Friday, June 29, 2007

Hezbollah War Redux - CNN Interviews a Terrorist

We’re coming up on the anniversary of events in northern Israel and South Lebanon which led to Ehud Olmert’s punitive expedition against Hezbollah, the only war Israel can be said to have lost. In recognition I have linked to this YouTube posting, an interview of formal Palestinian terrorist Walid Shoebat conducted by CNN anchorette Fionnuala Sweeney. The interview was conducted last August as part of CNN coverage of the war, and was posted on YouTube on 8/8/2006. Since the video is due to age out soon I thought now is a good a time as any to comment on it.

Shoebat, as readers may know, is a former PLO operative who radically changed his views of Israel and of Jews generally, and has since been campaigning against the culture of jihad, which is increasingly the loudest voice in Islam. Shoebat by his own testimony was born and raised a devout Muslim, though whether he remains one I haven’t been able to discover. Shoebat’s website states that he lives under an assumed name (for safety?) somewhere in the USA. What’s not clear is whether Walid Shoebat is his given name or his nom de guerre.

I find this video interesting particularly in the manner it was conducted. Sweeney tries to characterize Shoebat’s background by claiming he was jailed by the Israelis for his “beliefs,” obviously meant to imply that Shoebat, and by extension other Palestinians held in Israeli captivity, had been an admirable prisoner of conscience unjustly imprisoned for political reasons. Shoebat corrects the record, in a most gentlemanly manner, stating he was sentenced for “terrorist activities.” Undeterred by the literal truth Sweeney, who comes off as a blatant jihadist shill, again mischaracterizes Shoebats detention.

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