like JStreet, Peace Now, and the New Israel Fund, are busy supporting and financing Israel’s enemies and their activities against Israel.
I am so proud and excited to be a part of this important endeavor. Thank you, Professor Chesler, for highlighting a program that I hope will raise awareness of the artistic community’s support for a country that is the beacon of human rights in the Middle East. This is a message of positivity and hope, rather than the vitriol that is par for the course for Israel’s enemies.
What an inspirational project for human kind.
It is about time! For too long, the enemies of Israel have lied to and manipulated the youth to believe that their cause was just. It is nice to see smart, young people standing up. Who knew that graffiti artists would lead the revolution!
We are honored by this article.
And, we are proud to be leading the fight in the cultural war.
Dear Phyllis
I find Amanpour unwatchable any more, as with most of CNN and BBC, not least when they touch on anything to do with Israel or Jews. Ditto for most what purports to be news in our newspapers, since these are just columns cribbed from The Independent in London which is the mother of most New Zealand newspapers like the Herald.
There is such a diconnection between the way most media treat the “murder” in Dubai or the Goldstone Report and the way I can piece it together from the Israeli, Jewish and “real”reportage–so much private blogs like your own.
The only bright spot here is that at the so-called Zionist table in the student cafeteria where I eat lunch, not only the one or two other Jews on campus who dare to define themselves in this way, are joined by some Iranian, Kurdish and other students who can be more pro-Israel and anti-Islamicist than we tired, cynical old codgers.
Maybe even brighter is the fact that the general student attitude, insofar as one can determine that, including all the Saudi and Omani students studying science or management, is complete indifference with everything going on in the world. They don’t even care what happens in the restructuring going on right now–post-modernism gone beserk.
So maybe we will be safe, if not saved, by the mass of intellectuals who are non-intellectual and who have no awareness or interest in what is happening in the world. Not even tsunamis–they ran to the beach to watch, which at least showed a spark of something–against the warnings of the police; or earthquakes–no compassion for the Chileans or haitians; or increased student fees–their own futures at stake.
Norman
That Christiane – sic – has Nothing to say about her beloved Palestinian Amin AlHusseini and what he – together with his Fellows – did? Is she supporting him, his History – and that of his Fellows – against the Rest of Humanity?
Maybe she’s looking Forward to become one of the 72 Virgins of Islamic Paradise ….
I am very excited to see someone doing something positive about this situation. So many people complain about the negative press, but never have a constructive solution.
Phillis- Thank you for showing a great angle on this something we all care deeply about.
WOW! It’s great to see artists getting involved… the children there need our support. A little art goes a long way.
This is such an amazing story! I am so happy to learn that there are artists out there, fighting the culture war on our behalf!
If the Arabs/Persians laid down their arms against Israel, peace would ensue. If the
Jews laid down their arms, Israel would cease to exist. Liars will say different; but the
reason the arabs, supported by Iran, will not
seek peace and recognize Israels ” Right to exist ” is because they hate Jews, Christians,
Hindu’s, Budda and every non islamic; marking them as satans helpers. Jus sayin….. God will be the final arbitor.
the nytimes is among the worst offenders, if not the worst. lately, the times is simply anti-semitic and their so-called “journalists” are some sort of insect population with the appropriate sized brain.
this thing must turn around or it will come to a confligration. jews will not entertain the notions of the 1930′s. if we can’t fix it, we’ll have to kill it.
How much do such trips cost? I would love to help fund this project but what is a good amount?
Christiane Amanpour’s interviewing/reporting is nothing more than depraved anti-Israel Muslim propaganda. She is revolting. I can’t stand to watch/listen to this woman. Iran’s students detest her.
About PALESTINE(by M.A. Khan)
Source: http://harowo.com/2009/12/06/are-minarets-the-bayonets-of-islam-by-m-a-khan/
Excerpt: “As concerns introduction of minarets, its beginning was, in fact, an act of borrowing the icon from Christian religious structures and using it to declare Islam’s supremacy over Christianity, the arch-enemy of Islam. And there was no better place of doing it than in Palestine, the holiest land of Christianity and the birthplace of Jesus. Here, al-Walid I, in 712, constructed first gorgeous mosque, the al-Aqsa mosque, fitted with a dome (of central Asian origin). The dome was constructed using remains of a destroyed church in Asia Minor. Thereafter, minarets began to be added on mosque-tops all over the world.”
***
About APARTHEID (by Amil Imani)
Source: http://thewestislamandsharia.blogspot.com/2010/02/amil-imani-islams-apartheid.html
Excerpt: “Here are some rules that keep women in their Muhammad – stipulated place.
If a Muslim woman is murdered, her beneficiary is entitled to one-half dyyeh – blood money, or compensation – as that of a murdered Muslim male.
A woman’s testimony in the court of law is worth one-half that of a man.
A woman must provide four witnesses to substantiate her claim of being raped.
A man can divorce his wife by simply saying to her, “I divorce you,” three times.
A divorced woman is entitled to a miserly compensation and automatically forfeits her rights to her children.
Women are barred from the lucrative and powerful cast of clergy.
Husbands are entitled to punish their wives corporally.
Men are allowed to have four wives at any one time and as many concubines as they desire and can afford.
Saudi Arabia, the custodian of “true Islam” imposes a raft of restrictions on women such as: women are not allowed to drive; they are not permitted to leave the country without accompaniment or explicit permission of their male kin; they are barred from most government jobs and much, much more.
Among other Muslims, such as the Taliban and the Pashtun of Afghanistan-Pakistan region, women are barred from education and not even allowed to leave the house unless accompanied by a male kin.
Since education, particularly professional education, is often denied to women in many Islamic societies, there is scarcity of women physicians and male doctors are often forbidden to treat women patients.”
Hello!
Hello!
For those “friends” of Islam, the great “religion of peace”, please check out newly released book “Son of Hamas” where ex-Muslim, Christian-convert, Palestinian Mosab Hassan Yousef defines Islam as a religion of hate that teaches to kill, and Hamas as an evil organization still centered in medieval times.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,587933,00.html?test=latestnews
As an artist going on this trip, I cannot express how everyones support in the arts, and bringing it to those in need of it, inspires me. I root for Israel in many debates, but experiencing it first hand will finally give me the tools to truly defend it against those that just are ignorant.
Phyllis — Thank you for the interesting story. (BTW there is another piece on PJM about Canada not going along with the nonsense of Apartheid week.) Also as a following up to MiamaMan @ #18, there is this piece in the Jerusalem Post: http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=170181
In the March 4 edition of the New York Times, Nichola D. Kristof wrote in his column, “Societies that repress women tend to be prone to violence.” Yes indeed. And the violence we have seen coming from Hamas, Hezbollah, etc. is representative of this violence. Nevertheless, people who claim to be pro-feminist are staging Israel Apartheid Week events in colleges everywhere. The Left has its priorities, and opposing the right of Israel and its people to live is priority #1. Women’s rights can’t compete with anti-Zionism, which takes preceddence over all other issues.
so societies that repress women tend to be prone to violence….
kinda like a pig tailed top hat throwing a woman off a bus in Tel Aviv because she didn’t give up her seat to an orthodox man???
oh no…. Jews are saintly in their goodness… at all times, in all places… to all peoples… well, maybe not ALL peoples.
Georgann Marks @ #22: Cultures have their extremes and their norms. What are you are citing is at an extreme in Jewish/Israeli society, not the norm (although I would be interest in the source for your claim). By contrast, in many Moslem societies letting the woman stay on the bus with other men present is the extreme.
“Jews are saintly in their goodness… at all times, in all places… to all peoples…
…………………………………
You won’t find a more civilized non-violent people than Jews. Meanwhile muslims are perpetrating bloodshed worldwide.
I saw part of that interview with Barak. I don’t know why Israeli officials would even agree to be interviewed by such a hostile individual. But if they are going to agree to be interviewed, the only thing he should have said to her was to ask her when is she going to harass the British government regarding civilian deaths in Afghanistan and if there’s going to be a similar Goldstone type report regarding that.
The Chesler philosophy in one sentence: The entire universe is a plot against Israel.
26. You’re wrong. It is: there are People who are plotting against Israel.
And you must be very disinformed not to know about it – there are publical official Statements of Will to erase Israel from World’s Map.
Nice article,
thank you for sharing this with us.
keep up great writing.
Not even tsunamis–they ran to the beach to watch, which at least showed a spark of something–against the warnings of the police; or earthquakes–no compassion for the Chileans or haitians; or increased student fees–their own futures at stake.
Back in 2000 at Camp David, Ms. Amanpour interviewed Arafat after he walked out on PM Barak. She asked Arafat why he had refused PM Barak’s generous offer of 100% of the Gaza Strip, some 90 odd percentage of the “West Bank” and an offer to have a swap to make up the difference. Arafat answered her: “ANY CONCESSION I WOULD MAKE WOULD BE A BETRAYAL OF MY PEOPLE, WOULD YOU BETRAY YOURS?”