by Yair Lapid
Hat tip: Darrell Simms
Publishing an opinion piece full of invented horror stories, the Times neglected to tell its readers that the author is a murderer, convicted on multiple counts in a civilian court
A man holds a photo of convicted Palestinian terrorist Marwan Barghouti calling for his release during a rally supporting those detained in Israeli jails after hundreds of prisoners launched a hunger strike, in the West Bank town of Hebron on April 17, 2017. (AFP Photo/Hazem Bader)
The thing which stands out most – and is most infuriating – about the opinion piece published by Marwan Barghouti in the New York Times is the single sentence below the article identifying the author. “Marwan Barghouti is a Palestinian leader and parliamentarian,” it says dryly. That isn’t an error, that is an intentional deception.
Anyone who reads the column without
prior knowledge of the facts will come to the conclusion that Barghouti
is a freedom fighter imprisoned for his views. Nothing is further from
the truth. The missing part of the column is that Marwan Barghouti is a
murderer. He was convicted in a civilian (not military) court on five
separate counts of murder of innocent civilians. He was involved in
dozens of attempted terror attacks. He caused people to lose their
families and led to people being maimed. He destroyed lives.
Barghouti doesn’t only believe in violence, he
also believes that its permissible to lie. He believes in the approach,
which typifies terror organizations, that the West is weak and naïve
and so our media and good intentions should be cynically abused to
attack us from within.
The attempt by the New York Times “to be
balanced” amuses Barghouti. He understands that this sacred attempt at
balance creates equal standing between murderer and murdered, terrorist
and victim, lie and truth.
So Barghouti tells horror stories about
torture he underwent during Israeli investigations. There is no factual
basis for these stories. The torture he describes is prohibited under
Israeli law and even Israel’s greatest opponents must acknowledge that
we abide by our laws.
The reality is that a convicted terrorist is
inventing stories about those who imprison him, as prisoners do all over
the world, including in the United States.
Instead of saying to him – as a responsible
newspaper should – that if he doesn’t have a shred of evidence to
support his stories then they can’t be published, the New York Times
published them in its opinion pages and didn’t even bother to explain to
its readers that the author is a convicted murderer of the worst kind.
The peak of Barghouti’s violent ‘career’ came
during the Second Intifada. It’s worth remembering that it broke out
immediately after Israel’s prime minister at the time, Ehud Barak, made
the Palestinians an offer that the whole world, including president
Clinton, thought was impossible to refuse: a withdrawal to 1967 lines, a
division of Jerusalem, a humanitarian solution to the refugee issue.
Yasser Arafat said “no” and sent Barghouti and his people to murder
Israelis in suicide attacks on buses and in shopping malls.
That’s why Barghouti is in prison. Not for his
views, not for his desire for a Palestinian state, not for his right to
freedom of expression. He could have – along with the prisoners who are
with him – been a free citizen of an independent Palestinian state long
ago. He chose the path of terror, murder and violence.
But the New York Times neglected to tell its readers that.
Yair Lapid is a member of Knesset and the chairman of the Yesh Atid party.
Source: http://www.timesofisrael.com/what-the-ny-times-didnt-say-about-barghouti/
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