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Thread: Israel, U.s. Criticize Hezbollah Tv Show

  1. #1
    BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - A TV channel run by the Hezbollah guerrilla group is offering viewers something special during the Muslim holy month: a miniseries about Israel's founding that Israel and the United States are denouncing as anti-Semitic propaganda.

    ``Al-Shatat,'' Arabic for ``The Diaspora,'' is airing nightly on the Al-Manar satellite channel during Ramadan, when religious sentiment runs high. Television viewership also runs high, and stations trot out their best programs - making the season the equivalent of sweeps month in the United States.

    The series offers al-Manar's view of ``the stages of the Zionist movement ... how it was able to affect the decision-making centers in Europe and establish the Zionist entity in Palestine by criminal and dirty means,'' according to a statement from the station.

    The U.S. State Department says it borrows from the ``Protocols of the Elders of Zion,'' a 19th-century anti-Semitic tract.

    Al-Manar is known for airing diatribes against Israel and video of the Lebanese Hezbollah attacking Israeli soldiers. It commissioned a Syrian company to produce the series, which debuted Monday.

    In one episode, Jews speak of a global Jewish government. In one scene, a diseased prostitute in a European brothel run by a Jewish madam says she doesn't want any Jewish customers because she doesn't want to infect them - implying that she would willingly infect non-Jews.

    In another part of the program, Zionist pioneer Theodore Herzl is portrayed explaining how poor Jews worldwide should be brought to Palestine and given land.

    Raanan Gissin, an aide to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, told The Associated Press in Jerusalem Wednesday that ``Al-Shatat'' was an example of ``what feeds the hatred and ... what feeds terrorism. The terrorism will never end so long as they (Arabs) are fed lies and hatred.''

    ``This is the greatest anti-Semitic diatribe that you can have,'' Gissin said.

    Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the New York-based Anti-Defamation League, said in a statement the Jewish civil rights organization was ``greatly concerned about this program's potential to foment anti-Semitism at a time when anti-Jewish sentiments are rampant in the Arab world.''

    U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters in Washington Tuesday that ``Al-Shatat'' presents as fact the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The protocols, which depict a supposed plot by Jewish leaders to take over the world, have long been dismissed by historians as a forgery concocted by Russian Czar Nicholas II's secret police to blame the country's problems on Jews.

    Boucher said the United States was in contact regarding its concerns about the program with the governments of Lebanon and Syria, the main power broker in Lebanon, which also backs Hezbollah.

    Gissin said Israel has not formally complained about ``Al-Shatat.'' Israel and Lebanon are formally in a state of war and have no diplomatic relations.

    Al-Manar's assistant director general, Nasser al-Akhdar, said he didn't expect Lebanon to bow to U.S. requests because ``this is a matter of state sovereignty.''

    There was no immediate comment from the Lebanese government.

    Ramadan, a month of fasting by day and evenings spent feasting and watching television with friends and family, is traditionally a time when Arab producers try to display their best wares. Al-Manar billed its Ramadan offering as an ``artistic and historical Arab production'' and denied the program was anti-Semitic.

    Last year, the Ramadan series ``Horseman without a Horse,'' aired on Egyptian television and on al-Manar, sparking criticism for its roots in the ``Protocols of the Elders of Zion.''

    Lebanese viewer Hajj Hussein judged ``al-Shatat'' very good, ``and very strong against the Jews.'' He said he was watching it every night.

    For Abbas al-Nouri, who stars as a Romanian Jew named Albert in the miniseries, ``Al-Shatat'' is about Arabs exercising their right to speak.

    ``I am honored to participate,'' al-Nouri said.

    Al-Akhdar told the AP Wednesday the program is based on ``historical facts.'' The American criticism, he charged, ``unveils more of the level of connection between the American administration and Zionist decisions.''

    SOURCE
    _______________________

    You don't have the right to freedom of expression, press & speech. Only I have that so don't bother responding.

    Isn't that what Israel & the US are saying? No, wait, American & Isaeli TV don't have hatred programs, don't report in new or act in movies with false "facts" about countries/groups, and definetley don't portray Arabs & Muslims as "bad" ppl in almost every movies & news.

  2. The Drawing Room   -   #2
    Thats a lot of reading.
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  3. The Drawing Room   -   #3
    Originally posted by Triadcool@11 November 2003 - 09:15
    Thats a lot of reading.
    my respond was in short. lol

  4. The Drawing Room   -   #4
    AussieSheila's Avatar Dazed & Confused
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    It seems to me that Israel have a habit of trying to re-write history according to the way they would like to be seen, so it&#39;s hardly surprising that they object to the other side of the story being told and documented.

    I was shocked last week by the hate campaign waged by the Jewish community here in Australia when Dr. Hanan Ashwari, Palestinian peace activist, was awarded
    an Australian peace prize. What hope is there if hate campaigns are organized
    against peace activists?

    I thought Kerry Nettle put it well in her speech which I&#39;ve quoted from. Kerry
    Nettle was one of the Senators ejected from Parliament for speaking out during President Bush&#39;s address to Parliment. Her entire speech is worth reading I thought.


    Recently the Sydney Peace Foundation unanimously voted to award this year’s Sydney Peace
    Prize to Palestinian peace activist Dr Hanan Ashwari. The decision represents a positive move
    within the Australian community to recognise those seeking a genuine peace in Israel and
    Palestine, and has raised the profile of this issue beyond its usual audience on a note of optimism
    and hope. The Greens welcome this move.
    Dr Ashwari has distinguished herself through an unwavering and principled commitment to finding
    peace with justice, not only for her Palestinian people but for all those suffering from the ongoing
    injustice and violence that blights the region. Some have criticised the Sydney Peace Foundation
    for their decision to award the prize to a former Minister in the Palestinian Authority. In their
    criticisms, they miss the point. Peace prizes are not awarded to individuals of unassailable purity,
    or saints or angels. Peace prizes are awarded to those who consistently rise above the failings of
    human character and, in difficult and complex circumstances, move the objectives of peace
    forward, sowing seeds of hope in fields of despair. This has been the distinction of Dr Ashwari and
    as such she is a worthy recipient of this prize.
    But more important than the individual is the fact that the prize has gone to someone who is
    articulating a message of peace and hope in relation to the Palestinian/Israeli conflict.
    The timing is particularly important in light of recent escalation of violence in the Palestinian
    Territories and the seemingly unbridled willingness to kill innocent civilians coming from both the
    Israeli Government and the suicide bombers. The time for a major shift in the political balance in
    the Middle East is long over due. The message of peace and dialogue that Dr Ashwari brings
    simply must be heard if there is to be any hope for the children of Palestine and Israel into the
    future.

    Australians should be proud that the only international peace prize originating in this country is going to Dr Ashwari. As a tireless advocate for justice and peace (an advocacy which has seen her attract criticism from her own people) she sets an apt example to our political leaders in how to deal with these most fundamental of issues.
    Well I&#39;m proud of it anyway. B)

    SOURCE

  5. The Drawing Room   -   #5
    AussieSheila-I didn&#39;t hear about the senator, must&#39;ve missed it.

  6. The Drawing Room   -   #6
    Originally posted by nikita69@11 November 2003 - 04:14

    _______________________

    You don&#39;t have the right to freedom of expression, press & speech. Only I have that so don&#39;t bother responding.

    Isn&#39;t that what Israel & the US are saying? No, wait, American & Isaeli TV don&#39;t have hatred programs, don&#39;t report in new or act in movies with false "facts" about countries/groups, and definetley don&#39;t portray Arabs & Muslims as "bad" ppl in almost every movies & news.
    The production has been filmed and aired. It appears that the US and Israel find the content to be biased and are concerned that this will just fan the flames of hatred. I&#39;m not saying that they are correct, but I am saying that they have the right to disagree.

    I would suggest the Israelis&#39; film their version of events and submit it Hezbollah to present the other side. I&#39;m sure they will air it in the spirit of "balance".

    I cannot see how a difference of opinion is equivalent to denying the right to freedom of expression, press and speech.


    As for Arabs in movies, have you seen Office Space, the 13th Warrior, Aladdin? Aired in a Christian country against much protest, have you heard of "The Last Temptation of Christ"? Would this not indicate that we support some modicum of individual expression.

    It would be refreshing not to have every press clipping twisted into another example of "American hypocracy and censorship".


    Just one of the guys.
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  7. The Drawing Room   -   #7
    j2k4's Avatar en(un)lightened
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    Originally posted by hobbes@11 November 2003 - 10:45
    It would be refreshing not to have every press clipping twisted into another example of "American hypocracy and censorship".


    Thank you , sir.

    Saved me saying it.
    "Researchers have already cast much darkness on the subject, and if they continue their investigations, we shall soon know nothing at all about it."

    -Mark Twain

  8. The Drawing Room   -   #8
    Doesn&#39;t anyone ever learn from history? This jewish conspiracy crap is soooo old now. Give it up, WWII is over, move on.

    Wackos.

  9. The Drawing Room   -   #9
    and you never expect israeli and american critics to dislike hezbollah tv. they usually love it&#33; this is just shocking.

  10. The Drawing Room   -   #10
    internet.news
    Guest
    it is sad to see some people in Israel and Palestinia are not sharing thoughts
    openly --&#62; that leads to violence and that is sad although they are just humans,
    that is sad to see and I would be glad if they would be more opened to understand
    each other better...

    ...so: do not use violence - express yourself, also if extraordinary, opened&#33;&#33;&#33;
    and opened - then the real art is to share thoughts openly without hurting other
    side too much... but first be opened... I cannot expect that of you cause your just
    human, but it would be nice ;) and life would be probably more easier ;)

    ~nice dreams...

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