Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Reuters quotes Israel's PM and "far-right" FM on Iran's Suez crossing; censors Iran's response

Reuters Jerusalem Bureau Editor-in-Charge, Jeffrey Heller, reports on public remarks by Israel's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister with regard to Iran's plan to send ships through the Suez Canal:
(Reuters) - Iran's plan to send two naval ships through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean is an attempt to expand its regional influence, and Israel takes a grave view of the move, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.
"We can see what an unstable region we live in, an area in which Iran is trying to take advantage of the situation that has arisen and broaden its influence by transferring two warships via the Suez Canal," he said in public remarks to his cabinet.
"Israel takes a grave view of this Iranian step," Netanyahu said, adding the Jewish state would need to boost defense spending as a result of Tehran's move and recent regional upheaval. [...]
Last week, the prospect of the Suez crossing was described by Israel's far-right foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, as a provocation by Iran.
Heller is not as attentive however, to the official reply by Iran's "conservative" Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei:
"The fake Zionist government is a cancerous tumor and the cause of different diseases and political, economic calamity in the region," the commander-in-chief of Iran told officials while marking the anniversary of the birth of the Prophet Mohammed which in the Shiite calendar fell on Monday.
"The arrogance (Iran's standard term of abuse for the United States) is doing its best to preserve this warmongering tumor, but today the hatred of regional nations towards this cancerous tumor is more evident," state television quoted him as saying.
The above statement by Khamenei has gone completely unreported by Reuters.  Perhaps Editor-in-Chief David Schlesinger will look into the reasons why.

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