Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Propaganda of the Israeli Foreign Ministry

So the Israeli Foreign Ministry of occupied Palestine sends out propaganda press releases. For some reason, I am on that mailing list and I receive those announcements addressed to me as "Angry Arab News Service." Obviously, the propagandists of the Zionist entity are so desperate in their attempt to distract attention from the war crimes and racism of the state, that they went out collecting every possible newspaper's email and every possible news service's email. In the mix, they could not distinguish between real news services and satirical or ironic news services. And I could not take myself out of the email list, because doing so would require communication with an official representative of the Zionist entity, against which we all adhere to a boycott until the full liberation of Palestine. Don't get me wrong, once we liberate Palestine, and once Israel-is-no-more (I like that slogan), we can then abandon the boycott. So yesterday, I wrote to you about the mouthpiece of Prince Salman publishing an open letter to the Arabs by an Israeli politician from the ultra-right-wing party that wants to impose a loyalty oath on Arab citizens of the state usurping Israel. Here is an excerpt of the propaganda press release from the Israeli foreign ministry: "Today, 15th December, Asharq Alawsat, one of the largest pan-Arab daily newspapers printed an op-ed in Arabic by the Deputy Foreign Minister of the State of Israel, Danny Ayalon. The op-ed was titled "An Open Letter to the Arab World". In an historic and unprecedented article, Ayalon calls on the Arab world to accept Israel's extended hand in peace and fraternity. The Deputy Foreign Minister calls on the Arab world to step forward and join with Israel to defeat the forces of extremism and destruction in the Middle East. Iran and its terrorist followers on the one hand and climate change on the other are issues which threaten Arabs and Israelis alike." Notice the trick that is used by MEMRI: they always embellish and exaggerate the credentials and qualifications of those whose views they wish to promote. Notice that this propaganda mouthpiece of Prince Salman is referred to as "one of the largest pan-Arab daily". Largest? Because they distribute it for free because no one in her/his right mind would buy it to read the daily congratulatory articles about the health and brilliance of Prince Sultan? This is like when MEMRI distribute some article by some obscure writer on some obscure website presumably funded by Israel and then would describe that writer as "well known Arab intellectual". But by the way, this letter and its printing in this mouthpiece of Prince Salman is not accidental. The US government has been asking Saudi Arabia to take actual steps toward normalization, and Saudi Arabia has clearly decided to do so but without fanfare. Syrian government's spokesperson, Buthayna Sha`ban also writes in this mouthpiece, and she continued to write for them even when the paper would print racist anti-Syrian articles. Let me bet with you: she will not say one word against this publication, and she will continue to write her boring articles that no one reads.