Hamas Whitewash, Brought to You by the NYT
An article by Craig Smith in today’s New York Times about Hamas’ new television station, entitled “Warm and Fuzzy TV, Brought to You by Hamas,” conceals from readers the groups declared territorial objective—replacing all of Israel with an Islamic state.
Smith quotes a Palestinian involved with the new television station:
“I will show them our rights through the history,” he said, “show them, ‘This is Nablus, this is Gaza, this is Al Aksa mosque, which is with the Israelis and should be in our hands.’”
Nowhere does Smith clarify that, of course, Hamas’ claim has never been limited to Nablus, Gaza or even Jerusalem.
It would have been easy to clarify. For example, Smith could have cited Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar, who was quoted in yesterday’s Guardian saying: “Nobody among our sons and grandsons will accept Israel as a legal state. … Not in this generation, not in the next generation, will we accept it here.”
Instead, the reporter again fails to clarify Hamas’ objectives when he euphemistically writes about the Hamas seal, saying it “depicts the Dome of the Rock (which stands alongside the Al Aksa mosque in Jerusalem) between swords and an idealized map of Palestine.”
Idealized? Would that be a map showing Nablus, Gaza and Jerusalem–the locations mentioned by Sharawi–as part of Palestine? Well, not exactly. As apparent in the Hamas seal pictured, an “idealized map of Palestine” includes the West Bank, Gaza and all of Israel.
So why doesn’t Smith say so?
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