At the personal level, I met and liked the director of HRW office in Beirut. But politically, I have been claiming for years that this organization office in Beirut is an unofficial member of the March 14 media and propaganda spectrum. I visited his Facebook page today, and this struck me:
1) they held a joint press conference with the Minister of the Lebanese Forces militia party. Can you imagine HRW daring to hold a joint press conference with a Hizbullah minister, or even with an Amal minister? And even about trash matters? No way on earth. They would never ever dare.
2) He retweets the musings of a political candidate who was part of the Hariri propaganda apparatus and is known for her staunch support for the Saudi regime. She is the candidate who before leaving Hariri TV to run for election, was handpicked by the Saudi regime to visit Saudi Arabia and to falsely claim that Hariri was not held against his will in Riyadh. Can you imagine he retweeting the musings of a reporter for Al-Manar TV, for example?
3) He posts articles by columnists in Saudi regime media. Can you imagine him posting articles by columnists of Iranian regime media?
4) He takes sides on the debate on normalization with the Israeli occupation enemy and rejects normalization and publicly called on people to not boycott Spielberg and said that Spielberg's donation to Israel as a reward for its war on Lebanon is no big deal and should be considered a mere act of charity. Can you imagine him ever daring to justify a donation to Syrian regime relief organizations? Would he dare say that?
5) He in fact engages and attacks Al-Akhbar. I dont have a problem with that at all and I see things at Al-Akhbar I don't like (and there are people at Al-Akhbar who can't stand me and don't like what I write) but how come he never ever engages and attacks the pro-Saudi regime media in Lebanon? For your information all the media in Lebanon EXCEPT ONE NEWSPAPER are subservient to the Saudi regime. At one point he is arguing with Al-Akhbar, and because his Arabic is so embarrassingly weak, he misunderstands the Arabic saying: آخر الدواء الكيّ
and he assumes that this saying is meant literally. That was hilarious to read actually.
1) they held a joint press conference with the Minister of the Lebanese Forces militia party. Can you imagine HRW daring to hold a joint press conference with a Hizbullah minister, or even with an Amal minister? And even about trash matters? No way on earth. They would never ever dare.
2) He retweets the musings of a political candidate who was part of the Hariri propaganda apparatus and is known for her staunch support for the Saudi regime. She is the candidate who before leaving Hariri TV to run for election, was handpicked by the Saudi regime to visit Saudi Arabia and to falsely claim that Hariri was not held against his will in Riyadh. Can you imagine he retweeting the musings of a reporter for Al-Manar TV, for example?
3) He posts articles by columnists in Saudi regime media. Can you imagine him posting articles by columnists of Iranian regime media?
4) He takes sides on the debate on normalization with the Israeli occupation enemy and rejects normalization and publicly called on people to not boycott Spielberg and said that Spielberg's donation to Israel as a reward for its war on Lebanon is no big deal and should be considered a mere act of charity. Can you imagine him ever daring to justify a donation to Syrian regime relief organizations? Would he dare say that?
5) He in fact engages and attacks Al-Akhbar. I dont have a problem with that at all and I see things at Al-Akhbar I don't like (and there are people at Al-Akhbar who can't stand me and don't like what I write) but how come he never ever engages and attacks the pro-Saudi regime media in Lebanon? For your information all the media in Lebanon EXCEPT ONE NEWSPAPER are subservient to the Saudi regime. At one point he is arguing with Al-Akhbar, and because his Arabic is so embarrassingly weak, he misunderstands the Arabic saying: آخر الدواء الكيّ
and he assumes that this saying is meant literally. That was hilarious to read actually.