Legal Threats from Hamas/British Muslim Initiative
The British Muslim Initiative is the sister organisation of the terrorist group, Hamas. Its President is Mohammad Sawalha: a man who the BBC identified as the mastermind of “much of Hamas’ political and military strategy”, and as responsible for directing “funds, both for Hamas’ armed wing, and for spreading its missionary dawah”. Its senior members include Azzam Tamimi, the Hamas Special Envoy who once expressed a desire to commit a suicide bombing.
Yesterday evening, we received a letter from Anas Altikriti of the British Muslim Initiative, threatening legal action against us.
It is a great relief to be the subject of mere legal threats. In Gaza, where Hamas is in power, they prefer to settle disputes with political opponents by murdering them.
The reason that the British Muslim Initiate is upset with us is this. This weekend, Mr Sawalha attended a demonstration against a festival celebrating the re-founding of the State of Israel. He gave a speech, in Arabic, to Al Jazeera. In that speech, he stated that the purpose of his demonstration was to:
“express our resentment at the celebrations by the Jewish community”
He also made another statement, which has been the subject of some dispute. Al Jazeera initially reported the phrase in question as containing the word “الوبيل”. That word translates as “evil” or “baneful”, or some variant thereon. The next word was “يهودي “, which means “Jew” or “Jewish”. We translated the phrase, as it appeared, as “evil Jew” or “Jewish evil”.
Some time later, the word “الوبيل ” was removed from the Al Jazeera report. It was replaced with the word “اللوبي ”, “lobby”.
The British Muslim Initiative then issued a bombastic “press release”, which it pasted in our comments section, claiming that we had:
“deliberately skewed the word ‘Lobby’ to turn it into some other word and make it seem as though it means ‘evil/noxious’”
It went on to describe Mr Sawalha as a promoter of “community relations and cultural dialogue”, and object to him being ”demonised” as a “‘Jew-hater’ and ‘anti-Semitic’.”
I do not know Mr Sawalha. However, if he is a senior Hamas activist, and a supporter of that organisation, I cannot imagine he has anything positive to contribute to “community relations”. Moreover, it is very unlikely that any British court would regard it as defamatory to describe a Hamas activist as a racist. Hamas is a proudly racist, and genocidal terrorist organisation.
A little later, an Al Jazeera reporter called Medyan Dairieh appeared in the thread, insisting that Mr Sawalha had spoken of the “Jewish Lobby”. He explained that the original report contained a spelling mistake. However, instead of apologising to Harry’s Place and to the British Muslim Initiative for his hopelessness as a journalist, he accused us of having “no common sense” for thinking that a Hamas activist would use the phrase “Evil Jew”.
I can form no conclusion on what precisely Mr Sawalha said at Sunday’s demonstration. The meaning of the words “وبيل” and “يهودي ” have been extensively discussed in the comments of the thread below. Initially, defenders of Mr Sawalha claimed that in Arabic, “Jew” meant “Zionist”. When that argument fell apart, there was some debate as to whether the word “يهودي ” means “Jew” or “Jewish”. The defenders of Mr Sawalha insisted that the word could not be used to mean “Jew”. However, the leading dictionaries suggest that it can be used in this manner. There was also some disagreement as to how likely it was that a careless journalist would have mistyped the word “evil, “الوبيل” when intending to type the word “اللوبي ”, “lobby”.
It is possible that Mr Sawalha railled against the “evil Jewish Lobby”, rather than the “evil Jew”. What I find astonishing, is that the British Muslim Initiative thinks that it is somehow better to be caught out inveighing against - not the policies of the Israeli Government, not the “Israel Lobby”, not even against the “Zionists” - but against the “Jewish community” and the “Jewish Lobby”. It is clear from their letter that they see no problem with saying any of that. How bold of them.
Here is Mr Altikriti’s letter to us:
Sirs,
Your piece on comments made by Mohammed Sawalha, President of BMI, and published on Al-Jazeera contained a fundamental factual error.
You quoted a piece (translated from Arabic) stating that Mr. Sawalha had described the Jews in Britain as evil/noxious. We have checked the piece that you referred to very closely and contacted the Al-Jazeera office in Doha. It has been confirmed that Mr. Sawalha made no such comment at any time during the interview. This fact can, if you wish, be corroborated by checking for yourself the recording of the interview, which is available in case any further enquiry is made into this matter.
It appears that you have inexplicably grossly mistranslated his reference to the Jewish ‘Lobby’. Whether this mistake was accidental or not, the mistake is extremely serious and the consequences far-reaching.
Therefore, we trust that you will withdraw the said piece with immediate effect and post an explanation of what had taken place, particularly now that some commentators, including Melanie Phillips, seem to have copied your quote, including the error aforementioned and used it for their own purposes. If this is not done immediately, we will have to pursue legal measures.
Regards,
Anas Altikriti
British Muslim Initiative
Mohammed Sawalha will not sue me. He has no case.
It is as likely that a man identified by the BBC as a senior Hamas activists would witter on about the “evil Jew” as it is that he would be cursing the “Jewish lobby”, evil or not. Both versions show him to be a deeply malevolent man.
As David Irving discovered, when he sued Penguin and Deborah Lipstadt, extremists tend to do rather badly when they look to British courts to exonerate them.
The British Muslim Initiative should stop issuing ridiculous press releases, and issuing legal threats. Given that the success of the British Muslim Initiative rests on creating the wholly false impression that it is the moderate and progressive face of British Islamism, it ought not to be drawing attention to the fact that it has close links with the terrorist group Hamas. A public legal dispute over why Al Jazeera used the word “evil” in a report of its President’s frothing at the mouth speech on the “Jewish Lobby” will not help its case. It will merely result in its true nature, and the links of its senior activists with Hamas, being appreciated more widely. As the British Muslim Initiative’s strategy is to partner with mainstream political organisations and parties, in the hope of skimming off large grants from local authorities, that sort of publicity is likely to harm it fatally.
The bottom line is this. We were entitled to publish our translation of the Al Jazeera text as it originally appeared. Mr Sawalha should direct his complaint to Al Jazeera, not to Harry’s Place.
Comments
| 4 July 2008, 12:29 pm |
Very well said.
| 4 July 2008, 12:33 pm |
What a complete bunch of stupid {lobby}ing {lobbyists} they are.
| 4 July 2008, 12:40 pm |
There is certainly a case for a libel writ against Ana Al-Tikriti. The “news release” published on HP’s comments box accused the website of racism and “hate rhetoric” for merely translating the original Al-Jazeera website. He goes further, stating that the translation of the original (which quoted Sawalha as referring to “evil Jews”) was “pure evil that sees no shame or wrong in plainly lying.” There were no lies. It was a translation of a report that was - according to its author - incorrect due to a typo.
HP has no need to apologise and any libel writ will fail. Al-Jazeera should apologise for failing to correct submitted copy, which is the basic role of a sub-editor. Or does it not have any competant subs? Perhaps DaveM should apply for a job with them.
Libel threats should nearly always be ignored because they are a childish attempt to enforce censorship through bullying. Nearly all those who threaten libel action are extremists (Nazis, Jihadists, etc) and they rarely carry out their threats.
| 4 July 2008, 12:44 pm |
Lobby Jewish doesn’t make sense.
| 4 July 2008, 12:45 pm |
Dan, if libel threats should be ignored why are you recommending making one? Oh and as far as I know it is not possible to libel a website.
| 4 July 2008, 12:45 pm |
Now that Anas Altikriti has succeeded in getting Al Jazeera to change its report, perhaps he could tackle this
Israel, Judaism and Jews challenge Islam and the Moslem people. “May the cowards never sleep.”
Its the Hamas Charter.
See what you can do old chap.
| 4 July 2008, 12:45 pm |
How many bloggers can say that Hamas is their bitch. Well done.
| 4 July 2008, 12:47 pm |
Baed on recent events, I expect David T and his merry band of HP contributers to be questioned by the fuzz and banged up for 42 days without trial.
Inayat will have something on the Graun site within 2 days. Nothing will come of this and everyone will forget this rubbish.
| 4 July 2008, 12:48 pm |
I can promise you that I won’t let people forget about the nature of the British Muslim Institute.
| 4 July 2008, 12:50 pm |
The position boils down to, we said evil but we meant vile. Simple typo.
| 4 July 2008, 12:52 pm |
The further it goes, the bigger your soapbox. Interesting situation.
| 4 July 2008, 12:53 pm |
“if libel threats should be ignored why are you recommending making one?”
I didn’t recommend one. I said there was a case for a libel writ - certainly a stronger one than threatened by Al-Tikriti. But there is no need to stoop to his level.
| 4 July 2008, 1:00 pm |
Just wheel out the Hamas Covenant . It would be difficult to find a more transparent and visceral diatribe of antisemitism . Pretty much on a par with that other Best Seller ,Mein Kamph
| 4 July 2008, 1:02 pm |
According to Anasal-Tikriti,a friend of Galloway’s and spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain: “I understand Arabic and it was taken completely out of context. When he said you’ he meant the Iraqi people, he was saluting their indefatigability, their resolve against sanctions. Even the interpreter got it right and, in Arabic, says salutes the stand of the Iraqi people’.”
| 4 July 2008, 1:03 pm |
This is great.
Anas Altikriti is lying and he knows he’s lying. He’s lying because he says:
“It appears that you have inexplicably grossly mistranslated his reference to the Jewish ‘Lobby’”
when he knows that you did neither - you translated a phrase in the article as it appeared. A number of readers (including me) confirm this. The journalist who wrote the article has confirmed this.
| 4 July 2008, 1:11 pm |
Anas Al-Tikriti is an old hand at alleging mistranslation, see for example here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2006/jul/13/standingforconsistency.
He’s got a nerve accusing other people of lying, his guardian profile and wikipedia entry contain a number of ‘errors’. If you can track it down his own homepage used to be pompously hilarious, at the time Al-tikriti was standing for election to european parliament as respect candidate supported by the swp, galloway etc, the main image is a picture of him superimposed in front of the debating chamber to look like he was already a fixture there.
| 4 July 2008, 1:12 pm |
I think I should make the point in the article that his email was posted at 6pm.
The HP piece had been updated by then to make it clear that Al Jazeera had now changed its text.
| 4 July 2008, 1:13 pm |
‘How many bloggers can say that Hamas is their bitch. Well done’ - Seconded, you know ‘own’ the MB. Good Work Comrade T
| 4 July 2008, 1:14 pm |
‘Lobby Jewish doesn’t make sense’…
entrance to the Shillton Hilton?
| 4 July 2008, 1:15 pm |
Here is the wikipedia entry on the use of the term “Jewish Lobby” in the UK:
William Safire writes that in the United Kingdom “Jewish lobby” is used as an “even more pejorative” term for “the ‘Israel lobby’”.[14] Michael Lasky describes the term as an “unfortunate phrase”, and “imagines” that Alexander Walker’s use of it while writing about the “Nazi” films of Leni Riefenstahl was not intended pejoratively.[15]
In 2006 Chris Davies, MEP for the northwest of England was forced to resign as leader of the Liberal Democrats group in the European Parliament[16] after writing to a constituent “I shall denounce the influence of the Jewish lobby that seems to have far too great a say over the political decision-making process in many countries.” In comments to TotallyJewish.Com he “confessed he didn’t know the difference between referring to the ‘pro Israel lobby’ and the ‘Jewish lobby’,” and added “I’m quite prepared to accept that I don’t understand the semantics of some of these things.”[17] Commenting on Davies’ use of the term, The Guardian’s David Hirsh writes Davies “has had to resign because his laudable instinct to side with the underdog was not tempered by care, thought or self-education.” He compared Davies’ rhetoric with the “care to avoid openly antisemitic rhetoric taken by sophisticates like Mearsheimer and Walt and Robert Fisk.”
A 2007 New York Sun editorial accused Richard Dawkins, a British evolutionary biologist, atheist and writer who is author of The God Delusion, of repeating antisemitic conspiracy theories[18] after he used the term in an interview published in The Guardian. In the interview Dawkins said: “When you think about how fantastically successful the Jewish lobby has been, though, in fact, they are less numerous I am told - religious Jews anyway - than atheists and [yet they] more or less monopolise American foreign policy as far as many people can see. So if atheists could achieve a small fraction of that influence, the world would be a better place.”[19] In a National Review column discussing the influence of “high-profile atheists” on the American left, Arthur C. Brooks wrote that Dawkins claim was “anti-Semitic, slanders religion, and asserts victimhood.”[20] David Cesarani, commenting in The Guardian, stated that “Mearsheimer and Walt would doubtless chide Dawkins for using the term ‘Jewish lobby’, which they studiously avoid in order to give no truck to anti-Jewish innuendo.”[21]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_lobby#Antisemitic_and.2For_pejorative_use
| 4 July 2008, 1:32 pm |
There is a typo in Al-Tikriti’s first name: there is no second ‘A’, it should be a ‘U’. Change it or I’ll sue.
| 4 July 2008, 1:34 pm |
http://www.anas-altikriti.com/bannere.swf
Fat men often look good in overcoats. He is no exception.
| 4 July 2008, 1:37 pm |
DavidT,
Let me know if there is anything I can do. Money, muscle, solidarity in any form.
I just spoke to a lawyer friend of mine, and after careful consideration, he said to tell Anas Al-Tikriti that he’s a chicken-shit, pug-nosed twat.
So I think we’ll be alright.
| 4 July 2008, 1:40 pm |
What will poor Peter Oborne make of all this ? perhaps more grist to his mill of defending the hapless, misunderstood Muslims, and as he concludes ‘we urgently need to change our public culture’. Would that change mean less Harrys Place, more Bob Pitt, MPAC and BMI?
| 4 July 2008, 1:46 pm |
Is it significant that none of this has appeared on the BMI homepage?
I think the answer is yes.
| 4 July 2008, 1:48 pm |
That’s a relief, Brownie. I thought that instinctively. My anger management issues will land me in trouble one day.
| 4 July 2008, 1:49 pm |
How very stupid of them. I’d lob in a few quid if required. Obviously won’t be necessary though.
| 4 July 2008, 1:50 pm |
Mark, I recall Gilad Atzmon does the same.
| 4 July 2008, 1:52 pm |
Very well said David T. If they sue for libel I’m happy to pitch in for a legal defence fund.
| 4 July 2008, 1:52 pm |
A relevant section of the Altikriti CIF piece titled “Consistency is what counts”
Once again, [Melanie Philips] read from a quote taken from the infamous Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), in which bizarre articles, statements and quotations appear regularly, paraded as translations of speeches, talks, articles and religious texts. As a post-graduate lecturer in translation and interpreting, I tried to assure Ms. Phillips that the translation from which she read was wrong; of course, to no avail.
Philips seems unaware that her continuous quoting from MEMRI, which was founded and is run by former Mossad officials and is blatantly anti-Muslim and anti-Arab, is comparable to a racist quoting from the BNP website on the state of immigration in Britain today.
| 4 July 2008, 2:01 pm |
David T,
most amusing, but I can’t see that any of them would sue, and if having done so, that they would achieve anything, they are blowing hot-air, but if the BMI does sue, then they’ll lose.
I can’t help but feel that the BMI will feature more on the pages of HP? their aggressive attitude in this matter may ultimately be their undoing?
| 4 July 2008, 2:03 pm |
Bring it on!
| 4 July 2008, 2:20 pm |
If this goes to court, let us know if there’s a defence fund.
| 4 July 2008, 2:24 pm |
“He’s got a nerve accusing other people of lying, his guardian profile and wikipedia entry contain a number of ‘errors’”
With Wikipedia at least, you can always correct those errors yourself.
This whole incident will also make a nice section.
P.
| 4 July 2008, 2:31 pm |
“If this goes to court, let us know if there’s a defence fund.”
It won’t go to court. Al-Tikriti knows it won’t go to court because the action would bankrupt his organisation. It is simple bullying tactics. Al-Tikriti has handled this so badly that the “evil Jews” comment, which now transpires to be a typo in the original article according to its author, is no longer the issue. Going around accusing opponents of racism and threatening them is the surest indication that he is a vacuous personality with little intellectual depth. Pathetic.
| 4 July 2008, 2:41 pm |
Like Irie, then, Dan.
| 4 July 2008, 2:45 pm |
But one which he would not counternance shedding his own blood for.
| 4 July 2008, 2:48 pm |
Maybe you should take them up on their offer to listen to the recording.
| 4 July 2008, 2:52 pm |
Won’t do us any good, TimB, on account of our not speaking Arabic. DaveM is the chap to ask.
Then, again, it’s not the question, as I suspect you well know.
| 4 July 2008, 3:02 pm |
They go to the lengths of getting Al Jezeera to alter their written/broadcast record. The Islamicist School of Falsification. But I expect all those post-modernists and clever people can tell us that truth is what you make it etc and there is no objective record or history.
| 4 July 2008, 3:16 pm |
I think the BMI have got better things to spend their time and money on than to pursue this nonsense. You can’t stop people spreading hatred and lies - unfortunately it is something we have to live with. I think that to most people this kind of thing is completely see through. I shouldn’t get so wound up. You see, my HP friends, there are two types of writer in this world. The writer who has his/her audience, who love him/her, and also has enemies who despise him/her. Melanie Phillips is such a writer. What they write is pretty irrelevant, because it will not change any minds. Then you have writers who have a perspective, but try to put forward a rigorous case, not looking for the best/worst possible interpretation of an event to suit their prejudices, but being conservative, cautious, and testing the evidence carefully. If the test of a good journalistic writer is whether they can change minds, and I think it should be, then there is precious little point in getting worked up about paper thin screeds like this, which are really just fodder for the choir. Enjoy it - I’m past caring.
| 4 July 2008, 3:17 pm |
It should be also mentioned that Anas Al-Tikriti was a Renewal Respect election candidate.
It’s a small world.
P.
| 4 July 2008, 3:19 pm |
“You see, my HP friends, there are two types of writer in this world.”
There are two types of people in this world. Those that believe there are two types of people, and those who are not stupid, cliched reductionists.
“Then you have writers who have a perspective, but try to put forward a rigorous case, not looking for the best/worst possible interpretation of an event to suit their prejudices”
Did I mention that stupid, cliched reductionists are also often hypocrites?
| 4 July 2008, 3:20 pm |
Ditto the fighting fund comments.
| 4 July 2008, 3:22 pm |
“not looking for the best/worst possible interpretation of an event to suit their prejudices”
Considering your regular flights of hyperbole, this is kind of ironic.
Is this going to be like Morgoth’s goodbye?
P.
| 4 July 2008, 3:24 pm |
Maybe you should take them up on their offer to listen to the recording.
That’s rather beside the point, isn’t it? As David T says, our translation was based on the article (since altered) that originally appeared on the Al-Jazeera website. If Al-Jazeera misquoted Sawalha (which is entirely possible), it’s a matter for the BMI and Al-Jazeera to settle. Strangely the BMI’s anger is aimed at Harry’s Place rather than at Al-Jazeera for supposedly screwing up the quote in the first place.
| 4 July 2008, 3:26 pm |
I think the BMI have got better things to spend their time and money on than to pursue this nonsense.
I doubt it.
And I’d say that we’ve been quite successful at unmasking the BMI, IslamExpo, and the other Hamas/MB front orgs.
For example, I understand that something I wrote was directly responsible for a Government minister pulling out of a Muslim Brotherhood sponsored event.
So, with any luck, the BMI will soon be able to devote all its time to delivering flabby threats to bloggers, because it will have nothing else to do with its time.
| 4 July 2008, 3:26 pm |
You can’t stop people spreading hatred and lies - unfortunately it is something we have to live with.
You really are a deceitful, viper-tongued hypocritical creep.
| 4 July 2008, 3:26 pm |
No - I’m not going anywhere - How would I survive without having a forum to throw my weight around in?
Actually Shmuel, I’m prepared to modify my binary proposition to a continuum proposition. That is, there are two extremes, and writers fall somewhere on a spectrum between those extremes. My argument is the same though.
| 4 July 2008, 3:28 pm |
Is this going to be like Morgoth’s goodbye?
TheIrie couldn’t be dramatic if he tried.
Anyway, I did manage to stop posting at HP for over a month, as I recall.
| 4 July 2008, 3:29 pm |
I think the BMI have got better things to spend their time and money on than to pursue this nonsense.
Given BMI’s ties to Hamas, I shudder to think what those “better things” are.
TheIrie, I can’t comment on the rest of your comment because I can’t make heads or tails or it.
| 4 July 2008, 3:30 pm |
TheIrie: Do you spout such drivel in your normal life, or is it just your on-line persona?
“If the test of a good journalistic writer is whether they can change minds, and I think it should be …”
No, you don’t understand journalism. The role of a journalist is not to change minds, it is to inform people and to ensure their facts are correct. Melanie Phillips is not a journalist, she is a columnist. They are not the same thing at all. A columnist’s role is to provoke debate, provide strident opinions and/or give a unique or original insight. It is not journalism as I understand it. But perhaps you are a Socialist Worker reader, in which case you will not be able to discern fact from opinion.
| 4 July 2008, 3:33 pm |
“How would I survive without having a forum to throw my weight around in?”
… like a two year old having a tantrum, you mean? The best way to deal with angry toddlers is to ignore them. Likewise with those who act like angry toddlers.
| 4 July 2008, 3:34 pm |
BTW, surely ” paper thin” an inappropriate metaphor with which to insult a blog.
| 4 July 2008, 3:35 pm |
Dan - thanks for the further constructive comments. I shall refine my thesis further to remove “journalistic writer” to “opinion shaping writer”. Hows that?
| 4 July 2008, 3:35 pm |
Not to mention “throwing my weight around”.
| 4 July 2008, 3:37 pm |
Fuck off, Irie.
| 4 July 2008, 3:38 pm |
What’s that, like a walk off? Not tonight, thanks.
| 4 July 2008, 3:39 pm |
TheIrie -
I assume that you accept that the translation of what was originally posted on Al Jazeera was correct, and in good faith?
And I also assume that you accept David T’s account of what has followed (updates and all) has been correct?
Then precisely what ‘lies’ have been spread?
| 4 July 2008, 3:45 pm |
Irie.
Last time I saw you comment under a well balanced thoughtful and informative piece on Iraq
http://www.hurryupharry.org/2008/07/01/iraq-today/
you made a complete tit of yourself.
Why do you bother?
| 4 July 2008, 3:48 pm |
I am still at a loss to explain the fact that the al-Jazeera journalist misquoted his own misquote when trying to explain what happened. From Tuesday’s thread:
David T 3 July 2008, 2:29 pm
Medyan Dairieh:
You say:
I wrote the report that has been misquoted, I mispelt one word in arabic, الوبي instead of اللوبي (lobby).
However, the original Al Jazeera piece did not use the word “الوبي “. It used the word “وبيل”.
The latter word means “evil”. It is not “meaningless”
You may have reported the man correctly, or there may have been a typo. However, that typo did not produce a meaningless word. It produced the word “evil”.
Correct?
Dairieh never answered the question, despite it being put to him three times.
| 4 July 2008, 3:48 pm |
“thanks for the further constructive comments. I shall refine my thesis further to remove “journalistic writer” to “opinion shaping writer”. Hows that?”
I don’t really think you have a “thesis” of any sort. You tend to string together clichés and ill-thought analysis in some form of verbal diarrhoea. I don’t mind debating with opponents who are incisive and challenging, but you aren’t. You are something of a parody of the far-left and at times I have wondered whether you are for real.
Have you ever read Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language”? You really should.
| 4 July 2008, 3:50 pm |
Ah yes, Tim - that comments thread has this particular Irie gem -
It is surely highly unlikely that the American’s will allow such groups as AQI or Muqtada al-Sadr to participate in the election.
Yes, the only reason AQI will not take part in elections is because the Americans won’t let them.
| 4 July 2008, 3:50 pm |
The Irie doesn’t like to answer questions that expose his ridiculousness. He often starts long arguments and then merely quits when the coup de grace is put forward. Like in this thread about Deborah Fink:
David T
1 July 2008, 6:16 pm
TheIrie
Well, there is a point here.
If you took the view that all Muslims were intrinsically wicked, and that all Muslim institutions were pernicious and needed to be destroyed, and that any gathering of Muslims was an appropriate venue for a demonstration, then it would be absolutely right to confront Muslims in the street and lambast them about their beliefs, and turn up at Muslim cultural events with megaphones and placards, in order to shout abuse, then you would certainly regard that as a brave and worthwhile thing to do.
I’d regard somebody who turned up at a Muslim cultural event in order to holler them down, as an extremist and probably a lunatic.
I’d take a different view of a person who demonstrated against a Hizb ut Tahrir rally which called for the attacks on Jews.
The reason that Ms Fink turned up at this event is because she takes the view that everything to do with Israel is pernicious, and that therefore all activities related in any way to Israel ought to be attacked.
She’d make no distinction between a rally by Kahaneists, calling for attacks on Palestinians on the one hand, and a display by an Israeli dance troupe on the other.
I would, and so I hope would you. That is because, I trust, you are not a lunatic. And she is.
| 4 July 2008, 3:55 pm |
Based on simple chance, a typo turning vile into evil is just as likely as veil or ilve (but live is stretching it a bit). As it gave a recognized word, two mental levels of proof-reading would have been required to spot it. So, the best interpretation was that Medyan Dairieh and al-Jaz were simply sloppy.
A test would be to consider what other mistakes he makes. Are typos common, or is one of the very few the one which talks about Jewish evil?
| 4 July 2008, 3:58 pm |
Blimey - what is this, my greats hits compilation? One thread at a time please fella’s. Incidentally, that Iraq thread was one of the best threads I’ve ever seen on HP. The post was well researched, and well thought out. I put forward my point of view, respectfully, and the commenter replied respectfully. It is perfectly possible to disagree and still have a rational discussion - you should try it. Incidentally 2, it is my view, unlike Bruno’s, that a “free and fair” election is simply impossible under occupation. AQI can be considered the extreme case which proves my point - even if its true that AQI would participate in an election (which I doubt is true if they thought they would win it). But, Muqtada al… actually, this is off topic. Another time.
| 4 July 2008, 3:59 pm |
“Dairieh never answered the question, despite it being put to him three times.”
And then a cock crowed.
| 4 July 2008, 4:01 pm |
“You see, my HP friends, there are two types of writer in this world.”
What does this remind me of? Tuco (AKA Eli Wallach):
‘There are two kinds of people in the world, my friend: Those with a rope around the neck, and the people who have the job of doing the cutting’.
The Good, the Bad, and theIrie … Guess which character gets shot first?
| 4 July 2008, 4:04 pm |
The Irie, I will repeat my questions -
I assume that you accept that the translation of what was originally posted on Al Jazeera was correct, and in good faith?
And I also assume that you accept David T’s account of what has followed (updates and all) has been correct?
Then precisely what ‘lies’ have been spread?
| 4 July 2008, 4:11 pm |
When you knowingly join a country club that excludes blacks, even if it’s just for the pool or golf course, you’re gonna have a helluvatime dodging charges that you’re a racist. Same goes here. Tie your cred to a terrorist group that fantasizes about killing Jews hiding behind talking rocks at the end-o-days, and guess what that makes you?
| 4 July 2008, 4:12 pm |
Tell that Anal Al-Pinickity to jump off a cliff!
| 4 July 2008, 4:15 pm |
Funny that Andrew/TheIrie is upset about “spreading lies” when he entusiastically did that in a previous thread, when he copied a primitive revisionist work that denied the expulsion of Jews from Iraq by the Arab government.
| 4 July 2008, 4:15 pm |
This chap doesn’t need to be misquoted. This took me ten minutes.
‘Sheikh al-Qaradawi’s recent visit to Britain would have been a useful chance to discuss how to promote common understanding.’
‘The Evening Standard’s inflammatory slurs will backfire on it. London’s Muslims will show their good sense by voting for Ken’
‘The whole issue with the HMD event is that rather than a mere remembrance of victims of one of the most heinous crimes in history, it has become a political event. It glorifies the state of Israel..’
| 4 July 2008, 4:30 pm |
“what is this, my greats hits compilation? ”
Andy Abraham had more hits than you.
| 4 July 2008, 4:45 pm |
David T and all at Harrys Place - you have my full support.
| 4 July 20 |
David T,
Dont let that asshole intimidate you.