ARAB MEDIA WATCH
 

ARAB JOURNALISTS ARE NOT TO BE TRUSTED

Some 1,500 years ago, Prophet Mohammad condemned the "people of the pen", the poets, writers and messengers of the word. In his "HADITH AL SHARIF" (Noble Dialogues and Discourse of the Prophet), Mohammad told his followers "WA INNA AL SHOUARA'AH MIN AHLI AL NAR", meaning verbatim "Poets (or writers, in today's terminology "journalists") are from the parents of fire". He meant by this that, poets and writers are decadent, sinful and untrustworthy. And consequently, they will go to hell. He knew, back then, that the Arab mind and the Arab pen are not to be trusted, for they distort the truth, corrupt the masses  and cause mass confusion. And today, 1,500 years after such a prophetic proclamation, the Muslim Arab mind did not change a bit. Especially in the circle and milieux of educated and cultured Muslims, in the Arab corporate world, science, media and broadcasting. By nature and raison d'etre, the Arab media will never cease to attack Israel, will keep on inciting and encouraging Arabs and Muslims to hate the Jews and the Christians,  and to disseminate false information about Israel and the United States foreign policies. This Muslim intellectualism distortion and those hate and vengeance campaigns against the Jews and Christians in the Arab media negatively and dangerously affect the Arab and Muslim populace  around the globe. Muslims and Arabs who live and work in the United States are not immune. For almost 20 years, Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser kept on lying to his people and to the immense Arab world,  and  continued to fabricate stories about the imminent danger of world Zionism. In  his weekly speeches at the Radio of Cairo (HOUNA AL QAHIRA), and the daily political broadcast of "AKAZEEB WA HAKA'IK" (LIES AND TRUTHS), the Egyptian president consistently and methodologically  disseminated false information about the military power of Egypt, the might of the Arab League, and the danger of Zionism ("Sahayinah" in Arabic). His speeches were printed in their entirety on the front page of all the Arab newspapers, except in Tunisia. No rationale, analytical analysis and unbiased reporting are to be found in official communiqués and statements issued by Arab officials, nor in Arab editorials. And this week, I found an abundance of examples which illustrate the biased, distorted and sick news reporting by the Arab media and childish accusations scenarioed by top Arab officials. Here are some:

Saudi Arabia Defense Minister: "Bin Laden Was Sent by the Jews. "
During an official  meeting/conference on counter-terrorism which took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Prince Sultan Feted, the Defense Minister of Saudi Arabia stated, that,  Osama Bin Laden was “sent by the Jews.” The Saudi Defense Minister went on claiming that Bin Laden was a Jewish instrument. And somewhere in his ridiculous and lengthy accusative report, Feted  inserted and read a poem which goes like this: "Long live security, may its men hold their heads high on every corner. Bin Laden whose ideology is sick, who was sent by the Jews, who is the architect of theft, was treacherous and sent us the criminals. This traitor of the nation tried to harm us, but his efforts boomeranged back upon him." Prince Turki Ibn Muhammad, assistant undersecretary for political affairs at the Saudi Foreign Ministry told WorldNetDaily:  "We have invited all countries that have suffered from terrorism to the conference, and all have agreed to take part." Yet, Israel was not  invited to attend the conference.

Arab Weekly Editorial: "Israel-United States Nuclear Tests Caused the Tsunami."                                                                                                      The Arab media has accused Israel and the United States of being the devilish architects of the catastrophic earthquake events and tsunami in Southeast Asia. The Egyptian newspapers and particularly the "AL USBOUH", the national Egyptian weekly have  concluded that Israel was responsible for causing the death of 165,000 people in Asia. The Egyptian weekly wrote that tsunami was caused by  American-Israeli-Indian atomic tests, intentionally conducted to kill Muslims. The editorial stated: "The three most recent atomic tests were conducted by Americans and Israelis with the intention of  annihilating  humanity and  Muslims." The editorial continues, "In the most recent and initial  tests, Americans and Israelis began to destroy entire habitats and  cities on a large scale, especially where Muslims live."
 

Muslims' New Throwing Stones Targets: Sharon, Bush and Blair.

It is expected from Muslims who make the "Hajj" (pilgrimage to the city of Mecca) to throw stones at three piles of rocks representing the devil. This is a Muslim tradition. Nothing is new about this religiously observed "Ada" (tradition). But what is "cartoonistically" and "caricaturically" new and silly about this old "Hajj Ada", is the new twist and targets this tradition took this year. Well, this year's  stone throwing targets are Ariel Sharon, President Bush and Tony Blair.  Throwing stones at the "Shaitan Al Rajeem" "Satan or Devil" remains a strong and paramount part of the Islamic Hajj ritual. This year,  the devil or Satan has been replaced by Sharon, Bush and Blair. What an honor, folks! Waves of Muslim pilgrims enjoyed so much, so much, so much, throwing stones at the three leaders. They loved it. The incidents, or perhaps, should I say the  revengeful public display was reported in all the Arab newspapers. Several front page articles  on the "new targets" appeared under this huge headline "Oppressors of the Muslims".

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