* An internal BBC email tells its reporters not to refer to Saddam as a dictator. From the Daily Telegraph:
“An email has been circulated telling us not to refer to Saddam as a dictator,” I’m told. “Instead, we are supposed to describe him as the former leader of Iraq. Apparently, because his presidency was endorsed in a referendum, he was technically elected. Hence the word dictator is banned. It’s all rather ridiculous.” The Beeb insists that the email merely restates existing guidelines. “We wanted to remind journalists whose work is seen and heard internationally of the need to use neutral language,” says a spokesman.
* Tatiana Menaker, a student at San Francisco State University, reports on the anti-Israel film festival held there recently:
I don’t know what was scarier for me: the images on the screen or the atmosphere in the auditorium…Watching these films, I saw that Palestinian Arabs have become professional victims and actors in the “Israelis-and-Jews-Are-Horrible-Child-Murderers” series. These films are constantly shown in Europe and especially in the Middle East due to heavy demand and plentiful funding.
* George Bush tells an Israeli correspondent to Washington, “We must get rid of Arafat.”
* Dan Diker on the unfortunate consequences of Israeli humanitarian gestures:
Rabbi Dr. David Appelbaum, a global authority on emergency medicine, and his daughter Nava, who was to have been married the following day, were murdered at Cafe Hillel in Jerusalem on September 9, 2003, by a Palestinian who had been released from detention on February 2, 2003, as a “gesture.” Israeli gestures in the absence of Palestinian security measures have had proven lethal consequences for Israeli civilians and soldiers alike. Improving the economic situation of the Palestinians is important, but the precipitous removal of security measures can cost lives. This point should be remembered before Israel is asked again to undertake similar risks in the future.
* Ze’ev Begin argues that all of the peace plans being bandied about today, including Ariel Sharon’s unilateral moves, will not bring tranquility to Israel.
