Segacs's World I Know

Posts Tagged ‘robert fisk’

It’s hard to say whether the family of Olaf Wiig, one of the journalists kidnapped by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza, is just saying whatever they think might secure his release, or if they’re telling the truth. But this is the sort of thing that would have mystified me a few years ago but now just makes me roll my eyes:

“He is a person who would understand them and would want then to tell their story to the world. He is a man who understands the struggle for justice, and that peace depends upon justice,” Wiig told local media.

Olaf Wiig objected to Israeli action in the Palestinian territories and probably understood the desperation of his unknown captors, Wiig said shortly after the August 14 abduction.

“He’s the kind of person who understands the need for justice and would understand the kind of fear and trauma they’re going through,” he said.

I hope that Fiig and the other kidnapped journalist, Steve Centanni, are released and returned safely to their homes and families. But I also think that a Fiskie nomination might be in order.

It’s only January 1st and we already have our solid candidate for Idiotarian of the Year: Italian “peace activist” Alessandro Bernardini, who was kidnapped by Fatah gunmen but still thinks the Palestinian terrorists are a bunch of nice guys:

“I am fine, I am fine … They gave me cigarettes and tea,” Bernardini told reporters, looking shaken but unhurt.

“I will never change my idea about the occupation,” he said, referring to Israel’s occupation of land that Palestinians seek for a state. “I am with the Palestinian people.”

An armed offshoot of Abbas’s own ruling Fatah movement said it carried out the kidnapping.

Fatah. Not Hamas. Not Islamic Jihad. But Fatah’s “armed wing”. Did any of the people relentlessly promoting Mahmoud Abbas as a “moderate” ever stop to think about why Fatah has an armed wing in the first place?

Oh, and there’s more:

Hours earlier, gunmen stormed a United Nations club in Gaza City and blew up the bar — the only place where alcohol is served openly in the conservative Muslim territory. Nobody was hurt, but the attack added to security fears.

The United Nations is generally seen favorably in Gaza, where it is the second biggest employer after the Palestinian Authority.

Wow, talk about shooting yourself in the foot! The Israelis leave Gaza and suddenly the Palestinians are attacking their best friends, the United Nations?

My predicted U.N. response: “We will never change our idea about the occupation. We are with the Palestinian people”.

S.S.D.Y.

The National Post fisks Robert Fisk. Well, okay, it’s not really a fisking. It’s more of a direct attack on his credibility and views:

But it’s his moral certitude that seems, in a way, most enviable. He never lacks a strong opinion, and it’s always the same: Whatever goes wrong in the Middle East, he blames the Americans and the Israelis.

If an Arab nation commits some outrage, that’s because Washington supports Arab dictators. If Palestinians kill, it’s because Israel stole their land. He dislikes Yassir Arafat (”corrupt, vain little despot”) but believes he’s Israel’s fault because Israel helped create the Palestinian Authority and brought in Arafat “as a colonial governor” to control his people.

[Most journalists are biased, but Fisk paints himself into a particularly narrow corner. He has one subject and only about two opinions, which he expresses with an abundance of sneering pride and a total absence of nuance. He loves recalling Israel's occupation of Lebanon (which he covered) but usually neglects to mention that the army went there to silence the artillery that was bombarding Israel.

At any moment, apparently, Fisk's brain contains several pre-packaged articles, lacking only specifics. When something happens, he fills in the blanks. On Sept. 11, 2001, he happened to be on a plane as the news broke. No problem. He phoned his office and dictated a piece blaming America. It sounded just like every other Fisk piece.

[ . . . ]

Fisk claims to feel sympathy for the Arabs, but it’s the sympathy of condescension. To him the Arabs have no responsibility for their destiny. They are all pawns of the West. And sometimes he writes as if he personally carried on his shoulders the guilt of the West.

Nothing we haven’t all said before about Fisk at one time or another, but the National Post is a major national publication. Read the whole thing.