The Herald Scotland broke with journalistic ethics, and general reality, when it published an article claiming that “human rights worker” Margaret Pacetta was detained by Israeli authorities at the airport.
Except that Pacetta is not a human rights worker.
Margaret Pacetta is active in an organization called “Glasgow Palestinian Human Rights Campaign,” through which she provokes riots, engages in violence against IDF soldiers, and directly endangers the lives of Israeli civilians.
In this video at time 0:37 we see Pacetta instigate a riot and then physically attack an IDF soldier. The soldier responds by pushing her out of the way, firmly but without any physical harm.
In this video, at time 0:55 Pacetta’s organization proudly declares that they act as “human shields,” for Palestinians.
In this video, members of Pacetta’s group help to physically break open a part of Israel’s security barrier, in order send through a large group of masked, screaming Palestinian men, who then run into Israeli territory before being stopped by security forces. The video shows no evidence of the masked men suffering any actual harm.
This security barrier has been vital to saving Israeli lives since the time it was built: when it successfully stopped a massive terror wave known as the “Second Intifida,” which had claimed the lives of 1,114 Israelis. The link provides the names and manner of death of each victim.
In this video we see a woman who appears to be Pacetta (but is certainly at least from Pacetta’s organization) shouting insults at IDF soldiers in an apparent attempt to provoke them. (She does not succeed).
A examination of the organization’s Twitter feed and web site shows that it:
- Promotes the wild conspiracy theory that Yasser Arafat did not actually die of natural causes but was assassinated by Israel using radioactive material;
- Supports the long disproved libel that Israel is an “apartheid state”;
- Supports BDS, the movement to promote Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel;
- Promotes material from the rabidly anti-Israel organization “Electronic Intifada”;
- Refers to the Israeli Defense Forces as “Israeli Occupation Forces”; and
- Covers up all Palestinian terrorism in its effort to portray Israeli security measures without context or reason, and utterly divorced from reality.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
Finally, reporter Caroline Wilson abandons any pretense of actual journalism and instead resorts to baseless innuendo in order to imply (but not actually report) that Pacetta is being held under inhumane or dangerous conditions. Yet the only facts Wilson is able to state with certainty are:
- That Pacetta’s husband is concerned;
- That Pacetta has a form of asthma (but presents no evidence that she is in any actual discomfort or medical danger); and
- That Israel is sending her home on Thursday.
Israel is a modern country with a first rate medical system that is ranked fourth in the world (even higher than the United States), and Ben Gurion is a modern international airport with all the comforts and conveniences one would expect, including a high priced duty free shopping mall.
Wilson has presented no reason nor evidence to indicate that Pacetta’s detention at Ben Gurion Airport, with access to Israel’s medical care, has been anything other than safe, reasonably comfortable, and merely a short wait until her flight home.
HonestReporting has previously written about the fact that every country in the world has the right to deny entry visas to any person, and that Israel must be held to the same legal standard as all other nations in this regard.
In this case, Israel denied entry to a woman who starts riots, attacks soldiers, and puts the lives of Israeli civilians in danger.
Apparently, this is this is what passes for a “human rights worker,” at the Herald Scotland. At least when talking about Israel.
The only real question is, why has Israel allowed Pacetta to return so many times in the past?
Please share your considered comments with the Herald Scotland at [email protected]
