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May 31, 2005
AFP Whitewashes Palestinian Terror Groups
One expects reporters and editors to at least get the basics right.
But at Agence France Presse, the major French wire service, journalists don't seem to understand the basic goals — the clearly stated goals — of terrorist groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which openly seek to destroy the Jewish state (despite what you might read in the NY Times).
A May 31 AFP dispatch states:
... Israel has lashed out at Abbas for not dismantling armed groups fighting the Jewish state's near 40 year occupation of Palestinian land, despite a de facto truce that has largely been observed by militants since January.
"Near 40 years" refers to Israel's presence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. So again: Hamas and Islamic Jihad are not fighting Israel's "near 40 year occupation." The groups themselves are very clear about their goals. They are fighting against "the Jews," they are fighting against the existence of Israel, they are fighting to form a theocracy in "any land the Moslems have conquered by force because ... the Moslems consecrated these lands to Moslem generations till the Day of Judgement."
Posted by GI at May 31, 2005 04:38 PM