De Guardian gaat weer eens de mist in, en stelt haar anti-Israel bias boven de waarheid. Het is ook bijna te mooi om niet te gebruiken: Noam Shalit, de vader van de meer dan vijf jaar ontvoerde soldaat Gilad, die zegt dat hij als hij Palestijn was hetzelfde zou doen. Welk bewijs heb je dan nog nodig dat de een z’n terrorist de ander z’n vrijheidsstrijder is, en dat het dus volledig subjectief is welk geweld je goedkeurt en afwijst? Oftewel: de Palestijnen strijden terecht voor hun vrijheid, de Joden deden vroeger hetzelfde en zouden het weer doen als ze in die positie zaten. Shalit maakt wel enkele opmerkingen in deze richting, maar gaat niet zo ver om te zeggen dat hij als Palestijn ook zoiets zou doen. De nuance doet er hier wel degelijk toe, zeker ook gezien het feit dat de interviewer hem bepaalde zaken in de mond probeer te leggen, en hij meermaals ontwijkende antwoorden geeft.
So, to recap: Shalit didn’t really say that he would kidnap an Israeli soldier if he were a Palestinian. When asked by the interviewer whether he would do such a thing, he gave equivocal responses. He said he didn’t know what he would do if he were a Palestinian but suggested that he might have tried to fight the Israeli army “in a different way.” Asked whether he would rule out kidnapping, he noted -- factually -- that Jewish fighters kidnapped British officers during the British Mandate period.
Dat laatste is inderdaad gewoon waar, maar hij suggereert hier wel een overeenkomst, en die is mijns inziens niet terecht. Ten eerste: de Gazastrook is niet langer bezet, en Shalit was vlakbij Gaza door terroristen uit Gaza ontvoerd. Ten tweede: De Britten traden hard op tijdens de mandaattijd en hielden zich niet aan diverse afspraken en verplichtingen van het mandaat, zoals de vrije vestiging van Joden in het land en hun recht op vrije immigratie. Ze traden erg hard op tegen de ‘illegale’ immigratie en tegen de ondergrondse organisaties die zich daarmee bezig hielden. Het Joodse bestuur was zeer compromisbereid en werkte met de Britten mee en samen en accepteerde diverse delingsplannen en voorstellen, dit in tegenstelling tot de Palestijnen, die niks met het Britse gezag te maken wilden hebben en sowieso niet met de zionisten en alles afwezen.
RP
----------
Guardian got it wrong—Noam Shalit didn’t say he would kidnap Israelis if he were Palestinian
Britain’s Guardian newspaper has a story that is being picked up by various outlets around the world. The headline: “Gilad Shalit's father: I would kidnap Israelis if I were Palestinian.”
The story’s first sentence reported that Noam Shalit “said he would kidnap Israeli soldiers if he were a Palestinian.” According to The Guardian, Noam Shalit made the statement in a television interview.
Yet the only direct quote The Guardian provides on the topic doesn’t by itself substantiate the sensational headline. The quote is: "We also kidnapped British soldiers when we were fighting for our freedom" -- a statement of historical fact, not an assertion of what Shalit would or would not do in the event of a hypothetical change of nationality.
Moreover, I couldn’t find any English-language Israeli outlet that had reported on Shalit’s statement -- surprising given the provocative nature of the words being attributed to him by The Guardian. So I was a little suspicous.
I had a Hebrew-speaking colleague track down the interview with Israel’s Channel 10. It turns out Shalit didn’t quite say what The Guardian says he said.
Here’s a transcript (translated from Hebrew) of what Shalit actually said:
Q. So you support talking to Hamas?
Shalit: I support talking to anyone.
Q. Including Hamas?
Shalit: Including Hamas. Everyone who wants to talk with us.
Q. As a Knesset member, would you go out tomorrow to talk with [Hamas Prime Minister Ismail] Haniyeh?
Shalit: Haniyeh’s not yet ready to recognize us. Unfortunately, it hasn’t happened yet.
Q. And if he recognizes us?
Shalit: If and when we get the bridge, we’ll cross it. Of course.
Q. That is, even if the kidnappers of Gilad themselves one day are senior officials in the Palestinian administration and agree to recognize Israel, you would sit with them as an Israeli Knesset member.
Shalit: Presumably -- I said that if they change their ways and are prepared to recognize us and recognize that there is a Jewish state, that there’s Israel, there’s the State of Israel, yes, and they stop the war against then yes – absolutely.
Q. Shake his hand?
Shalit: Yes.
Shalit: How did Barak say? If I were Palestinian, it’s possible I too would be a terrorist or a freedom fighter -- how they call them -- or something else.
Q: If you were a Hamasnik, would you abduct an Israeli soldier?
Shalit: I don't know but maybe I would fight IDF forces in a different way, I don't know.
Q: But you don't rule it out.
Shalit: If I were a Palestinian?
Q: Yes, abducting a soldier to release prisoners.
Shalit: We also kidnapped British officers way back when, when we were fighting for our freedom.
Q: You're a cold fish.
Shalit: Thanks.
So, to recap: Shalit didn’t really say that he would kidnap an Israeli soldier if he were a Palestinian. When asked by the interviewer whether he would do such a thing, he gave equivocal responses. He said he didn’t know what he would do if he were a Palestinian but suggested that he might have tried to fight the Israeli army “in a different way.” Asked whether he would rule out kidnapping, he noted -- factually -- that Jewish fighters kidnapped British officers during the British Mandate period.
So he didn’t categorically say he wouldn’t kidnap Israeli soldiers if he were a Palestinian, but -- contra The Guardian -- he also didn’t say he would. (Britain’s Jewish Chronicle had a more accurate report on the interview.)
He also said that that he would be willing to shake the hands of Hamas leaders, but conditioned that on them recognizing a Jewish state and stopping their violence.
It will be interesting to see if there is any fallout from the interview for Noam Shalit. Several months after the prisoner exchange that won his son’s freedom, Shalit announced (somewhat controversially) that he would run for Knesset with the Labor Party.
Noam Shalit: We kidnapped soldiers too
By Jennifer Lipman, March 16, 2012
The father of the IDF soldier captured by Hamas and released five years later last October has given a controversial interview expressing a level of understanding of the terrorist groups' actions.
Noam Shalit, whose son Gilad was just 19 years old when he was kidnapped during a cross border raid, revealed his ambitions to become a Labour Party Knesset member in January.
His political leanings were made clear with comments this week, in which he told Israel's Channel 10 that he was not averse to speaking to Hamas.
"I am in favour of speaking to anyone who wants to talk to us," he said. "If they change their ways and are willing to recognise Israel as a Jewish state, yes, I would shake their hand."
Mr Shalit also noted that Jewish paramilitary groups in Mandate Palestine "also kidnapped British soldiers when we were fighting for our freedom".
But the soldier's father, who spent months camped in front of Benjamin Netanyahu's house to campaign for action on his son's case, said that the Prime Minister should have imposed financial sanctions on Gaza.
He said: ''As soon as they capture an Israeli soldier and are not willing to release him and asking for such a price, you should put the pressure on them, including stopping the transfer of money."
He had little praise for Mr Netanyahu's role in Gilad's homecoming. "Every poll found that 70 per cent of the public wanted the deal," he said. "Netanyahu saw the public would not tolerate a repeat of what happened to Ron Arad."
Later this month, Gilad Shalit will be released from compulsory IDF service.
