(Palestinians celebrate the lynching of two Jews in Ramallah...)
Posted on 11/11/2003 12:06:00 PM PST by yonif
Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - Palestinians are mocking and laughing at American casualties in Iraq in their press and elsewhere, an independent Israeli media watchdog group said on Tuesday.
Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) Director Itamar Marcus said that while the Palestinians have been criticizing America in their media for years, the hatred has recently been ratcheted up. Established in 1996, PMW monitors and analyzes Palestinian Arabic language media.
"[The Palestinians] have been condemning America since 1997," said Marcus in a telephone interview. "Anti-American cartoons mocking American dead [have] reached a new level of hatred."
In a cartoon printed in the Palestinian Authority's official daily Al Hayat Al Jadida on Tuesday, the cartoon ridicules the memorial for 15 American soldiers who were killed when a U.S. helicopter was downed recently in Iraq.
The cartoon depicts the memorial showing a row of rifles with helmets atop them. Hanging on a line in between each rifle is a note with sayings such as "We will imprison Saddam soon," "Casualties are relatively low," "The uprising is weak and desperate," and "International forces are needed."
Another cartoon in the same paper two days ago depicted three American helicopters. The first was a regular helicopter, but the second and third were shaped like a coffin painted with an American flag with propellers on the top.
"They're absolutely taking joy in the American dead," Marcus said.
In several recent articles translated by PMW, the PA press and PA officials are quoted as urging attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq, condemning U.S. administration officials and even blasting U.S. financial aid.
On October 27, the PA daily Al-Ayyam used a play on words in Arabic to criticize the Shiite Muslim leadership in Iraq for not supporting terror attacks against U.S. forces there. It accused the religious leaders of being shaa'hid (witness[es]) instead of encouraging their people to be shahid (martyr[s]).
Palestinian National Council representative Basam Abu Sharif blasted the U.S. in a speech in the Brazilian parliament, according to an article in Al-Hayat Al Jedida on October 30.
Referring to President Bush, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and British Prime Minister Tony Blair as the "triangle of terror and evil," Sharif called on the United Nations and other countries to confront them, charging that the "sources of organized terror are the occupation and war crimes that these three states are committing."
The same paper published an article on November 3 written by PA Legislative Council member Nahidh Muneer Al-Ris accusing Bush of having rained missiles on Iraq equivalent to three nuclear bombs.
He charged Bush, Sharon, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz of being "human beings whose ambitions have turned them into bloodthirsty beasts."
PA columnist and political commentator Jawad Al-Bashiti, who lives in Jordan, wrote in Al-Ayyam on November 1 that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) had granted an award of $1,350,000 to train 50 Egyptian journalists in an American University so that they would be able to "speak about the United States with 'professional expressions' that humiliate the Egyptian people and nation." He said most Americans refer to Bush as "The Great Liar."
"Anti-American sentiment is very strong," Marcus said. "The Palestinians see the world as dominated by the U.S... The whole thing of depicting America has nothing to do with hatred of Israel."
Marcus recently testified before a subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which was examining whether U.S. funds were being used directly or indirectly to support PA indoctrination.
Marcus said that while on the one hand, the U.S. is pouring millions of dollars in aid into the PA, Palestinians are at the same time attacking the U.S. through the media. In two cases, he said, a verbal attack of the U.S. appeared on the same page of announcements of USAID funding.
From 1993 to 2002, USAID provided approximately $1 billion to the Palestinians through projects and non-government organizations. All U.S. aid given to the Palestinians was provided through USAID until recently, when restrictions were removed, allowing for direct aid to the PA.
Yeah, like the one about Miss Daisy Cutter. ....that's a real blast.
To the tune of $500 million per year. .....Half a billion dollars annually to a freakin' terrorist organization. Absolutely crimminal.
(Palestinians celebrate the lynching of two Jews in Ramallah...)
And although they may not be laughing, many (un)American leftists are rooting for those same casualties.
Not out of respect!
My dog deserves a better plot to plop on!
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