NPR demonstrated a complete lack of skepticism about a report in the Washington Post citing shadowy and anonymous government sources claiming that Lebanon-based Al-Qaida-lined extremists obtained a deadly chemical weapon from Iraq. By failing to ask any hard questions, NPR served essentially as a transcription service for the government, rather than as an independent source of news and analysis. EI’s Ali Abunimah explains. Read more about NPR confuses irresponsible speculation for hard news
Benjamin J Doherty and Ali Abunimah10 December 2002
Above: Elia Suleiman in the director’s chair.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences operates a double standard that may have kept Elia Suleiman’s award-winning feature film “Divine Intervention” out of the competition for the Oscars, EI has learned. The film, a dark comedy about a love affair between two people on opposite sides of an Israeli military checkpoint, won a prestigious jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival, and the European Film Award. EI’s Ali Abunimah and Benjamin Doherty investigate. Read more about Oscars' double standard turns Palestinian film into refugee
When a Palestinian attack kills Israelis, the TV news networks are quick to cut to “breaking news” reports. Harrowing footage from the scene and interviews with outraged Israeli government officials are swiftly broadcast, and harsh statements are quickly issued by government and UN officials to appear in tomorrow’s front page newspaper stories. Meanwhile, the relentless killing of Palestinian civilians, many of them children, by the Israeli occupation army goes largely unnoticed and unreported. Read more about Invisible killings: Israel's daily toll of Palestinian children
The recent attacks on an Israeli hotel and the firing of missiles on an Israeli plane taking off from Mombassa, Kenya, indicate again that terrorism has neither been defeated, exhausted nor even intimidated by the loudly acclaimed American-led “war on terror.” On the contrary, terrorist activities seem to be gathering strength, spreading faster and hitting harder than the most cynical assessments predicted. Hasan Abu Nimah, in this contribution to EI, explains why America’s failure to distinguish among the difference causes of violence is making things worse. At the same time, he warns Palestinians not to allow their just cause to be hijacked by those who carry out atrocities against civilians. Read more about Back to square one: the derailed "war on terror" after the Mombasa attacks
This is the Big Secret, which Osama Bin Laden, George Bush, Jr., and Ariel Sharon do not want you to know: There are no Jews, Muslims, Christians, Arabs, Israelis, or Americans in this world. There are only human beings. They cannot be boxed in, excluded out, extra-judicially killed, illegally imprisoned, economically disenfranchised, collectively deported, silently tortured, or buried in mass graves without risking a further descent into the wreck where all of us now live. Read more about Salvaging the Wreck
Maintaining a website offering information about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from a pro-Palestinian perspective, my e-mail in-box is regularly filled with ‘advice’ about how the Palestinians should manage their Intifada. Some recent messages have bemoaned the decision by Palestinian military groups to fire mortars at Israeli settlements. EI’s Nigel Parry comments. Read more about The message of the mortars
“Jenin Jenin”, a 54-minute documentary made by Palestinian filmmaker/actor Muhammad Bakri, features at the International Documentary Filmfestival (IDFA) in Amsterdam. This film is Bakri’s most cutting statement yet. Bakri says that the film is about “human suffering as such - about a wounded soul, a demolished home, a felled tree, a picked flower, a broken heart.” Read more about "Jenin Jenin" features at International Documentary Filmfestival
A 12 August 2001 action alert from pro-Israeli group CAMERA (“Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America”) made a series of baseless accusations against National Public Radio. EI’s Ali Abunimah reports. Read more about CAMERA's continued assault on NPR and the truth
