Jerusalem Post Gets Sloppy: Accuses Author Of Condoning Oslo Attack

Even to mention this irony is dangerous, since it might be taken to imply that the victims “had it coming.” The victims never deserve to be murdered by terrorists, even victims who think other victims “had it coming.” This is in no way a justification of that horrendous terrorist act. It’s the exact opposite: a vital but forgotten lesson arising from it that can and should save lives.
Barry Rubin, The Oslo Syndrome, Jerusalem Post, July 31

The irony Rubin is referring to is that the camp, victim of the terrorist attack by Anders Breivik, was itself run by a left-wing party that lobbied on behalf of breaking the Israeli blockade against Hamas terrorist-ruled Gaza and lobbied for the unconditional recognition of a Palestinian state without security guarantees. Bottom line:

They were justifying forces that had committed terrorism against Israelis, killing thousands of people like themselves.

There is an irony that those who defended terrorists were themselves terrorists--but Barry Rubin makes clear from the beginning that despite the irony:

The victims never deserve to be murdered by terrorists, even victims who think other victims “had it coming.” This is in no way a justification of that horrendous terrorist act. It’s the exact opposite: a vital but forgotten lesson arising from it that can and should save lives.

One might think that Rubin make his point very clear--but not if you are The Jerusalem Post.


In a piece entitled Jerusalem Post Writer Thinks Utøya Massacre Well Deserved, The Jerusalem Post clearly takes Rubin's article out of context when it deliberately ignores what he writes and just quotes:

...One of the most sensitive aspects of the murderous terrorist attack in Norway by a right-wing gunman is this irony: The youth camp he attacked was engaged in what was essentially (though the campers didn’t see it that way, no doubt) a pro-terrorist program.

The camp, run by Norway’s left-wing party, was lobbying for breaking the blockade of the terrorist Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip, and for immediate recognition of a Palestinian state, without that entity needing to do anything that would prevent it from being used as a terrorist base against Israel.

The paragraph I quote at the beginning of this post--which is the very next paragraph after the two quoted by the Jerusalem Post--clearly explains that in no way does Prof. Rubin condone the murders of the victims.

But the Jerusalem Post did not mention that part--thus allowing anyone who wanted to continue the attack on Conservative bloggers to continue what has apparently become a sport for some in the left-wing.

What the Jerusalem Post did was shameful.
They truly do need to correct what they wrote and apologize.

Note that the Jerusalem Post has some cognizance that they really blew it and changed the headline from Jerusalem Post Writer Thinks Utøya Massacre Well Deserved to Jerusalem Post Writer Thinks Utøya Massacre


Technorati Tag: Norway and Media Bias and Barry Rubin.