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January 06, 2006
Baruch dayan emet - not yet
I went with the World Tribune story linked by Memeorandum, which turned out to be false. Sorry for my Sago Mine moment.
Omri Ceren continues to be the best source for up to the minute news on Sharon's condition. Don't listen to me, listen to him.
I want to make one point about Christopher Hitchens' piece, which expresses his typically very grudging acknowledgment of anything positive about Israel, along with misstatements of fact that are conventional wisdom on the Left. I consider this bias the last holdover from his Leftist roots, which he does not want to give up, because then he would have to face just how much his politics have changed. So far he can still imagine himself of the Left, but the hawkish international-solidarity-with Iraqi-socialists Left.
But scapegoating and promoting double standards for Israel has been a hallmark of the Left since 1967, and it is even more of a touchstone than hating whatever American president is in office at the time, and Hitchens is reluctant to reconsider this part of his belief system.
So Hitch says:
On the day after Ariel Sharon's massive stroke, it's not difficult to remember a time when the news of his demise would have been, not to be too callous about it, something that would have been welcomed by all Palestinians, many Israelis, and many others with an interest in democracy and human rights.The best way of reminding oneself of this is to take a short refresher course in the 1983 Kahane Commission Report, which investigated the filthy pogrom at the Sabra and Shatila camps in Beirut and which recommended that the prime minister consider removing Sharon from office. (It is also worth looking up Noam Chomsky's mordantly brilliant critique of that report, in his book Fateful Triangle, which disputed the commission's finding of "indirect responsibility" and showed that Sharon had been the effective and conscious author of the massacre.)
It's really time for this canard to be laid to rest. Hitchens so absolves the actual perpetrators of "the filthy pogrom" of responsibility that this paragraph doesn't even acknowledge their existence. And Hitchens exhibits gross irresponsibility - given all that we know about him - in crediting Noam Chomsky with any kind of veracity.
For shame, Mr Hitchens, for shame.
Judith | 01/06/06 at 11:35 AM | Categories: Eretz Yisrael
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Comments
everything that i am hearing over here in tel aviv via radio, tv, etc., reports that sharon is still alive but in extremely grave condition.
benjamin | January 6, 2006 12:45 PM
Haaretz is not reporting his death. I think World Tribune jumped the gun a wee bit. As for Hitchens' reporting, I agree with your opinion that he's hanging on to that last bit of his early socialistic ways.
elgato ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.keshertalk.com/nav-commenters.gif)
| January 6, 2006 12:48 PM
Hitchens has become famous for kicking the dead (or the sick, or the sanctified) when they're down. It's (hopefully) his least appealing quality.
As Eric said when Hitch bashed the Pope, Well, that didn't take long..
mary | January 6, 2006 01:56 PM
Congratulations, Ms. Weiss, on your bloggage (rhymes with "corsage") during this Sharon crisis. This and the Arab praise entries are cutting edge.
Jeremiah | January 6, 2006 03:15 PM
