Tabassum Zakaria at a loss to understand Iran's Supreme Leader

Reuters correspondent Tabassum Zakaria is utterly mystified.  Just what is driving Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei?

(Reuters) - When U.S. officials join talks this weekend about Iran's nuclear program, they will be armed with profiles developed by intelligence agencies offering insight into what makes foreign leaders tick.  [...]
Former U.S. officials and Iran experts say Khamenei has a deep-rooted suspicion of the West and a streak of insecurity - he rose to power due to his loyalty to the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini rather than lofty religious credentials.
A sense of inferiority has dogged him over the years and it would be especially important for Khamenei to be seen as not folding under Western pressure to reach an agreement, they said.

In an inadvertently hilarious story, Zakaria spends nearly 1,200 words scratching her head while she cites various intelligence analysts, psychiatrists, and heads of think tanks advising Vice-President Joe Biden, in an effort to divine the mysterious motivations of the Ayatollah:

But even if the United States had great access to Iran, the intentions of one man are not easy to discern.
"It's important to keep in mind that these analysts are trying to assess complex human beings, including all the outside factors that might influence them," the U.S. official said.
One question about Khamenei's intentions is his stated view that nuclear weapons are a sin.
Some experts shrug it off, saying the Iranian leader could issue a new religious edict if it suits a changing circumstance.
But Paul Pillar, a former senior CIA analyst, sees the proclamation as a potentially hopeful sign for nuclear talks.
"It gives him an out," said Pillar, a Georgetown University professor. "He is on record as having made a statement that would not make it shameful or a sign of weakness to come to an understanding with the West ... that clearly rules out a nuclear weapon."
While Khamenei says Iran does not seek nuclear weapons, he has insisted that others respect Iran's civilian nuclear rights.
Standing up for injustice and for Iran's rights is central to how he looks at the nuclear issue and should be considered in how the West frames its approach so that it allows him to save face, a former U.S. government Middle East expert said.  [...] 
"On the one hand we see him as a figure who doesn't really trust the international system, doesn't trust the United States, but he is also not extremely reckless," said Laipson, a former vice chair of the National Intelligence Council.

1,200 words of mental masturbation and nary a mention of Khamenei's many explicit threats to annihilate Israel and exterminate the Jewish people.

Memo to Tabassum and her psychological "experts": sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

Jihan Abdalla forgets a little something

In a truly vile demonstration of pro-Palestinian propaganda, Reuters correspondent Jihan Abdalla reports on the Israel Supreme Court's decision to reject claims of ownership by the Husseini family to what remains of the Shepherd Hotel in Jerusalem:

It was declared "absentee property" by Israel after it was captured and annexed to East Jerusalem in 1967. The title was transferred to an Israeli firm, which sold it in 1985 to Irving Moskowitz, a Florida businessman and patron of Jewish settlers.
In 2009, Israel's Jerusalem city hall approved a project to replace the building with a block of 20 apartments. Israeli officials said Washington had voiced its opposition to the plan to Israel's ambassador in the United States.
"This property, which is legitimately ours, represents the Palestinians' rights to their land and to Jerusalem," Mona Husseini, heir to the property and Husseini's granddaughter, said on Monday.

What Abdalla fails to tell readers is that between 1948 and 1967, during which time the property was in the hands of, first, the British and then the King of Jordan, there was absolutely no claim of ownership made by the Husseini family or anyone else.  Only years after Israel took possession of the compound did Husseini and the Palestinians become incensed and seek to obtain title.

Abdalla notes that the original dwelling "served as the home of Jerusalem grand mufti Haj Amin Husseini, who fought the British and Zionists".  

More precisely, Husseini was a Nazi collaborator who exhorted Adolf Hitler not to allow the Jews of Europe to flee to Palestine.  Husseini assured Hitler that the Arabs would, consistent with the Nazi approach in Germany, exterminate those Jews living in Palestine and Arab countries. 

"Arabs, rise as one man and fight for your sacred rights. Kill the Jews wherever you find them. This pleases God, history, and religion.  This saves your honor.  God is with you".

--  Haj Amin Husseini

Reuters quotes as expert on Israeli security concerns, individual who believes "Israel ain't a very good idea"

It's always amusing when Reuters correspondents cherry-pick and quote "analysts" and other "experts" in an effort to advance their personal editorial agendas under the guise of independent and impartial reporting.

In today's illustration, Matt Spetalnick, whose traditional reporting agenda has been to pit Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against U.S. President Barack Obama and play up differences between the two, calls attention to the current debate between Israel and the U.S. on how best to deal with Iran's nuclear ambitions:

Still, Obama - in an Atlantic magazine interview published on Friday - insisted that Iran "is not yet in a position to obtain a nuclear weapon without us having a pretty long lead time in which we will know that they are making that attempt."
And Obama warned in Washington on Sunday against "loose talk" of war with Iran, saying such "bluster" was counterproductive because it has been driving up global oil prices and boosting demand for Iran's oil exports.
That may have been a message to Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders, whose have engaged in a strident exchange of recriminations with Iranian officials in recent months.
Daniel Levy, an analyst at the New America Foundation think tank, said Obama had "offered clarity and commitments on mainstream Israeli concerns without capitulating to the Netanyahu narrative, which is far more dismissive of diplomacy."
Speaking in Ottawa, the right-wing Israeli leader ignored Obama's appeal to let sanctions run their course and focused on the president's insistence on keeping the military option open and backing Israel's right to defend itself.

Spetalnick cites a "strident exchange of recriminations" between Netanyahu and Iranian officials in recent months.  Hmm, let's see... the Reuters correspondent must be referring to that even-handed exchange between Netanyahu and Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei where the former stated:

"As for Israel, like any sovereign country, we reserve the right to defend ourselves against a country that calls and works for our destruction."

in response to Khamenei's suggestion that:

"It is legally and morally justified to commit genocide and wipe Israel off the map."

Because after all, Spetalnick is constitutionally unable to distinguish between threats of genocide by one party, and assertions to the right of self-defense by the other.

But what truly exposes Spetalnick as a dishonest hawker of anti-Israel propaganda is, on the one hand, his stale approach of labeling Netanyahu as "right-wing" in order to dismiss the Prime Minister's focus on the need for a credible military threat to dissuade Iran from consummating its nuclear weapons program, and on the other, the correspondent's employ of "analyst" Daniel Levy to suggest that Obama had put to rest Israeli concerns without committing to that military threat.

Because beyond what little Spetalnick wants his audience to know, Levy is someone who believes that if Israel should have to resort to military force to defend its survival, then perhaps the country "ain't a very good idea".



Certainly a chap whose assurances on behalf of Obama Israelis can believe in.

Reuters recycles previous story on Iran; still censoring threats to exterminate the Jews

In a story virtually identical to that originally published on February 20, 2012, Reuters hardcore propagandist Alistair Lyon portrays recent Iranian threats as purely defensive:

In February Khamenei said sanctions would not alter Iran's nuclear course, military threats would "harm America" and any nation or group fighting Israel, thought to be the Middle East's only nuclear-armed power, would have Tehran's backing.

"In response to threats of oil embargo and war, we have our own threats to impose at the right time," he declared.
Khamenei has in the past denied that Iran seeks atomic bombs, saying: "It is against our Islamic thoughts."

Lyon is careful to censor other statements made or officially endorsed by Khamenei in February:

The Zionist regime is a cancerous tumor and it will be removed.

It is legally and morally justified to commit genocide and wipe Israel off the map.

What do they teach these guys at Reuters school?

Reuters, public relations wing for Iran

Reuters continues with its ludicrous and journalistically indefensible efforts to downplay the Iranian nuclear weapons program and conceal explicit Iranian threats to commit genocide.

The agency runs three stories, two by self-censoring Iranian correspondent, Parisa Hafezi, the third by hardcore propagandist, Alistair Lyon, employing a combination of euphemisms, egregious factual omissions, and sanitized reporting to portray a fantasy world where Iran is merely pursuing electrical power and where the regime's military threats are solely a defensive response to Western aggression.  Here's Hafezi running interference:

Still, a top U.S. intelligence official said last week that while U.S. spy services believed Iran would respond if attacked, they thought it was unlikely to start a conflict.
Israel and the United States do not rule out military action against Iran if sanctions and diplomacy fail to rein in its nuclear energy campaign.
Senior U.N. inspectors have begun their second round of talks in Tehran in three weeks, seeking Iranian explanations with respect to intelligence about "possible military dimensions" to the Iranian nuclear program.
Iran denies Western accusations that it is covertly seeking the means to build nuclear weapons and in recent weeks has again vowed no nuclear retreat, but also voiced willingness to resume negotiations with world powers without preconditions.
Iran says it is enriching uranium solely as fuel for a future network of nuclear power stations, not for bombs.

And again here after Iran refused yesterday to allow U.N. inspector access to its nuclear sites:

As sanctions mount, ordinary Iranians are suffering from the effects of soaring prices and a collapsing currency. Several Iranian nuclear scientists have been killed over the past two years in bomb attacks that Tehran has blamed on its arch-adversary Israel.

In response, Iran has issued a series of statements asserting its right to self-defense and threatening to block the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil tanker route.

The collapse of the nuclear talks came as Iran seems increasingly isolated, with some experts seeing the Islamic republic's mounting defiance in response to sanctions against its oil industry and financial institutions as evidence that it is in no mood to compromise with the West.

Elections on March 2 are expected to be won by supporters of Khamenei, an implacable enemy of the West.

The failure of the two-day visit by the International Atomic Energy Agency could now hamper any resumption of wider nuclear negotiations between Iran and six world powers as the sense grows that Tehran feels it is being backed into a corner.

And here's Reuters correspondent Lyon, writing of Iran's Supreme Leader (we love the Orwellian ring of that sobriquet):

This month Khamenei said sanctions would not alter Iran's nuclear course, military threats would "harm America" and any nation or group fighting Israel, thought to be the Middle East's only nuclear-armed power, would have Tehran's backing.
"In response to threats of oil embargo and war, we have our own threats to impose at the right time," he declared.
Khamenei has in the past denied that Iran seeks atomic bombs, saying: "It is against our Islamic thoughts."
But he has shown little interest in genuinely assuaging Western worries about Iran's activities, authorizing what the U.N. nuclear watchdog regards as only incomplete cooperation, as well as intermittent talks with six world powers that Western officials suspect Tehran pursues primarily to gain more time to attain nuclear "breakout" capability.
The bespectacled cleric, who ultimately decides all matters of state, including nuclear and foreign policy, simply does not trust the United States, once described by his late mentor Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as a wolf to Iran's lamb.

Ah yes, poor Iran is being unfairly persecuted for a perfectly innocent "nuclear energy campaign" (to which it refuses to allow independent inspection under its NPT obligations) and only "in response", has the country "issued a series of statements asserting its right to self-defense".  You know, like threatening to commit genocide against the Jews.

The Iranian lamb.  And its Reuters udder.

Meanwhile, in Jerusalem....

Even as Reuters refuses to report on Iran's call and religious justification for the annihilation of Israel and genocide of the Jews as disseminated on the regime's website, the agency's correspondents are busy condemning the Jews for graffiti spray painted in Jerusalem:

(Reuters) - A Jerusalem monastery, built on the site where tradition says the tree used in the making of Jesus's cross once stood, was defaced with "Death to Christians" graffiti on Tuesday.
The words "Price Tag" daubed on a vandalised car parked outside the 11th-century Monastery of the Cross suggested that militant Jewish settlers were responsible and police said they were investigating that possibility as well as other angles.

Keep in mind that Reuters was similarly quick to accuse Jewish settlers of vandalism in the Arab village of Tuba Zangaria last October but has failed to follow up with reported evidence that it was local Arab villagers, not Jewish settlers, who likely committed the crime.

So, all a Muslim has to do to convince Reuters that Jews have vandalized property, and to persuade the agency to commit line space and three correspondents to report on this, is to spray paint "price tag" somewhere -- anywhere.

Whereas, if an Islamic government, heavily engaged in developing nuclear weapons, calls for the genocide of six million people on religious grounds and provides targeting maps pinpointing the greatest population density of that people for maximum kill ratios, Reuters correspondents are out to lunch.  

This is one sick media company.

How are those medical isotopes coming?

An article appearing on an Iranian website endorsed by that country's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has called for the annhilation of Israel and genocide of the Jews.

We're certain Reuters will find some way to downplay the news (if the agency even reports on it).

The article also states:

Israel is a satanic media outlet with bombers

Actually, we thought that was a more apt description of Reuters.

Reuters: Israeli leaders making 'provocative' comments about Iran

Formerly with Newsweek magazine and Dateline NBC, correspondent Mark Hosenball was hired by Reuters in September of 2011.  Hosenball, who is described in bios as an "investigative reporter" is covering international politics for Reuters and has already penned several tendentious stories about Iran where he has sought to shift attention away from that country's clandestine and illegal nuclear weapons program, and onto the country being targeted by it.

In a conflict which has seen the International Atomic Energy Agency report that Iran has engaged in all aspects of developing and delivering a nuclear bomb, the United Nations impose sanctions against Iran for defiantly refusing to cease uranium enrichment and open its nuclear sites to inspection, and explicit American and European threats to pursue military action against Iran if it continues on its path to nuclear weapons, Hosenball attempts to portray Israel as a loose cannon and spoiler:

(Reuters) - The Obama administration is increasingly anxious about Israeli leaders' provocative public comments on Iran's nuclear program but does not have hard proof that it will strike Iran in the next few months, U.S. and European officials said.

Right.  It is Israeli leaders who have been making "provocative" public comments about Iran.

Apparently, Hosenball was busy checking out the employee cafeteria yesterday when Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, stated:

The Zionist regime is a cancerous tumor and it will be removed.

Hosenball looks to fit right in with the Reuters Trust Principles.

Reuters finally admits everyone hates the Jews

After years of obfuscating and denying, Reuters is finally on-board the reality wagon that Iran has a long history of supporting Hamas with money and weapons:

Hamas, founded in 1987 and regarded by Israel and the West as a terrorist organization, has long been backed by Iran, a strong ally of Syria's Assad. But funding has apparently stalled in the past four months, the diplomat said.
"Iran used to give $250 million to $300 million to Hamas but there have been interruptions in the payments in past year. Our understanding is that there has been no payment since August 2011," he said.

The agency wasn't quite so forthcoming here, here, here, and here. 

In the topsy-turvy world of Middle Eastern religio-politics, we have the Shi'ite regime (Mullahs) in Iran supporting the Alawite regime (Assad) in Syria and the Sunni regime (Hamas) in Gaza, the latter of which is also supported by the Sunni regime (Muslim Brotherhood) in Egypt, which is warming to the Shi'ite regime (Mullahs again) in Iran.

All of course, are united in their genocidal hatred of the Jews.

Well after all, "International Brotherhood Week" is coming in February.

The Palestinians and their acolytes at Reuters are, in a word, insane

According to the Handbook of Self and Identity, edited by Mark Leary, a Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University, compartmentalization is "a psychological defense mechanism used consciously or unconsciously to avoid cognitive dissonance, or the mental discomfort and anxiety caused by a person having conflicting values, cognitions, emotions, beliefs, etc within themselves. Compartmentalization allows these conflicting ideas to co-exist by inhibiting direct and/or explicit acknowledgement and interaction between separate compartmentalized self states."

We think compartmentalization is nothing less than a form of insanity.

Take for example, the reaction by Reuters to the recent arrest by Israel of several senior Hamas leaders, particularly Aziz Dweik.  In a 369-word story about the detentions, Reuters correspondents Jihan Abdalla, Nidal al-Mughrabi, and Ori Lewis deferentially characterize the Hamasniks as "lawmakers" or "legislators" no fewer than six times.

Remember, members of Hamas are religious fanatics, driven by their totalitarian belief system to annihilate a country and murder every last Jew in the world.

In an interview with the Australian newspaper The Age in 2006, here's how Dweik responded to a question about the Palestinian terror war ("intifada") against the Jews of Israel during which over 1,000 people were savagely murdered:

"OK, yes, it happened, we did suicide attacks — but now there is a truce. We deplore any action where civilians are killed — yes, including Israeli civilians. We are a moderate Islamic movement. We are not terrorists. We are freedom seekers. Please, tell your readers, please help us secure this goal."

Even the sympathetic interviewer for the newspaper noted the compartmentalization:

In a conflict suffused with such great hatred, language can quickly lose meaning. There is a disconnect between the words and the deeds.
Dr Dweik is charming, articulate and passionate in a very non-threatening way. However, he can also countenance sending boys to their death in order to kill the innocent and can justify it with a cliched equation empty of any real meaning or insight.

As we stated at the top, the Palestinians and their acolytes at Reuters are, in a word, insane.

Reuters latest propaganda mantra

We define a propaganda mantra as a false, fabricated, or misleading construct appearing repeatedly in a Reuters story so as to drum the notion into the mind of the reader until he or she simply surrenders his or her critical faculty and accepts the propaganda as truth.

Correspondents in Reuters Jerusalem Bureau regularly dream up new entrants in this category and then employ them consistently in and across all stories published by the bureau.  Examples of the many Reuters propaganda mantras can be seen in our right sidebar with counts as to how many times these phrases have appeared in Reuters stories over the last couple of years.

The latest propaganda mantra to insinuate its way into Reuters Middle East coverage appears in a story by correspondent Dan Williams about a Salafi terrorist -- er sorry, "militant" -- killed by the Israeli air force as he was preparing to fire a rocket from Gaza:

Though Hamas echoes Salafi calls for Israel's ultimate destruction, its ambitions are framed within Palestinian nationalism, not al Qaeda-style global jihad, and include a possible ceasefire with the militarily superior Jewish state which, with Egyptian help, has tried to isolate Gaza.

Williams' (unsupported) assertion, i.e., that the goal of Hamas is one of merely achieving a Palestinian state rather than waging a broader war of jihad against non-Muslims so as to reconquer all land that has ever been under Islamic rule, is utterly false.  It is intended to draw a spurious distinction between Hamas and al-Qaeda for naive western audiences so that Williams and his colleagues at Reuters can carry on with their Palestinian advocacy campaign, justifying Palestinian violence under the deliberately misleading banner of "nationalism".

To see that Williams is simply blowing smoke, all one need do is read the Hamas Charter which, in setting out the terror group's mission and strategy, employs the word "jihad" no fewer than 36 times, including this section describing the relationship between Hamas and other jihadists:

Article Twenty-Three: Our Position Vis-a-Vis the Islamic Movements

The Hamas views the other Islamic movements with respect and appreciation. Even when it differs from them in one aspect or another or on one concept or another, it agrees with them in other aspects and concepts. It reads those movements as included in the framework of striving [for the sake of Allah], as long as they hold sound intentions and abide by their devotion to Allah, and as along as their conduct remains within the perimeter of the Islamic circle. All the fighters of Jihad have their reward. The Hamas regards those movements as its stock holders and asks Allah for guidance and integrity of conduct for all. It shall not fail to continue to raise the banner of unity and to exert efforts in order to implement it, [based] upon the [Holy] Book and the [Prophet’s] Tradition. “And hold fast, all of you together, to the cable of Allah, do not separate. And remember Allah’s favor unto you how ye were enemies and He made friendship between your hearts so that ye became as brothers by His grace; and (how) ye were upon the brink of an abyss of fire, and He did save you from it. Thus Allah makes clear His revelations unto you, that happily ye may be guided.” Sura III (Al-’Imran), verse 102.

And this section acknowledging that Hamas is an arm of the Muslim Brotherhood (which, like al-Qaeda, advocates for a global caliphate):

Article Two: The Link between Hamas and the Association of Muslim Brothers

The Islamic Resistance Movement is one of the wings of the Muslim Brothers in Palestine. The Muslim Brotherhood Movement is a world organization, the largest Islamic Movement in the modern era. It is characterized by a profound understanding, by precise notions and by a complete comprehensiveness of all concepts of Islam in all domains of life: views and beliefs, politics and economics, education and society, jurisprudence and rule, indoctrination and teaching, the arts and publications, the hidden and the evident, and all the other domains of life.

Indeed, even the Brotherhood affiliate in Tunisia, the al-Nahda party, boasts of Jerusalem becoming the center of the new caliphate -- once of course, it is conquered by the Palestinians:

Fox guarding henhouse

The Arab League has sent a team of "observers" to Syria to monitor the frenzied bloodletting that has resulted in the deaths of over 5,000 people in the country.  With not a hint of irony, Reuters correspondent Mariam Karouny reports:

Sudanese General Mustafa Dabi, who arrived in Damascus on Saturday, is leading a team of observers that will check whether Syria is implementing part of an Arab peace plan requiring it to pull out of civilian areas and put an end to bloodshed.

Is it just us, or does it seem a bit Orwellian that a mission to verify compliance with a peace plan, intended to protect Syrians from slaughter by their government, is being led by a military leader of a country responsible for the genocide of perhaps 400,000 of its own citizens?

Riddle me this

In a story about Palestinian terror groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad joining the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Reuters correspondent Nidal al-Mughrabi is a bit befuddled:

Hamas has refused to recognize Israel's right to exist or renounce violence, while the PLO has signed interim peace accords with the Jewish state. It was unclear how Hamas would be included in the PLO, given the discrepancy.

Gee, we were wondering the same.  Perhaps it's due to the fact that notwithstanding those "interim peace accords", the PLO maintains its charter to destroy Israel through armed violence.

Nah!  That answer would be too easy.

Tom Perry on the loose

Serial liar and Reuters kingpin propagandist Tom Perry, who clearly has an irresistible fetish for the Palestinian Arabs, rushes in to defend them from the ravages of straight talk.  And his first objective is to repudiate Newt Gingrich's proposition that the Palestinians are part and parcel of the Arab community in the Middle East, rather than a distinct people.

Thus, Perry characterizes or cites others characterizing the Palestinians as a "people" at least three times in his latest turgid piece of propaganda:

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Hamas and Fatah are Palestinian rivals facing the same dilemma: how to justify their role as leaders of the Palestinian people while making little headway in achieving their national goals.  [...]

"What is required is popular action, resisting on the ground," he said. "They must take steps in this direction, or they will be left behind by the Palestinian people."  [...]

And both know good governance will not be enough to satisfy a people seeking independence.

Okay Tom, we get it.  They're a PEOPLE!

Perry then goes on to characterize the genocidal raison d'etre of that people as a "struggle", four times:

With elections overdue, questions over their legitimacy are only likely to increase unless they find a way to galvanise the Palestinians' struggle with Israel.  [...]

But in a region of fast change driven by people power, some believe Fatah and Hamas, untested at the ballot box in six years, could be left behind if they do not come up with new ideas for directing the struggle against Israel.  [...]

The groups struck a new tone at a November 24 meeting in Cairo, where both talked about "popular resistance," a term including protests, boycotts and other non-military means of struggle.  [...]

Hamas and Fatah appear to be struggling to plot a path that doesn't depend on the tools they have long employed in the struggle with Israel.  [...]

That is, when he's not defining their genocidal raison d'etre as "resistance":

While Hamas rockets still fly into Israel from Gaza, the group these days appears more interested in calm than conflict. It remains committed to armed "resistance," but has clamped down on other groups seeking to attack Israel to avoid reprisals.  [...]

"The absence of the peace process and the absence of resistance means they (Hamas and Fatah) do not have political legitimacy," said Hany al-Masri, a political commentator involved in efforts to foster reconciliation between the two.  [...]

These actions generated support for both. But the momentum is fading and having played those cards, the sides have turned to reconciliation, a phrase now heard more often from Palestinian leaders than "resistance" and "peace process."

Tom Perry: where would he be without an Arab teleprompter?

Litotes of the day

In a story about Israel replacing its ambassador to Egypt this week, following the near lynching of the last ambassador by an Egyptian mob in September, Reuters correspondents Edmund Blair and Ori Lewis demonstrate their genteel sensibilities:

Many Egyptians view Israel, which signed a peace treaty with Egypt in 1979 after four wars between the two countries, with hostility. Anti-Israeli sentiment, muted before President Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in February, has become more vocal.

Uh-huh:

Reuters Tom Perry weighs in over Gingrich remarks

In a post earlier today, we noted the mendacity with which Reuters correspondent Steve Holland responded to Newt Gingrich's remarks about the Palestinians being one with the Arab community in the Middle East.  Now it's the turn of Reuters kingpin propagandist Tom Perry, who parrots interviews Palestinian official Saeb Erekat:

Saeb Erekat, a senior Palestinian official, described his [Gingrich's] comments in an interview as "despicable." Hanan Ashrawi, another top official, said Gingrich's "very racist comments" showed he was "incapable of holding public office."
"This is the lowest point of thinking anyone can reach," Erekat, a close advisor to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, told Reuters. Such comments served only to "increase the cycle of violence," he added.
"What is the cause of violence, war in this region? Denial, denying people their religion, their existence, and now he is denying our existence," said Erekat, for years a leading figure in peace talks aimed at the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

How ironic that a man proven to be a pathological liar, one who has served under two Palestinian regimes that have systematically denied Jewish historical and religious connections to the holy land, ancient culture and relics, and sovereign rights mandated by international law, is now pontificating about the conflict being due to a denial of religious rights and recognition of the Palestinian Arabs.

Along the way, Perry demonstrates why he is Reuters #1 propagandist and a serious liability to the company's (failing) reputation for truth and accuracy in its reporting:

The 1948 war erupted after Arab states rejected a U.N. plan that would have divided British mandate-ruled Palestine into Arab and Jewish states.

The 1948 war did not "erupt"; it was launched as a declared war of annihilation by five Arab states and contingents from two others against a nascent Israel.

Perry again:

While Hamas remains committed to armed "resistance" and will not recognize Israel, the Palestinian Authority based in Ramallah states that only peaceful means can deliver Palestinian statehood and its security forces cooperate with Israel.

Hamas is not committed to "armed resistance"; it is committed to the liquidation of Israel and the genocide of the Jewish people.  And as we demonstrated earlier, the Palestinian Authority under Mahmoud Abbas is merely tactically and temporarily refraining from violence in its effort to wrestle land away from Israel.

Perry is quite adept at giving voice to Palestinian Arab howls of "racism" and "ethnic cleansing" but apparently incapable of reporting the reality of Palestinian racism and ethnic cleansing aimed at the Jews.

Facts just twist the truth around

Reuters runs one of its fatuous "factbox" series to educate us on the policies of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, and correspondent Shaimaa Fayed parrots the following absurd non sequitur with absolutely no criticism and no hint of irony:

FJP [Freedom and Justice Party] and Brotherhood officials say they want to build a modern, democratic state based on Islamic sharia law.

A "modern, democratic state" built on a political and legal system 1,400 years-old where religious minorities are subject to systematic discrimination and women are treated as chattel.

But it gets worse:

The Muslim Brotherhood is a vociferous critic of Israel. Although it long ago renounced violence as a means to bring change in Egypt, it says those facing occupation have the right to "resist by all means." The Palestinian militant group Hamas sees the Brotherhood as a spiritual leader.

As a reminder, here's what that "vociferous critic" recently had to say about the Jewish citizens of Israel:

A Muslim Brotherhood rally in Cairo's most prominent mosque Friday turned into a venomous anti-Israel protest, with attendants vowing to "one day kill all Jews".

For Reuters correspondents, facts apparently just won't do what they want them to.

Douglas Hamilton lies on behalf of Palestinians

In a story on the release by Hamas of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and the anger of Israelis who have seen the killers of their loved ones go free in the swap, Reuters correspondent Douglas Hamilton attempts to justify Palestinian terrorism by blatantly lying about its raison d'etre:

But Gaza militants, claiming triumph over the Zionists, say their "victory" will spur them on to seize more Jewish hostages, in order to liberate all Palestinians imprisoned over the years in the cause of ending Israeli occupation in lands the Jewish state took in a 1967 war.

Did those Gaza "militants", aka Hamas terrorists and their operatives, actually say this?

No.

In fact, Hamas is not driven by a commitment to end Israeli "occupation in the lands the Jewish state took in a 1967 war", but by a clear commitment, conveyed consistently in word and deed, to liquidate the Jewish state and kill or ethnically cleanse the land of its Jewish inhabitants.

Since Hamilton has apparently missed this message, here are a few choice quotes from Hamas officials:

"We have liberated Gaza, but have we recognized Israel? Have we given up our lands occupied in 1948? We demand the liberation of the West Bank, and the establishment of a state in the West Bank and Gaza, with Jerusalem as its capital – but without recognizing [Israel]. This is the key – without recognizing the Israeli enemy on a single inch of land. ...
"Our plan for this stage is to liberate any inch of Palestinian land, and to establish a state on it. Our ultimate plan is [to have] Palestine in its entirety. I say this loud and clear so that nobody will accuse me of employing political tactics. We will not recognize the Israeli enemy. " -- Mahmoud Al-Zahhar

"Hamas "must lay the foundation for a tomorrow without Zionists." -- Mahmoud a-Zahar

"Israel is based only on blood and murder in order to exist, and it will disappear, with Allah's will, through blood and Shahids [martyrs]." -- Yussuf Al-Sharafi

"This is Islam, that was ahead of its time with regards to human rights in the treatment of prisoners, but our nation was tested by the cancerous lump, that is the Jews, in the heart of the Arab nation... Be certain that America is on its way to utter destruction, America is wallowing [in blood] today in Iraq and Afghanistan, America is defeated and Israel is defeated, and was defeated in Lebanon and Palestine... Make us victorious over the community of infidels... Allah, take the Jews and their allies, Allah, take the Americans and their allies... Allah, annihilate them completely and do not leave anyone of them." -- Sheikh Dr. Ahmad Bahar

"We will not betray promises we made to God to continue the path of Jihad and resistance until the liberation of Palestine, all of Palestine. . . So be assured doctor Ayman, and all those who love Palestine like yourself, that Hamas is still the group you knew when it was founded and it will never abandon its path." -- Official Hamas Statement

"[Hamas will] never recognize the legitimacy of the Zionist state that was founded on our land." -- Khaled Mashaal

There isn't a field mouse in Dubrovnik that doesn't recognize the Hamas Mission.  Only liars and propagandists who work for the largest media company in the world have the arrogance and stupidity to believe they can deceive the public into believing that Palestinian terrorists are interested merely in "ending Israeli occupation in lands the Jewish state took in a 1967 war".

Count Douglas Hamilton in that group.

Tom Perry gloats with his brothers in arms

Reuters propagandist Tom Perry writes about Hamas "stealing the thunder" from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for successfully blackmailing negotiating the release of over 1,000 prisoners in exchange for Israeli Gilad Shalit.  Here's how Perry describes these Palestinian prisoners:

Though lacking Saadat and Barghouti, the swap will resonate with Palestinians, who regard the 6,000 or more prisoners held by Israel as national heroes and freedom fighters.
From a domestic perspective, the timing comes at a good moment for Hamas. A hunger strike among Palestinian prisoners whose demands include an end to solitary confinement is making daily headlines in the Palestinian media.

Not once in his 700+ word piece does Perry balance his parroting of Palestinian rhetoric with a mention of the crimes committed by these prisoners, including the 400 serving life sentences for murder.  This is a blatant violation of both the Reuters Trust Principles and the agency's Handbook of Journalism:

As Reuters journalists, we never identify with any side in an issue, a conflict or a dispute. Our text and visual stories need to reflect all sides, not just one [...]  Similarly in a political dispute or military conflict, there are always at least two sides to consider and we risk being perceived as biased if we fail to give adequate space to the various parties.

Perry suggests Palestinian prisoners have been on hunger strike to demand an end to solitary confinement but in fact, there are only about 20 Palestinians in solitary -- those convicted of the most heinous crimes.  The rest are demanding they be able to take university courses and receive Arab TV channels.

Perry then rehashes his insipid lies about

1) Mahmoud Abbas:

But credibility matters to both. Abbas, 76, a believer in peace negotiations despite a deadlock that has lasted over a year, has enhanced his standing in recent months, showing a more defiant approach toward Israel and the United States.

Sure, the man who refuses to negotiate is a "believer in peace negotiations".

2) The raison d'etre of Hamas:

Hamas' critics, meanwhile, say the movement has been facing a credibility crisis, struggling to reconcile its commitment to armed struggle against Israel with the responsibilities of governing Gaza, where it seized power from Abbas in 2007.

Hamas stated commitment is to genocide of the Jews.  Can't allow that unattractive reality out of the bag, eh Tom?

3) The risible notion that Hamas has been trying to prevent violent attacks on Israelis:

They [Hamas critics] have pointed to a contradiction between Hamas' words and deeds as it has sought to rein in militants whose rocket attacks into Israel have drawn punishing reprisals.

Several hundred Palestinian rocket and mortar attacks have originated from the Gaza Strip in 2011 alone.  There is absolutely no "contradiction between Hamas' words and deeds".

But then, you knew that; didn't ya' Tom?

A reader reply to Reuters

When we were kids, network television stations would occasionally broadcast an editorial on some current and controversial issue.  The editorial was clearly identified as such and the station would subsequently broadcast a responsible reply from someone in the community who disagreed with the position of the station editors.

As Reuters regularly demonstrates, those days are over.  Not only is there no line space provided for formal replies to Reuters many editorials and opinion pieces on the Middle East conflict, Reuters is not even transparent enough to acknowledge that the vast majority of stories published on its websites and syndicated to hundreds of newspapers and media outlets around the world are, in fact, opinion pieces.  Indeed, they reflect the deeply-held ideological views of the Reuters correspondents, editors, and likely, managing editors, responsible for those stories.

The Elder of Ziyon website posted today, a video produced by British polemicist Pat Condell entitled "The Great Palestinian Lie".  Condell's views are controversial, and this video is no exception, but then again, at least with Condell, the audience knows it is getting opinion -- not opinion masquerading as news.  That marks a refreshing difference with Reuters.