The Evisceration of Mehdi Hasan

Few tears were shed at HonestReporting in November 2023 when MSNBC announced the cancelation of long-time detractor of Israel, Mehdi Hasan’s regular show. Rather than accept his effective demotion, Hasan eventually chose to quit the network and launch his own independent media company, Zeteo.

Unfortunately, while MSNBC did very little to restrain his brand of anti-Israel agitprop, Hasan now has even more freedom to pursue his obsessive attacks on Israel through his own outlet and on social media.

So it was gratifying to see Hasan’s holier-than-thou persona brought down a peg or two when he came up against UK lawyer Natasha Hausdorff and author and political commentator Douglas Murray in a must-see Munk Debate on anti-Zionism.

Speaking in favor of the motion that anti-Zionism is antisemitism, Hausdorff and Murray beat Hasan and hateful Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy by 66% to 34%. Not only that, between the beginning of the debate and the end, support for Mehdi’s position actually dropped by 5%.

But more importantly, it was demonstrated that Hasan, the author of the book “Win Every Argument: The Art of Debating, Persuading, and Public Speaking,” actively employs lies and distortions in his efforts to win every argument.

Left: @mehdirhasan intentionally misleads his audience about a quote by Arthur Balfour

Right: @UKLFI‘s Natasha Hausdorff calls out his shameless lie pic.twitter.com/SrS9KuXk3w

— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) June 18, 2024

It’s interesting to observe how Hasan, even when caught red-handed, tries to deflect. Let’s remember that he was rightly called out for factually misquoting Lord Arthur Balfour, the author of the 1917 Balfour Declaration. Natasha Hausdorff never made any judgment on Balfour’s character, which was not the issue.

That didn’t stop Hasan from reposting the below tweet quoting from a 2017 opinion piece by Palestinian American activist Yousef Munayyer that called Balfour a “white supremacist” and “antisemite.”

Damn that’s crazy what else did Arthur Balfour say https://t.co/FDGiIu5cBy https://t.co/IMhSkJMDYP pic.twitter.com/3kmdLzAbzM

— David Grossman (@davidgross_man) June 19, 2024

Making False Claims Against Your Opponent

Here’s another example of how Hasan twists the truth when he claims that Douglas Murray “advocated for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza” in The Spectator.

cc: @DouglasKMurray https://t.co/0nBPpS99Xf pic.twitter.com/24hkEIunEJ

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) June 19, 2024

This is the relevant text from Murray’s Spectator article:

Rather than advocating for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza as Hasan charges, Murray speculates what Israel might do in the immediate aftermath of October 7. Unsurprisingly, Israel has not “clear[ed] all the Palestinians from that benighted strip.” And the charge that Murray is advocating ethnic cleansing when says “It could be a good time to do it”? In the context of the subsequent passage, it is clear that he is referring to the fact that Arab states care very little for the Palestinians and certainly not enough to prevent Israel from carrying out such an action (which it, in any case, hasn’t).

It’s the Audience’s Fault

And if you’ve lost the argument, then why not simply blame the voting audience?

So, we lost the Munk debate on “anti-Zionism is antisemitism” last night.

Given the pro-Israeli audience jeered @gideonle when he mentioned Palestinian deaths & then booed me when I mentioned the ICC & Oxfam, I can’t say I was shocked.

Who boos… Oxfam?pic.twitter.com/9HfMTCkpkl

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) June 18, 2024

Hasan relies on the “halo effect” to suggest that organizations such as Oxfam are beyond reproach. As it happens, there’s plenty to say about Oxfam and many other non-governmental organizations that sound like benign charities but in reality, are a major part of the global anti-Israel campaign.

So the audience, which Hasan accuses of being pro-Israel by default, are within their rights to jeer.

And maybe, just maybe, Mehdi Hasan, the audience actually got this one right.

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Simon Plosker

With over two decades of experience in various non-governmental organizations in the UK and Israel, Simon Plosker returned to HonestReporting in October 2022 as Editorial Director having previously been part of the organization’s management team from 2005 to 2020.

Prior to his first spell at HonestReporting, Simon worked in Israel for NGO Monitor, BICOM, and served for a short period in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit. He was Managing Editor of the Geneva-based NGO United Nations Watch for two years before moving back to the frontline defending Israel from media bias.

Simon has a BSoc.Sc in International Studies and Political Science from the University of Birmingham and an MSc in History of International Relations from the London School of Economics. He immigrated to Israel in 2001 from London.