“For those in anti-colonial movements across the world who learned and trained under him, his name embodies that inextinguishable human demand for justice and freedom. His exhilarating emancipatory model of resistance to injustice, his radical optimism and, above all, his tight political organisation scorched the consciousness of young people across the Arab world, mobilised masses and inspired a huge wave of talented artists and intellectuals.”
A description of a heroic and inspirational historical figure? Guess again. This is just part of Karma Nabulsi’s gushing tribute in The Guardian to recently deceased Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist leader George Habash.
Habash, regarded as the pioneer of airline hijackings in the 1970s, was responsible for numerous terrorist acts including:
- Sep 1970 – Dawson’s Field, Jordan: 3 airliners holding over 400 passengers were hijacked, and taken to the Jordanian airport by the PFLP. The hostages were released in exchange for terrorists held in Germany, Switzerland, and the UK.
- May 1972 – Lod airport: 26 killed and 78 wounded after PFLP and Japanese Red Army terrorists open fire in the passenger terminal.
- April 1974 – Kiryat Shmona, Israel: 18 killed, 8 of whom were children, by PFLP terrorists who detonated their explosives during a failed rescue attempt by Israeli authorities.
- May 1974 – Ma’alot, Israel: 27 killed, 21 of whom were children, and 78 wounded by PFLP terrorists in a school, after an unsuccessful rescue attempt.
- June 1976 – Entebbe, Uganda: An Air France airliner was hijacked by a joint German/PFLP terrorist group, which diverted the flight to Entebbe airport. About 258 passengers and crew were held hostage until all non-Israeli passengers were released. On July 4th, Israeli commandos flew to Uganda and rescued the remaining hostages. All terrorists were killed, as well as 3 passengers and operation leader Lieutenant-Colonel Yonatan Netanyahu.
Nabulsi, however, whitewashes Habash’s murderous terrorist activities and even claims that he was not responsible for the policy of airline hijacking. Instead, Habash is described as a “revolutionary of a bygone area, archetype of the heroic medic with the free clinic in the refugee camp, virtuoso intellectual rhetorician, with his charismatic grin, perpetual cigarette and black leather jacket”.
Nabulsi’s fawning commentary also appears on The Guardian’s Comment is Free blog site where it was originally headlined ‘The Good Terrorist’. This was later changed after CIF’s Editor stated that readers mistakenly believed that the headline “represents in a literal way her [Nabulsi’s] point of view (which, of course, it does not).” We beg to differ.
Please send your condemnation of Nabulsi’s praise for a terrorist to The Guardian – [email protected] – and remind the world of the many victims of Habash’s brutal terrorism.
CAUGHT IN THE ACT: BBC REGURGITATES OLD NEWS
The transcript of Paul Martin’s From Our Own Correspondent broadcast on 26 January on BBC Radio 4 seemed very familiar to our researchers at HonestReporting. In fact, Paul Martin’s personal description accompanying Palestinian Qassam-firing crews in Gaza and a visit to Sderot is identical (minus some details to cover up the timing of the report) to an article first published in The Washington Times filed way back in November 2007.
The fact that the original November article was syndicated by World News & Features is irrelevant. The BBC’s January 26 date suggests that Martin’s encounter with Palestinian rocketeer Abu Haroun was recent. This represents sheer laziness on the BBC’s part.
- Why is the BBC regurgitating old stories with a new date? Could they not be bothered to update their coverage?
- Why is the BBC seemingly ready with fresh content when it comes to negative coverage of Israel?
- What other so-called “original” stories are the BBC rehashing?
Please send your comments through the BBC Complaints website filling in the name of the BBC R4 programme and transmission date.
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