In the guise of respectable speculation, British journalist Alan Hart casts aspersion on Israel for Alan Johnston’s disappearance:
There is a case for saying (repeat a case) that the party with most to gain from Alan Johnston’s permanent disappearance was Israel. It would not be the first time that Israeli agents had dressed as Arabs to make a hit.
If Alan Johnston is dead, it’s my hope that the BBC at executive management level will rise above its fear of offending Zionism too much and allow its reporters (Frank Gardner and Jeremy Bowen are second to none) to make a full, thorough and honest investigation.
Here’s our own Top 10 List of Parties Who Might Gain From Johnston’s Kidnap:
10. Rachel Corrie’s parents, who poisoned Yasser Arafat and also survived a kidnap attempt.
9. Hanif Kureishi, who wanted to boost his short story, “Weddings and Beheadings.” Although a reading on BBC Radio-4 was postponed, Kureishi’s still in the papers, accusing the Beeb of censorship.
8. Britain’s National of Union of Journalists needed to create a pretext for a three-day boycott of the PA to balance out their boycott of Israeli products.
7. Alan Johnston staged his kidnap, but don’t take our word for it.
6. The royal family knew in advance Prince William and Kate Middleton were on the rocks and foresaw a public opinion disaster. UK coverage of the royal breakup dovetailed too nicely with conveniently timed rumors of Johnston’s execution.
5. Robert Fisk. Why not? He already wrote he’d beat up himself and any other Westerner he could find.
4. French intelligence clearly gave Michael Moore advance notice of Al-Qaida’s plotting. Why wasn’t Moore in the World Trade Center filming Fahrenheit 9/11 that fateful day?
3. If (repeat, if) a professional rivalry between Alan Hart and Alan Johnston went too far, Hart himself would certainly gain.
2. Yvonne Ridley, who recently angered Australians during an Easter weekend speech. Seeking to atone for the failed gunpoint conversion of Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig, Ridley tried again with Johnston.
1. Desperate for cash, OJ Simpson is working on his next book, “If I Kidnapped Alan Johnston.”
UPDATE April 18: Thanks for linking to this post, LGF.
