PMW Bulletin : Maan removes Antisemitic article following PMWs exposure

PMW Bulletin Jan. 31, 2013
Ma’an removes Antisemitic article
following PMW’s exposure

http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=8517

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
p:+972 2 625 4140 e: [email protected]
f: +972 2 624 2803 w: www.palwatch.org

Following Palestinian Media Watch’s exposure yesterday of a venomous
Antisemitic article published by the independent Palestinian Ma’an News
Agency, Ma’an removed the article from its website.

Ma’an’s administration wrote that it removed the article “because it
contains incorrect information and hateful content that are unjustified and
which do not in any way represent the opinion of Ma’an or its editorial
policies.” (See full statement below.)

Among others, the Antisemitic article included the following statements:

“[The Jews] feel inferior to the nations and societies in which they live,
because of the hostility and evil rising in their hearts towards others and
for their plots and schemes against the nations who know with certainty that
the Jews are the root of conflict in the world, wherever they reside.”

“[Jews are] outcasts in every corner of the earth, and not one nation in the
world respects them… but Allah’s curse upon them and his fury at them
cause them to continue with their transgression.”

“Allah has stricken fear in their hearts and decreed humiliation and
degradation upon them until Judgment Day.” (see full article below.)

Ma’an removed the article and posted its retraction in Arabic three hours
after PMW’s exposure.

Ma’an News Agency is part of Ma’an Network which partners with the European
Commission (the EU), UNDP, UNESCO, the Government of Denmark, the Government
of the Netherlands, and UKaid.

The following is the complete retraction on Ma’an’s Arabic website:

“‘Israel is Trembling!’ – This item has been deleted”
by: The Administration

“This article has been removed.
It was written by one of the [news] agency’s readers, Sawsan Najib Abd
Al-Halim, and not by one of Ma’an’s journalists, writers or editors.

[The article has been removed] because it contains incorrect information and
hateful content that are unjustified and which do not in any way represent
the opinion of Ma’an or its editorial policies. It was published during the
war against Gaza (i.e., in response to Hamas rockets, Israel’s Operation
Pillar of Defense targeted the terror infrastructure in the Gaza Strip), and
[Ma'an's] staff was unable to examine it thoroughly because of the workload
caused by the war. [The article] was published in the articles’ section
intended for [submissions by] readers.
However, Ma’an will re-examine the policy of publishing readers’ articles to
avoid the occurrence of similar mistakes.”
[Ma'an News Agency's website,
posted Jan. 30, 2013, accessed Jan. 30, 2013]

The following is the Antisemitic article that Ma’an published and then
removed:

“Israel is Trembling”
by Sawsan Najib Abd Al-Halim

“We’re used to seeing vampires in Dracula movies, where the murderer and the
vampire act in the dead of night, and as soon as dawn breaks, the murderer
disappears and hides during the day.
The brave warrior, who at the very least has moral values, fights in the
daytime. In all wars, in all eras, honorable nations conducted their battles
during the day and slept at night. But has Israel even a trace of morality?
A brave warrior is proud when he confronts another [warrior] as brave as he,
and the more he is struck, the stronger he grows, proud in his struggle and
respectful of his adversary. But since Jews are – as our grandparents said
of them – sons of death (expression of contempt, meaning ‘a coward,’ -Ed.),
they are too cowardly to confront an enemy face to face, especially if their
enemy is as well armed as they…
Jews think that their fortresses will protect them from death, but any
breach of these fortresses or protective walls instills panic and fear in
their hearts, and they are seized by fear and trembling. If a missile falls
beyond their protective walls or if even a bullet passes over them, you can
see how their hearts fill with horror – and this is because Allah has
stricken fear in their hearts and decreed humiliation and degradation upon
them until Judgment Day…
Historically, it is known that the lives of Jews have always been war and
fighting. The only reason for this is that they have been outcasts in every
corner of the earth, and not one nation in the world respects them, for they
cause strife, and scheme everywhere they settle. We know that they have been
defeated in every war they have fought throughout history, and they have
been dispersed in every direction, but Allah’s curse upon them and his fury
at them cause them to continue with their transgression and tyranny.
A coward acts brutally when he can, but runs for cover humiliated, when he
faces anyone who is his equal. Our fathers told us of one Palestinian before
1948 who was holding a stick while walking the streets of Tel Aviv, and he
drove away scores of cowardly Jews…
Psychologically, they have been defeated through the ages and feel inferior
to the nations and societies in which they live, because of the hostility
and evil rising in their hearts towards others and for their plots and
schemes against the nations who know with certainty that the Jews are the
root of conflict in the world, wherever they reside.
Jews think that every shout is against them, and what better proof is there
than the slogan they voiced to the world – which is ‘Antisemitism.’
Therefore, the only way we can deal with them, when we are weak militarily
compared to Israel’s power, is to stick to the threat to annihilate Israel,
not to submit to its [Israel's] desire for a cease fire, and keep the flame
of resistance burning. Rather than [violently] resist and then back off
somewhat, whereby we give them the impression that we are afraid of them.
There is nothing wrong with our sitting with them to talk, but the
resistance must always continue. Late President Yasser Arafat, peace be upon
him, understood the Jews’ weakness, so he showed them the face of peace in
negotiations, and at the same time raised the slogan ‘Every day a settler.’
This is the slogan that terrorized the Jews, and which many Palestinians
have forgotten. They may have forgotten why the comrade-fighter Marwan
Barghouti was arrested. Wasn’t it because he was the one given the job to
fulfill this slogan? (Marwan Barghouti is serving 5 life sentences for
orchestrating terror attacks against Israeli civilians. -Ed.)
Let us again be united in the message against the Jews and turn the weapons
against them. Every time the guns and stones are directed at the Jews, they
become angry, seized by fear, their brutality increases and our sacrificing
increases more and more. Jews know that the more their brutality increases,
so our resolve and defiance are strengthened against them, until Allah will
strike terror in their hearts and they will be driven away from our land
humiliated. This is revolution until victory.”

[Ma'an News Agency's website,
posted Nov. 18, 2012, accessed Jan. 29, 2013]