tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29459499.post6098318495678029715..comments2024-01-29T21:39:07.526+02:00Comments on This Ongoing War: A Blog: 16-Jul-08: So what's the right way to relate to a freed psychopathic thug?Oz_in_Zionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13661581252423495040noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29459499.post-34364769948759702082008-07-23T18:44:00.000+03:002008-07-23T18:44:00.000+03:00Winning some sort of diabolical prize, the 'ob...Winning some sort of diabolical prize, the 'objective' news professionals at Al-Jazeera have set some sort of new standard, according to the Jerusalem Post:<BR/><BR/>Jul 23, 2008 1:38 | Updated Jul 23, 2008 18:15<BR/>GPO to sanction Al-Jazeera over Kuntar party<BR/>By KHALED ABU TOAMEH <BR/><BR/>For the second time this year, Israel has decided to act against Al-Jazeera, after the influential TV station held a party for released Lebanese child-killer Samir Kuntar, The Jerusalem Post has learned.<BR/>Samir Kuntar gestures as he...<BR/><BR/>Samir Kuntar gestures as he symbolically breaks through makeshift prison bars during celebrations for his release in Beirut.<BR/>Photo: AP<BR/>Slideshow: Pictures of the week<BR/><BR/>The party, held in Beirut, was organized by the Al-Jazeera bureau there to honor Kuntar on the occasion of his release from Israeli prison. He was hailed as a hero who carried out a brave military operation against the Jewish state.<BR/><BR/>The Government Press Office said it would impose sanctions on Al-Jazeera and demand an explanation from the station.<BR/><BR/>Al-Jazeera's bureau chief in Beirut, Ghassan bin Jeddo, has long been known for his close ties to Hizbullah.<BR/><BR/>Kuntar, for his part, thanked Jeddo and Al-Jazeera for supporting him and other prisoners in Israeli jails and for waging a campaign to bring about their release.<BR/><BR/>Daniel Seaman, director of the GPO, expressed outrage over the event.<BR/><BR/>On Tuesday, Seaman phoned Walid Omari, the Al-Jazeera bureau chief in Israel, and summoned him to an urgent meeting to inform him of the GPO's decision to suspend ties with the station.<BR/><BR/>Omari, who is currently abroad, is scheduled to report to the GPO on his return, a source at Al-Jazeera said, adding that the station had still not been informed of the new measures against it.<BR/><BR/>Seaman said he also planned to write to the Foreign Press Association in Israel to explain his decision.<BR/><BR/>"We will suspend all handling of Al-Jazeera requests," Seaman told the Post. "For now, we won't provide them with any of our services, which include issuing press credentials and assistance with bureaucracy and applications for visas."<BR/><BR/>Seaman said he would demand an explanation from Al-Jazeera's headquarters in Doha, Qatar, about the event.<BR/><BR/>"I want to know what they are going to do about this case," he said. "I want to know how they intend to handle this case. What they did was not professional."<BR/><BR/>Earlier this year, Israel decided to boycott Al-Jazeera after accusing the station of supporting Hamas.<BR/><BR/>The boycott, initiated by the Foreign Ministry, included a ban on interviews by government officials and refusal to issue visas for the station's employees.<BR/><BR/>The move had come after Al-Jazeera correspondents allegedly staged a candlelight protest following a government decision to reduce electric and fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip in response to continued rocket attacks on Israeli towns.<BR/><BR/>The ban was lifted after Al-Jazeera editors in Doha agreed to discuss its coverage of the Israeli-Arab conflict with Israeli government officials. <BR/><BR/>Source: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1215331062525&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFullAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29459499.post-2600210116496146172008-07-18T12:39:00.000+03:002008-07-18T12:39:00.000+03:00From the editorial in today's "The Australian", so...From the editorial in today's "The Australian", some words of sanity and comprehension.<BR/><BR/> July 18, 2008<BR/><BR/>Killer's welcome has shown Hezbollah's true colours<BR/><BR/>IT is easy to conclude that Israel has paid a diabolical price to honour the Jewish state's unbreakable promise to its citizens that soldiers will never be left stranded on foreign soil, even in death. The return of prisoners to the Iran-backed group, Hezbollah, in exchange for the corpses of two young Israeli soldiers who were kidnapped on Israeli soil offends the accepted wisdom that negotiating with terrorists only invites further acts of terror.<BR/><BR/>For those people who are preoccupied with false arguments about moral equivalence in the long-running Middle East conflict, the terms of the latest exchange illustrate just how lopsided things are. To secure the return of the remains of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, army reservists whose seizure by Hezbollah sparked the 34-day conflict in Lebanon, Israel released a terrorist serving a life sentence for the deaths of four Israelis as well as four other Lebanese prisoners. Samir Kuntar was sentenced to three life terms for killing an Israeli man in front of his four-year-old daughter, then killing the little girl by smashing her skull with his rifle butt.<BR/><BR/>Despite his crimes, Kuntar was welcomed back to Lebanon as a hero by the President, Prime Minister and Speaker of parliament. A public holiday was declared to mark the agreement and yellow Hezbollah flags were flown to leave no doubt about who was responsible for the exchange. By contrast, there were no public celebrations in Israel. Only tears at the final confirmation that the two young soldiers were dead and deep soul-searching about what would come next. Lebanese politicians openly said the swap proved the only successful way to free prisoners was by kidnapping Israeli soldiers. Worst of all, hostage-takers are open to conclude that in negotiations with Israel, even dead bodies have a value. This calculation overlooks the fact the original kidnapping sparked a 34-day war between Israel and Lebanon that left more than 1200 Lebanese and 157 Israeli soldiers dead.<BR/><BR/>Hezbollah may rejoice that it has had a propaganda win at home. But for the rest of the world, the way in which it rolled out the red carpet -- literally -- for a criminal guilty of such a heinous crime has shown the group for what it is. The Australian remains an outspoken supporter of the state of Israel and of efforts to find a peaceful two-state solution to the Palestinian conflict. In this instance, we have no doubt that Israel has paid a terrible price to secure the return of the bodies of two kidnapped soldiers. Palestinians and Lebanese citizens have also paid a high price because of the conflict that was sparked by the kidnappings and they continue to do so because of the proxy war being fought on their soil by Iran, through Hezbollah, against Israel.<BR/><BR/>The best that can come out of the sorry episode is the hope that a dialogue has been opened that, rather than more kidnappings and killings, will prove useful in negotiations for lasting peace.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com