{"id":265,"date":"2008-05-14T14:18:08","date_gmt":"2008-05-14T14:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/2008\/05\/14\/johann-hari-the\/"},"modified":"2013-05-07T18:36:58","modified_gmt":"2013-05-07T23:36:58","slug":"johann-hari-the","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/2008\/05\/johann-hari-the\/","title":{"rendered":"Johann Hari: The loathsome smearing of Israel’s critics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Examples like this is why I get such a kick out of the complaints about the supposedly inordinate influence of CAIR and Muslims in general in American politics. As if Muslims can generate a fraction of the heat constantly<\/i> unleashed by all these pro-Israeli pressure groups.<\/p>\n

But frank discussions of the predations against open debate by the imaginary yet curiously powerful and visible Israeli Lobby is to traffic in conspiracy theories, so I\u2019ll shut up. Conspiracy theories about pro Israeli pressure groups whose influence is legendary in Washington and who\u2019ve even been demonstrated to be extremely<\/i> conspiratorial (Does plotting to infiltrate Wikipedia<\/a> count?) are offensive, you see. The only conspiracy theories permitted today are those concerning American Muslims and organizations like CAIR. <\/p>\n

HT: Omer Subhani<\/a><\/p>\n

Johann Hari: The loathsome smearing of Israel\u2019s critics \u2013 Johann Hari, Commentators \u2013 The Independent<\/a> <\/p>\n

In the US and Britain, there is a campaign to smear anybody who tries to describe the plight of the Palestinian people. It is an attempt to intimidate and silence \u2013 and to a large degree, it works. There is nobody these self-appointed spokesmen for Israel will not attack as anti-Jewish: liberal Jews, rabbis, even Holocaust survivors.<\/p>\n

My own case isn\u2019t especially important, but it illustrates how the wider process of intimidation works. I have worked undercover at both the Finsbury Park mosque and among neo-Nazi Holocaust deniers to expose the Jew-hatred there; when I went on the Islam Channel to challenge the anti-Semitism of Islamists, I received a rash of death threats calling me \u201ca Jew-lover\u201d, \u201ca Zionist-homo pig\u201d and more.<\/p>\n

Ah, but wait. I have also reported from Gaza and the West Bank. Last week, I wrote an article that described how untreated sewage was being pumped from illegal Israeli settlements on to Palestinian land, contaminating their reservoirs. This isn\u2019t controversial. It has been documented by Friends of the Earth, and I have seen it with my own eyes.<\/p>\n

The response? There was little attempt to dispute the facts I offered. Instead, some of the most high profile \u201cpro-Israel\u201d writers and media monitoring groups \u2013 including Honest Reporting and Camera \u2013 said I an anti-Jewish bigot akin to Joseph Goebbels and Mahmoud Ahmadinejadh, while Melanie Phillips even linked the stabbing of two Jewish people in North London to articles like mine. Vast numbers of e-mails came flooding in calling for me to be sacked.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Examples like this is why I get such a kick out of the complaints about the supposedly inordinate influence of CAIR and Muslims in general in American politics. As if Muslims can generate a fraction of the heat constantly unleashed by all these pro-Israeli pressure groups. 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