A reporter working in the international press corps here understands quickly that what is important in the Israel-Palestinian story is Israel. If you follow mainstream coverage, you will find nearly no real analysis of Palestinian…ideologies, or profiles of armed Palestinian groups…Palestinians are not taken seriously as agents of their own fate – Former AP correspondent Matti Friedman
The Guardian’s Jerusalem correspondent Peter Beaumont pennedtwoarticles today on the attempted murder of Rabbi Yehuda Glick, a campaigner for Jewish rights on the Temple Mount.
Glick, who’s recovering from multiple bullet wounds at a Jerusalem hospital, was shot outside the Menachem Begin Heritage Center by a Palestinian man from east Jerusalem named Mu’taz Hijazi, a former prisoner (for terror offenses) and Palestinian Islamic Jihad(PIJ) member. (PIJ was formed by Palestinian extremists in Gaza during the 1970s and is committed to the destruction of the Jewish state through Jihad, and the creation of an Islamic state ‘from the river to the sea’. The group was responsible for scores of deadly attacks on Israeli civilians – including large-scale suicide bombings.) Hijazi was shot and killed by police today during an attempt to arrest him for the shooting. Including the headlines, strap lines, photo captions and text, the term “far-right” was used seven times in reference to Glick in the two Guardian articles. Though Beaumont alluded to the fact that Hijaz served time in an Israeli prison for “security” offenses, no similarly ideologically pejorative term was used to characterize him. Nor was there any mention of his PIJ affiliation.
So, why is Glick described as a “far-right” rabbi? Well, according to Beaumont, he “is a prominent activist closely associated with recent efforts to gain more Jewish prayer rights on the Temple Mount”, and is closely associated with a group that seeks to rebuild a Jewish Temple on the general location at the Mount compound where the First and Second Temples stood. Here’s Glick explaining his vision, which includes equal access to the Temple Mount compound for Muslims, Christians and Jews. In an interview following his release from the prison, Hijazisaid: “I’m glad to be back in Jerusalem. I hope to be a thorn in the Zionist plan of Judaizing Jerusalem”.
Here’s a clip of Rabbi Glick praying for peace with local Muslims “in the name of their shared ancestors on the Temple Mount”. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wacgNEgdiUg] Yehuda Glick is most known for his campaign to allow Jews to merely pray at the Temple Mount – the holiest site in Judaism – and envisions a future where all three monotheistic religious peacefully share the site. Mu’taz Hijazi tried to kill an innocent Israeli civilian, is a convicted terrorist, and is affiliated with a violent, antisemitic extremist movement. Which man is truly “far-right”? The campaigner for Jewish religious freedom at the Mount or the Palestinian who tried to murder him? To those who don’t hold Palestinians to a lower standard of moral behavior than Jews – and indeed take them seriously as agents of their own fate – the answer should be obvious.
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Who's more "far-right", Yehuda Glick or the Palestinian who tried to murder him?
The Guardian’s Jerusalem correspondent Peter Beaumont penned two articles today on the attempted murder of Rabbi Yehuda Glick, a campaigner for Jewish rights on the Temple Mount.
Glick, who’s recovering from multiple bullet wounds at a Jerusalem hospital, was shot outside the Menachem Begin Heritage Center by a Palestinian man from east Jerusalem named Mu’taz Hijazi, a former prisoner (for terror offenses) and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) member.
(PIJ was formed by Palestinian extremists in Gaza during the 1970s and is committed to the destruction of the Jewish state through Jihad, and the creation of an Islamic state ‘from the river to the sea’. The group was responsible for scores of deadly attacks on Israeli civilians – including large-scale suicide bombings.)
Hijazi was shot and killed by police today during an attempt to arrest him for the shooting.
Including the headlines, strap lines, photo captions and text, the term “far-right” was used seven times in reference to Glick in the two Guardian articles. Though Beaumont alluded to the fact that Hijaz served time in an Israeli prison for “security” offenses, no similarly ideologically pejorative term was used to characterize him. Nor was there any mention of his PIJ affiliation.
So, why is Glick described as a “far-right” rabbi? Well, according to Beaumont, he “is a prominent activist closely associated with recent efforts to gain more Jewish prayer rights on the Temple Mount”, and is closely associated with a group that seeks to rebuild a Jewish Temple on the general location at the Mount compound where the First and Second Temples stood.
Here’s Glick explaining his vision, which includes equal access to the Temple Mount compound for Muslims, Christians and Jews.
In an interview following his release from the prison, Hijazi said: “I’m glad to be back in Jerusalem. I hope to be a thorn in the Zionist plan of Judaizing Jerusalem”.
Here’s a clip of Rabbi Glick praying for peace with local Muslims “in the name of their shared ancestors on the Temple Mount”.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wacgNEgdiUg]
Yehuda Glick is most known for his campaign to allow Jews to merely pray at the Temple Mount – the holiest site in Judaism – and envisions a future where all three monotheistic religious peacefully share the site.
Mu’taz Hijazi tried to kill an innocent Israeli civilian, is a convicted terrorist, and is affiliated with a violent, antisemitic extremist movement.
Which man is truly “far-right”? The campaigner for Jewish religious freedom at the Mount or the Palestinian who tried to murder him?
To those who don’t hold Palestinians to a lower standard of moral behavior than Jews – and indeed take them seriously as agents of their own fate – the answer should be obvious.
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