An article in the Independent by Middle East correspondent Bel Trew (“Why a cancelled Palestinian election is bad news for all”, May 5th) included the following sentences:
Trouble has brewed for Abbas and his support base since Fatah unexpectedly split into three blocs: the first two being Abbas’s official list, and another a slate of candidates tied to Mohammed Dahlan, an ex-Fatah security chief now living in a sort of exile in the UAE.
The third and the most surprising was a reformist list led by Nasser al Qidwa, the nephew of Fatah’s founder Yasser Arafat, and Marwan Barghouti, arguably Palestine’s most famous and powerful prisoner in Israel’s jail, as well as a former street leader and parliamentarian.
Trew fails to inform readers that, Barghouti is also a convicted terrorist who was one of the leaders of the 2nd Intifada’s campaign of suicide bombings and shootings in the early 2000s.
He was convicted in 2002 on five counts of murder of innocent civilians, but was likely responsible for many more killings. Crimes orchestrated by Barghouti include: The murder of Greek monk Tsibouktsakis Germanus in Jerusalem on June 12, 2001; the murder of Yoela Hen in Jerusalem on January 15, 2002; and the murder of Eli Dahan, Yosef Habi, and Salim Barakat in Tel Aviv on March 5, 2002.
There is no journalistic justification for omitting such crucial context about the “former street leader” and would-be Palestinian president – and we’ve complained to editors.
The Independent is following the Grauniad into the cesspit of lies and hate speech against Jews and the Jewish State, just another form of antisemitism, bleached it would still have a use though