H.D.S Greenway’s Hallucinatory Flashback
In a piece entitled “Flashbacks of a Lost Cause” (July 17, 2007), Boston Globe columnist H.D.S. Greenway recounts the history of British entanglement in Mandate Palestine’s “civil war” as follows:
First came the Arab revolt of 1936-1939, which was marked by cruelty and torture of Arab prisoners – including simulated drowning. Later on, even before the end of World War II, came terror from the Zionist side.
Greenway has made a career out of condemning Israel, often by touching up or ignoring facts. But even by Greenway’s standards, this rendering of history, which portrays Arabs only as victims and Jews only as aggressors, is outrageous.
First of all, the Arab revolt of 1936-39 was neither the “first” conflict between Arab and Jew nor the first clash between Arabs and British authorities in Palestine. In 1929, for example, Arab rioters stirred up by the anti-British and anti-Jewish Mufti of Jerusalem massacred 133 Jews across the land. In its effort to stop the pogrom, the British police killed 110 Arabs rioters.
In describing the Arab revolt of 1936-39 as being “marked by cruelty and torture of Arab prisoners,” Greenway again ignores Arab acts of violence. Perhaps the “simulated drowning” of Arab prisoners, perpetrated by the British authorities, is worth mentioning. But what about the Aug. 13, 1936 bombing of a Jewish home that killed a Jewish father and his three children; or the Aug. 17 attack that killed two Jewish nurses and a young Jewish girl; or the Sept. 19 bombing that killed a 7-year-old Jewish child; or the bomb attack on a Jewish school that injured 9 children; or any of the other Arab attacks that claimed 80 Jewish lives in the spring and summer of 1936 alone?
In light of these attacks, and other Arab attacks that claimed the lives of British policemen, why does Greenway only specifically name “the Zionist side” as being guilty of terror?
(A minority of Jewish extremists did commit acts of terror, which were condemned by the mainstream Jewish leadership.)
More from SNAPSHOTS
Double Standards: Boycotts and Discrimination in MassLive
May 16, 2025
Anti-Israel activists, including Harvard University’s Lara Jirmanus, a clinical instructor, seem to struggle with the concept of “discrimination.” Quoted in a May 14 MassLive article, “Harvard ‘failed to respond’ to 450 discrimination complaints. Staff hand-delivered [...]
Swarthmore Students Are Learning: It Was Never About Palestinian Rights
May 14, 2025
Students at Swarthmore College are so close to understanding the conflict. An article in the Swarthmore Phoenix details the frustrations of student activists with the college’s Students for Justice in Palestine. The gist of their criticism is [...]
AFP Arabic Stops Mislabeling Northern Israeli Communities ‘Settlements”
August 10, 2021
A view of Metulla, northern Israel (Photo by Hadar Sela)After failing to set the record straight last May when Agence France Presse's Arabic service repeatedly referred to Jewish communities in northern Israel as "settlements," the [...]
NY Times Praises Ilhan Omar’s Book While Glossing Over Her Antisemitism
August 19, 2020
A recent New York Times book review boosts Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) autobiography while glossing over her antisemitism. In the paper’s Aug. 16, 2020 edition, NYT reporter Christina Cauterucci writes: The memoir offers breathing room [...]
When TV Interviews of Ilhan Omar Constitute Journalistic Malpractice
August 11, 2020
Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) documented animosity toward Jews and Israel was ignored in recent interviews by MSNBC and C-SPAN. MSNBC’s The Beat for July 23, 2020 included host Ari Melber’s 10-minute conversation at 6:16 [...]
Boston TV Station WCVB Teamed Up With Terrorist Supporter CAIR
July 7, 2020
WCVB-TV (channel 5) (Boston’s ABC network affiliate) recently misled area viewers about a matter involving antisemitic propaganda. This occurred on its local Sunday show Cityline hosted by Karen Holmes Ward who is described by the [...]
Harper’s Magazine Echoed Palestinian Propaganda Condemning Israel And America
June 2, 2020
Writing in Harper's, Kevin Baker condemns the U.S. Middle East peace plan [“The Striking Gesture,” Easy Chair, May 2020], mischaracterizing it as, “Give up all your [Palestinian] hopes and your holiest places, embark on a [...]