Ray Hanania: "Being called a traitor by Electronic Intifada is like being called ugly by a pig."
dsharavi
Normally I try to avoid incoherent attacks from other web sites,
especially those modeled after the marginalized domains of dictators
in the Arab world. But I can't avoid responding to the vicious attack
against palestinenote.com by the Electronic Intifada, a place where
hypocrisy is the norm, factual inaccuracies are common place, and
anger and hatred drive their mission.
The Electronic Intifada symbolizes everything that has played a role
in the failure during the past century of the failure of the
Palestinians to achieve statehood. The Electronic Intifada operates
from under a rock of conspiring to bring down anyone, especially other
Palestinians who dare to express views that challenge the failed
rejectionist zealotry.
Although they have never done one thing to help the Palestinians, they
are quick to tear down the efforts of other Palestinians who refuse to
live by their narrow, misguided, and failed mission.
Recently one of their writers reached out to palestinenote.com asking
for information. Palestinenote.com is a journalism blog site, not a
partisan activist site like the Electronic Intifada. It is Palestinian-
American and works with other professional writers, many of them in
Palestine and even in Israel (where a lot of Palestinians, by the way,
happen to live). The editors responded that they are open to
contributions from everyone and they even pay their writers to publish
"original" columns.
The writer replied back that he was misunderstood. He didn't want to
write for them because, and in his words: "basic human decency
prevents me from blogging for a website that does not honor
Palestinian civil society's call for a boycott of Israeli apartheid."
Wow. Suddenly, the writer and the Electronic Intifada, the virtual
nation of one dictator and tyrant, is the "sole legitimate
representative of the Palestinian people."
The Electronic Intifada stands upon the injustice committed by
Israel's governments to benefit themselves. They are self-proclaimed
centurions of the Palestinian Holy Grail, not distracted at all by the
hypocrisy of their lives as they tour the World like spoiled "rock
stars" on their lecture circuits and university speaking circles.
But while they pretend to snub "normalization" with the "entity," the
reality is that the tragedy-burdened Palestinian society has to deal
with Israelis every day.
When I was growing up, I saw this hypocrisy firsthand. It hasn't
changed one iota in 37 years since I first became an activist for the
Palestinian cause for statehood and debated, as a youth, Israeli
Foreign Minister Abba Eban on national American TV.
I believed in the mission of the Palestinian revolution - of which the
Jabha rejectionists were never really a partner - the goal to
establish a "secular Palestinian State where Jews, Christians and
Muslims could live together in peace and equality."
Yet somehow when the words "Jews" and "Christians" and "secular
Muslims" come up, people like the Electronic Intifada start throwing
around words like "apartheid" and separate people based on race;
actually writing in an email that they are "horrified" that one of the
editors is an - OMG! - an Israeli.
Because in the rejectionist world, we're not supposed to become
friends with any Israelis.
The Electronic Intifada's attack also is driven by the ridiculous
notion that palestinenote.com pays its writers and actually has a
budget to cover its expenses. palestinenote.com is a public forum,
that makes no money, and is completely funded by Masri and Farouki to
serve as an open place for people of any race to share constructive
opinions.
Yes, the Electronic Intifada asserts indignantly that
palestinenote.com is "profiting" on the backs of Palestinian
suffering.
Are you telling me the Electronic Intifada and its founder don't
profit from the suffering of the Palestinian people? Without that
suffering, everyone at the Electronic Intifada would be out of jobs
and standing in the unemployment line for out-of-work activists.
Most hypocritically, on the very same front page in which the
Electronic Intifada slanders palestinenote.com, the Electronic
Intifada makes a hard sell appeal to readers to give them money. Oh,
it's not for them, of course. It's for the "Palestinian people." Which
people exactly? They don't need to say.
Hani Masri, the Palestinian philanthropist who launched and funded
palestinenote.com with Huda Farouki, has done more for the
Palestinian people in the past few years than the Electronic Intifada
could ever do in a lifetime.
Among his many philanthropic achievements, Masri founded and launched
a center in Nablus to help Palestinian children survive the
occupation and build real lives. Just visit his web site at www.TomorrowsYouth.org
and witness what genuine concern for the well-being of the Palestinian
people can accomplish without attacks or anger.
Masri, along with Huda Farouki have no business in Palestine. Yet,
they have donated huge sums of money to help promote the Palestinian
cause through dozens of charities. Recently, Farouki donated $1
million to help bring 22 Arab Art teams from 22 Arab countries,
including Palestine, to present at the Kennedy Center for a
performance series that ran one month. Marcel Khalifa was one of the
artists.
Why pick on Masri? Because he "profits" from Palestine or because
rejectionists like the Electronic Intifada and their associates have
never been beneficiaries of his philanthropy?
The Electronic Intifada is a bully-pulpit that the rejectionists use
to silence anyone who dares to challenge their claim to leadership.
They respond to suffering by feeding people anger and hatred. They
distort facts in order to make their case. And they are the first to
denounce the killing of Palestinians, but never denounce the killing
of Israelis. To them, the issue isn't that killing is wrong; it is
that killing the wrong people is what is wrong.
I don't agree with that and I know the majority of Palestinians don't
agree with that either. Palestinians are not bloodthirsty people bent
on the murder of anyone. We believe in the sanctity of life, whether
it is Palestinian, Israeli, Muslim, Christian or Jew. We believe in
the principle that violence of any kind is wrong. And yes, we don't
like Israel's oppressive and brutal policies, but firing rockets and
targeting civilians is not the same as the Thawra that Yasir Arafat
once led that forced the world to recognize that Palestinians do exist
and we can't be ignored.
But it is the hatred of the few, the extremists with the loudest
voices, who turn the suffering of victims into bludgeons of hatred
that has undermined the Palestinian cause over the years.
What has the Electronic Intifada ever done for Palestine except act as
a guardian of their sacred cause to preserve the conflict. Because
when the conflict ends, the rejectionists will be out of jobs. They'll
have to go someplace else to enjoy themselves give empty speeches.
Without the suffering of the Palestinian people, the Electronic
Intifada would have no reason to exist. They would just be another
worthless "entity" that employs its own racist and self-hating
"apartheid" to persecute those with whom it disagrees.
Palestinenote.com is a threat to the Electronic Intifada. More and
more Palestinians are reading Palestinenote.com and other sites that
offer new and more creative thinking to help bring the conflict to an
end, and more importantly to end the perpetual suffering of the
Palestinian people.
The Electronic Intifada's attack is intended as a warning to anyone
who dares to think for themselves. If you do, the rejectionist
Palestinians will not hesitate to tear you down. It's the one major
character flaw of the rejectionists. They know how to defeat their own
people, but they have no idea how to achieve a Palestinian State.
The greatest threat to any dictatorship - and the Electronic Intifada
is a dictatorship -- is when people start to think for themselves. And
when they start thinking for themselves, they start to demand that
their so-called "leaders" be accountable.
I'm proud to write for Palestinenote.com and I am proud to be attacked
by the Electronic Intifada. To use a common American expression, being
called a traitor by the Electronic Intifada is like being called ugly
by a pig.
I've spent a lifetime watching as rejectionist extremism has led our
people down the path of failure, suffering and to the goal of nothing.
"All or nothing" is the mantra the rejectionists want the Palestinian
people to continue to embrace.
Well, they have had one success. The Electronic Intifada has delivered
to the Palestinian people the "nothing" that the Electronic Intifada
has always promised.
Ray Hanania is a veteran, award winning journalist and commentator,
standup comedian and American Palestinian peace activist. The winner
of the New America Media's "Best Ethnic Columnist in America," Hanania
coordinates the National Arab American Journalists Association and is
a diversity board member with the Society of Professional Journalists
where he has received three Lisagor Awards for column writing. Hanania
hosts a morning radio show in Chicago (www.RadioChicagoland.com). He
can be reached at rgha...@gmail.com
15 Jan 2010 6:33 AM By Ray Hanania
Deborah
coaste...@yahoo.com
> standup comedian and American Palestinian peace activist. The winner
> of the New America Media's "Best Ethnic Columnist in America," Hanania
> coordinates the National Arab American Journalists Association and is
> a diversity board member with the Society of Professional Journalists
> where he has received three Lisagor Awards for column writing. Hanania
> hosts a morning radio show in Chicago (www.RadioChicagoland.com). He
>
> 15 Jan 2010 6:33 AM ByRay Hanania
>
>
> Deborah
Frivolous. A waste of time. You should follow what's happening, not a
spat between two Palestinians, one of whom is a pillar of the
Resistance and the other is a Tom of long standing who writes for the
Jerusalem Post.
---------------------------
US To Israel: Cancel Controversial Settlement Plan
First Posted: 03-15-10 08:55 AM | Updated: 03-15-10 04:25 PM
JERUSALEM (AP) -- The U.S. is pressing Israel to scrap a contentious
east Jerusalem building project whose approval has touched off the
most serious diplomatic feud with Washington in years, said Israeli
officials Monday.
Tensions in the city at the center of the spat were high, with police
out in large numbers in Jerusalem's volatile Old City in expectation
of renewed clashes and Palestinian shopkeepers shuttering their stores
for several hours to protest Israel's actions in the city.
Top U.S. officials have lined up in recent days to condemn the Israeli
plan to build 1,600 apartments in east Jerusalem, the sector of the
city that the Palestinians claim for their future capital.
The project was announced during Vice President Joe Biden's visit to
the region last week, badly embarrassing the U.S. and complicating its
efforts to restart Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.
U.S. officials have not disclosed what steps they want Israel to take
to defuse the crisis, and Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev
refused to comment Monday. But Israeli officials, speaking on
condition of anonymity because no official decision has been made
public, said Washington wants the construction project canceled.
Although Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has apologized for
the timing of the project's approval, he has not said he will cancel
it.
Israel does not stand to benefit from antagonizing its most important
ally, but Netanyahu has historically taken a hard line against
territorial concessions to the Palestinians, and a curb on east
Jerusalem construction would threaten to fracture his hawkish
coalition.
Story continues below
The Israeli officials said the U.S. also wants Israel to make a
significant confidence-building gesture toward the Palestinians,
including possibly releasing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners or
turning over additional areas of the West Bank to Palestinian control.
Washington, they added, also has demanded that Israel officially
declare that talks with the Palestinians will deal with all the
conflict's big issues, including final borders, the status of
Jerusalem, and the fate of Palestinian refugees who lost their homes
during the war around Israel's 1948 creation.
The unusually harsh U.S. criticism has undercut Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu's efforts to suggest that the crisis had passed.
Israeli newspapers reported Monday that Israel's ambassador to
Washington, Michael Oren, told Israeli diplomats in a conference call
Saturday night that their country's relations with the U.S. haven't
been this tense in decades.
The Foreign Ministry had no immediate comment.
U.S. Mideast envoy George Mitchell is expected in the region this week
to try to salvage peace efforts.
East Jerusalem has been perhaps the most intractable issue dividing
Israelis and Palestinians. Israel annexed the territory after
capturing it in the 1967 Mideast war, and Israelis tend not to see the
Jewish "neighborhoods" in east Jerusalem -- home to some 180,000
people -- as settlements or as particularly controversial. Proposed
peace agreements in the past have left them in Israel's hands.
The Palestinians and the international community reject Israel's
position.
For a fourth straight day, Israel deployed hundreds of police around
east Jerusalem's Old City, home to important Jewish, Muslim and
Christian shrines, and restricted Palestinian access to the area in
anticipation of possible unrest. Israel also maintained a closure that
barred virtually all West Bank Palestinians from entering Israel.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said access to the city's most
sensitive holy site -- the compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount
and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary -- was restricted because police
"have received clear indications that Palestinians are intending to
cause disturbances."
The compound is home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third-holiest
shrine. It is Judaism's holiest site because two biblical Jewish
temples once stood there.
Not far from the compound, inside the Old City's Jewish Quarter,
Jewish residents were to rededicate a historic synagogue that had been
destroyed twice, most recently in 1948 by the Jordanian army, and was
recently rebuilt.
Some Palestinians charge that Jewish extremists were planning to use
the rededication to try to rebuild the Jewish Third Temple. Similar
rumors in the past have brought out Palestinian protesters and sparked
violence.
The Palestinian Authority's minister of religious affairs, Jamal
Bawatneh, condemned the synagogue rededication as "an attack on the
rights of Palestinians."
dsha...@yahoo.com
wrote:
Ali Abunimah, perchance? He's a Washington native who lives in, and
runs his cyberprop from, Chicago.
Deborah
coaste...@yahoo.com
>
> 15 Jan 2010 6:33 AM By Ray Hanania
>
>
> Deborah
------------------------------
Nothing to laugh at here
Sousan Hammad, The Electronic Intifada, 4 April 2008
The Israeli-Palestinian Comedy Tour (www.ipcomedytour.com) Four
comedians recently came together in Houston, Texas "to promote peace
through comedy" under the banner of the Israeli-Palestinian Comedy
Tour. However, rather than promoting a just end to the conflict, their
material exploits it in a disturbing manner.
"We rely on the conflict; peace would ruin our show," co-founder Ray
Hanania said in an interview. When asked by the author if they
considered performing for an audience in the West Bank, Hanania joked
that he doesn't want to get shot at by Palestinians angry at him for
performing with Israelis.
Ray Hanania, a Palestinian-American journalist and Charles Warady, an
American Jew who moved to Israel 12 years ago, say the group breaks
the taboo of Palestinians refusing to appear and perform with
Israelis. However, there are numerous Palestinian artistic and non-
profit organizations which have culturally collaborated with Israelis
while taking a stance against the occupation, unlike how Hanania's
xenophobic image of Palestinians would lead one to believe.*
The other comedians in the group -- Aaron Freeman, a Black, Jewish
convert and Yisrael Campbell, an Orthodox Jew who was born a Catholic
-- each made their dire and desperate attempt to make people laugh.
The show moves through individual acts from the comedians, each one
peddling their version of a peace formula.
At the center of Freeman's act is his description of himself as both a
Black person and a Jew -- a subject of constant harassment, he said.
He was the first to perform on stage, and after a brief sarcastic
introduction of stating his goal to end the Palestine-Israel conflict
in six years, he went into a musical frenzy, emulating the dramatic
singsong approach of The West Bank Story, the Academy Award-winning
short film that purports to satirize the conflict but ends up
reinforcing stereotypes instead.
Freeman sang the story of a patriotic Palestinian woman who falls in
love with an Israeli settler, using an anti-Semitic pun to reference
the phonetics of the Arabic and Hebrew languages (dramatically
coughing each word in reference to the phonetics of the Arabic and
Hebrew languages). Of course the Palestinian is illustrated as
precarious and violent, while the Israeli is the rational actor.
In the following act, Warady describes the Arabic script as
"backwards" and "tough to read," the basis of his nonsensical
explanation as to why Palestinians voted for Hamas. "They must have
read 'Hamas' as 'hummus' and 'Fatah' as 'pita,'" he said. Warady then
goes on a tangent of how beautiful it is to live in Israel. He insists
Israeli women are the world's "hottest" and talks about this to some
extent. The audience laughed, apparently not bothered by his bigotry
and sexism. Meanwhile the act goes on for a dreadful 20 more minutes
as Warady continues to fragment his stories about the "great life" in
Israel.
The saddest portion of the night, however, had to go to Hanania, a
guest columnist for Israeli publications such as The Jerusalem Post
and Ynetnews. Almost every single one of his jokes focused on himself
as a Palestinian Muslim, despite being an Orthodox Christian. He joked
how as a child, instead of playing with a GI Joe he played with a "GI
Abdallah" action figure, while his sister played with a "Fatima" doll
instead of a Barbie. He then pointed at different Arab men in the
audience, asking them how many wives they had.
Hanania said that after he joined the Israeli-Palestinian Comedy Tour,
he had gigs canceled by five Arab-American organizations because of
his performance alongside Israelis. But what Hanania doesn't mention
is his problematic perspective on the Palestine-Israel conflict. In
December 2007, Hanania wrote an article for The Jerusalem Post titled
"Getting past normalization," in which he states Palestinians refuse
to accept reality (i.e. normalization of Israeli occupation) and is
critical of Palestinians for refusing to work with Israelis even when
doing so would undermine their struggle against the occupation.
Ironically, this is a man who says through his comedy he is "defining
the moderate Palestinian Arab voice, offering reason to the American,
Israeli and Arab public," according to his website. Yet in the same
Jerusalem Post article, Hanania calls the Israeli occupation of
Palestine, a "self-imposed imprisonment."
Sixty minutes into the night, the concluding performance was finally
underway with Campbell appearing on stage in his Orthodox garb. He
starts off by making fun of his appearance and then going into a
maelstrom narrative of his life, relating anything he said with being
a convert to Orthodox Judaism. Campbell, like Warady, also decided to
live in Israel and become an Israeli citizen.
The group finished with a performance once again invoking The West
Bank Story and reinforced the racist characterization of Palestinians
and Israelis through the Orientalist contextualization of the Arab and
anti-Semitic illustration of the Jew. Both the short film and the
Israeli-Palestinian Comedy Tour claim to promote hope and peace.
However, instead of bringing new clarity to this increasingly bloody
conflict, they only reinforce the misunderstandings that allow it to
rage on.
*Editor's note: This article originally erroneously identified the
Palestine Circus School as an organization that works with Israelis
against the occupation. It does not. The Electronic Intifada regrets
the error.
Sousan Hammad is a senior in journalism at University of Houston. She
is the opinion editor of The Daily Cougar and a staff writer for Free
Press Houston. She can be reached at sousan D O T hammad A T gmail D O
T com.
dsharavi
wrote:
What a lame response. And not particularly timely, either.
I see H performed his usual scuttling manouvre, when informed that Ali
Abunimah's people, rather than being "palestinnians", as H believed,
are actually native Washintonians, like Abunimah himself, or Chicago
residents, where Abunimah lives and works.
Deborah
dsharavi
Like H did, no doubt, when he posted an article about an issue from
half a century ago.
> not a
> spat between two Palestinians, one of whom is a pillar of the
> Resistance and the other is a Tom of long standing who writes for the
> Jerusalem Post.
Ali Abunimah - a "pillar of THE RESISTANCE" - rotf. Abunimah is a
Washington native who lives in Chicago, as opposed to Ray Hanania,
whom H heretofore praised to the hilt -- until, of course, H
discovered that Ray isn't in favour of H's Judenrein Israel.
Deborah