Unbelievable state of affairs. Even Pilger’s family is not spared - the murder of his family is considered “not a bad idea” according to one vitriolic complainant.
Here it is in Pilger’s own words:
"Merely [criticizing Israel] invites intimidation and smear, which, says Yishai Rosen-Zvi, one of the brave Israelis who have refused to serve in the Occupied Territories, “has been the huge bluff of the Israeli establishment. [Every] criticism of its policies is called anti-Semitism, [when] criticising your country’s policy is the only patriotic thing that one can do.” He said this in my documentary Palestine Is Still the Issue, which was broadcast on ITV1 last month.
The horde of mostly vicious, violent and threatening bigots who assaulted Carlton Television following the film’s transmission made no mention of him or the other decent, reasoning Israelis I interviewed and featured.
…Indeed, most of those interviewed were Israelis, including “settlers” and Ariel Sharon’s closest adviser, who was given the most airtime. Not a word about this was uttered by the ranters, who e-mailed their abuse and screamed down the phone from all points west of Finchley, including New York and California. Many were Americans, none of whom had seen the film. Analysing the e-mails, we calculate that around 10 per cent are genuine critical responses to the film. Most of the rest have a generic theme, including those clearly orchestrated by a thoroughly sinister organisation called HonestReporting.
Following a similar assault last year on the Guardian’s Middle East correspondent, Suzanne Goldenberg (who was abused as a “self-hating Jew”), an investigation by the paper revealed a website, www.honestreporting.com, that gave no address and was registered under a London name and phone number that seemed not to exist. The site was set up by a 27-year-old called Jonathan, who pleaded, as cowards in his situation do, that his name not be published.
This organisation is now funded in America by a front called Media Watch International, run by one Shraga Simmons. Simmons is employed by a group of Zionist fanatics known as Aish HaTorah. According to David Leigh in the Guardian, Aish HaTorah was “founded by Rabbi Noah Weinberg, who complains that ‘20,000 kids a year’ are being lost to Judaism by marrying out. Aish invented speed-dating - eight-minute sessions in cafés to help New Yorkers find compatible Jewish partners. They’re widely regarded as right-wing extremists. And they’re certainly not entitled to harass the media into what they would call ‘objectivity’.”
It goes beyond that. Many of the e-mails are quite disgusting, containing menacing racist filth of the kind you associate with anti-Semitic fascists. The murder of my family is considered “not a bad idea”. I am a “demonic psychopath” and likened to David Irving. Someone called Arie Karseboom says that I must belong to a Nazi party or have an Arab wife: otherwise, a film explaining the injustice done to the Palestinians is simply inexplicable!
The distinguished Israeli historian Ilan Pappe, whose works are taught in universities all over the world and who describes my film as “balanced [and] faultless in its historical description”, is called a “pro-Arab dog” and worse.
In order to create the impression of an avalanche of complaints, many of the e-mails run to five or six pages. Not all the writers are American fanatics. At Carlton’s offices in London, the duty officers have been abused by those close by. They have been called “worse than Hitler”. I have had death threats. A Jewish friend says that the Jewish community has to take some responsibility for this outrageous behaviour from even its “respectable” members. For example, a doctor from Cheshire suggested in an e-mail that I had been personally bribed by Yasser Arafat in return for “programs like that [that] encourage the murder of innocent Jewish civilians . . .” Note the American spelling of programme, which indicates that the nice doctor from Cheshire may not write his own bile.
The invective and threats increased noticeably the day after Michael Green, the Jewish chairman of Carlton, attacked his own company’s film in off-the-cuff abuse in the Jewish Chronicle, calling it “a tragedy for Israel” and “inaccurate”. Two weeks on, Green has yet to identify let alone substantiate a single “inaccuracy”. He should apologise to those of us who have distinguished his company with careful, fair and truthful work. His irresponsibility is a disgrace.
The Foreign Press Association in Jerusalem has complained to the Israeli government about its “defence force” targeting journalists - that is, shooting to kill them, just as they routinely kill Palestinians. The next step is for the same foreign journalists, who privately express understanding of the historic injustice done to people suffering one of the longest occupations in modern times, to reject the craven intimidation coming from New York and Finchley and Cheshire, and speak the truth."
for them. But the israelis that die are not bad people…and likewise palestinians..so my heart goes out for both! But gvmt..need to be shot na : )
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