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[Article] U.S. condemns episode of Arabic TV series

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  • 19-11-2003 11:16pm
    #1
    Victor
    Registered Users Posts: 78,411 ✭✭✭✭


    While I can see the example is wrong in the extreme, sure they should have also condemned "Bad Boys II" and every Bruckheimer film and Tom Clancy book out there?

    http://home.eircom.net/content/reuters/worldnews/1990234?view=Eircomnet
    U.S. condemns episode of Arabic TV series
    From:Reuters
    Wednesday, 19th November, 2003

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department has condemned as libellous and despicable an episode in an Arabic-language television series which it said showed Jews sacrificing a Christian boy to use his blood in a Passover ritual.

    State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said on Wednesday the Beirut-based television station al-Manar, which is run by the guerrilla group Hizbollah, broadcast the episode on Tuesday night as part of the Ramadan series al-Shatat (the Diaspora).

    "This is a libellous presentation by al-Manar. ... It is despicable and merits the strongest condemnation possible," Ereli told a daily briefing.

    "Such venomous anti-Semitism has absolutely no place in the civilised world. Such programs, I think it's an understatement to say, do not contribute to the climate of mutual understanding and tolerance that the Middle East needs," the spokesman added.

    The United States had already complained to the Lebanese and Syrian governments at the start of the Syrian-made series, which portrays the history of the Zionist movement.

    U.S. ambassador Vincent Battle brought it up in Beirut, while charge d'affaires Gene Cretz raised it in Damascus.

    "We will be underscoring our concerns once again in light of this latest outrageous episode of the program," Ereli said.

    The idea that Jews kidnapped and sacrificed Christian children and used their blood to make Passover bread was a conspiracy theory widespread in medieval Europe. The story seems to have started in eastern England in the 12th century.


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    #2
    Éomer of Rohan
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,335 ✭✭✭Éomer of Rohan


    Quoted from articlep
    U.S. State Department has condemned as libellous and despicable an episode in an Arabic-language television series which it said showed Jews sacrificing a Christian boy to use his blood in a Passover ritual

    Yeah fair enough, this is extreme Muslim propaganda - but then the converse is the parading of the dead bodies of Saddam's sons on television and pointing to them to show how much the Iraqi people hated Saddam Hussein. Or watching the West Wing (mind you the attitude of some of the characters were true to life regarding American feelings of racial superiority to the Muslim community). Or reading Samuel P Huntingdon's Clash of Civilisations. The US State Department felt no need to comment on most of these, but I can see perfectly clearly the underlined bias in the approach to politics and standards of decency of that same State Department.

    And I couldn't agree more with Victor - Tom Clancy occupies a special place in my heart as a right-wing demagogue of the written word; simplistic arguments with little foundation in truth.


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