Saturday, March 31, 2012

Reuters pardons Marwan Barghouti

In May of 2004, Marwan Barghouti, leader of the Tanzim terrorist organization (a branch of Palestinian President Abbas' Fatah party) was convicted on 5 counts of murder by an Israeli civilian court.  Among the atrocities organized and/or funded by Barghouti was an attack on a seafood market restaurant in Tel Aviv.  Here's how the incident is recounted in Barghouti's indictment: 

At that same time, the Restaurant was completely packed with dozens of diners. Hasouna [Barghouti's operative] arrived at the "Maariv House Bridge" located on the aforementioned street opposite the Restaurant and began shooting at the diners with the intention of willfully causing the deaths of many of them. Near this time Hasouna threw hand grenades into the Restaurant that, miraculously, did not explode. Immediately thereafter Hasouna approached the Restaurant and stabbed those Restaurant diners who got in his way, with the goal of willfully causing the deaths of many of the diners. 

Although Barghouti refused to present a defense at his trial, he admitted throughout that he supported "armed resistance" against Israelis.  Barghouti was sentenced to five life sentences for murder and another 40 years for attempted murder.

In a story published yesterday at 3:09 am EDT about Arabs attempting to march to Jerusalem in a show of force commemorating "Land Day", Reuters reports:
Leading Palestinian activist Marwan Barghouti, serving multiple life sentences in an Israeli jail for orchestrating suicide attacks, called on Monday for a new wave of civil resistance in the decades-long quest for statehood.
By 1:21 pm EDT, Reuters had pardoned Barghouti:
Leading Palestinian activist Marwan Barghouti, serving multiple life sentences in an Israeli jail for allegedly orchestrating suicide attacks, called on Monday for a new wave of civil resistance in the decades-long quest for statehood.
Only in Israel, where a liberal democracy makes and decides matters of law, where the burden of proof is on the state, and where capital punishment is banned, does Reuters have the chutzpah to seek to subvert the verdict of a civilian court by suggesting, post facto, that the charges against the convicted murderer remain "alleged".

This is one sick news company.

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