Truth Hurts, Doesn’t It, Paul?

Déjà vu anyone?

As we reported, the BBC staff might have their licenses revoked today for lies, bias, and all round stupidity. So when disgraced BBC Middle East Bureau Chief Paul Danahar had an Haaretz Twitter spell this morning, I asked him a simple question:

Typically, when faced with truth, the knee-jerk reaction is to block me.

And what was that he was praising? Why, the typical whiny Haaretz op-ed by Carlo Strenger about how the democratic Likud Primaries are undemocratic, will bring about totalitarianism in Israel, and how Tzipi Livni is Israel’s only hope:

But they [Yehimovich and Lapid] will now have to rethink their position: They might still argue that they will be able to safeguard Israel’s democracy from within the coalition. But they may well have to consider whether Likud-Beitenu has now crossed the line between Liberal principles and totalitarianism, and whether they would not serve Israel’s democracy better by creating a viable fighting opposition. They might join Tzipi Livni who has announced her return to politics and made clear that she will not join Netanyahu under any circumstance.

I am of two minds in this respect: on the one hand Netanyahu’s moderate coalition partners have so far averted the anti-liberal forces’ worst excesses, and Labor and Yesh Atid might play a similar role in Netanyahu’s next government.

On the other hand, Israelis should be finally faced with two clear alternatives: if Labor and Yair Lapid will refuse to join the next Netanyahu government, the fiction that Israel’s right wing is moderate will be dismantled. Such a government would run into head-on conflict with the world at large, and four such years of conflict will make Israelis realize the price of the occupation.

They will realize that they have to choose between a political ideology that will turn Israel into an internationally despised Pariah state and the forces of moderation that seek compromise with the Arab world.

Spoken like a true modern-day doomsday prophet, just like he did 4 years ago. And like the proverbial leftists knowing best, he knows who they we (!) should vote for.

So when Danahar posts clearly biased and replace-the-people kind of opinions while he represents the BBC, it’s our responsibility to out him, and others, as the propagandists they are.

Turth hurts, doesn’t it, Paul?

 

18 thoughts on “Truth Hurts, Doesn’t It, Paul?”

    1. Strongly disagree.

      I recall, many decades ago, an American newspaperclaiming hearing hawkers shout “ha’aretz, Jerusalem Post”, back when the JP was a Labor mouthpiece.

      Hawkers I heard said nothing of the sort – it was Maaareeev, Idiot – sometimes “Ma’areeev, Idioot, Haaaaaaaaaetz!.

      They distort reality based on the bullet-proof bubble they live in. It’s good when one occasionally gets proof.

      1. So your idea of a free press is something like the Netanyahu-flacking Israel Hayom, which Sheldon Adelson gives away for free? Give me Ha’aretz any day (when they get rid of the pay wall, that is).

        1. I don’t like Yisrael Hayom either, but at least it gives something of an alternative opinion.

          Do you know it was suggested in Knesset to have a minimum charge for a newspaper? That’s a wonderful way of silending the opposition.

          They give out Idiot these days often for a shekel, maybe free. I refuse all of the papers when they offer them to me; I’m not masochistic.

          Your idea of a free press is a stranglehold by the far left, or at least a debate between different wings of the Democratic party, like American media before the Washington Times. (See Edith Ephron, the News Twisters, a study of TV coverage of the 1968 election before computers simplified that sort of study.)

          1. There is a very simple reason why Israel Hayom outcirculates Ha’aretz. People like what they read in the former, otherwise they would ignore it at any price.

        2. jim

          haaretz has no readership. and yet the jew hating press and the jew hating activists make it seem to be the most important publication in israel

          1. I have come to accept this reality. And yet, I find Ha’aretz has the best take on Netanyahu and his problematic relationship with the Obama Administration. I see nothing traitorous in their editorial attitude in recognizing Arabs as human beings with hopes and dreams of their own. They employ real journalists, unlike what you find over at Israel National News/Arutz Sheva.

            1. Gideon Levy, as well as that guy they fired from the Jerusalem Post, cross the line. Unofortunately I have forgotton who did what, but supporting a boycott of your own country during wartime even meets the treason criteria of the US Contitution, and Israeli law is less strict i nits criteria.

              Who doesn’t “recognize Arabs as human beings with hopes and dreams of their own”? I work with them. Settlers deal with them all of the time. Of course, some of them hope and dream of killing Jews.

                1. Technically, that would nake the JP also guilty of treason, or rather thep ublishers. “Corporations cannot be accused of treason, as they do not have a soul.”

            2. Jim, I rarely recall reading anything of yours with which I have disagreed, but this I cannot agree with. I don’t have a link handy, but I have read editorials on Ha’aretz that would hardly have been out of place on Al Jazeera. I don’t see Ha’aretz simply as ‘recognizing Arabs as human beings’ but making a concerted effort to undermine Israel’s position.

              I would also argue that one can adopt a strong negotiating stance without arguing or in any espousing that you opponent in negotiations is not human or has no rights. I understand where you are coming from, but it is clear that every time Israel’s position has been undermined the Palestinian position has hardened, not softened, and negotiations have become more deadlocked. I would argue that, in many ways, supporting them like Ha’aretz does has done tremendous harm to the Palestinian people. They, like Israelis/Jews and all people’s, need to be reasonable in their expectations of what they will get and they are not. Call it tough love, but I look at it like feeding a drug habit….. the best thing anyone can do is stop enabling them.

              Methinks you’ll disagree, but that’s how I feel and I feel strongly that the history backs me up.

              1. Do I trust the Palestinian leadership as people of good will who only want the opportunity to live in peace with their Israeli neighbors? Not on your life. But I do trust the Israelis to be able to negotiate a two-state deal which establishes a state of Palestine and preserves Israel as a Jewish state with defensible borders. It won’t be easy, but you’ve got to get to the negotiating table first. The Palestinians have got to stop demanding all kinds of pre-conditions and the Israelis should accept the advice of their American friends and implement a settlement freeze on the West Bank. This is what Ha’aretz has been editoralizing for years and I agree with them.

    2. really?

      are you aware that all major media now report when things trend on twitter?

      are you aware that almost all major american sports franchises now have a social media dept?

      the net matters

  1. So, in other words, this Carlo Strenger is no different than some leftist political commentators in the USA who whine that the Republican party is racist/extremist/doesn’t represent most people’s views/etc. etc.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top