Take a good look at this fellow and his fashionable comb-over. He’s Alan Hart a British journalist, and author of the book “Arafat, Terrorist or Peacemaker?” One reviewer said that Hart’s Arafat was “a man of courage tempered by warmth and sensitivity”, which may give you an idea of which side of the question he comes down on. His latest book is a two-volume opus called “Zionism: The Real Enemy of the Jews”, and this time the title leaves no room for speculation about his point of view.
Oh, I should add that Hart has a blog, too, with an incredibly gushing self-congratulatory sidebar — but you’ll have to Google him if you need to print out some litter-box liners, because I’m not going to add to his link count. Here’s a short example of his writing, chosen almost at random:
In Volume Two of my book, Zionism: The Real Enemy of the Jews, I describe Zionism as “a sickness of the traumatised Jewish mind”. And I ask, “Who can cure this sickness?” (Before you accuse me again of a “blood libel”, you should know that my book is actually the call of a concerned and caring goy for the Jews to become the light unto nations by demonstrating that there is a place for morality in politics and that right can triumph over might).
You get the idea. Now why am I taking up time to write about such as Hart? Because he is even worse than the above indicates. Here is what he has written about the rumor that BBC correspondent Alan Johnston, missing in Gaza, has been murdered by Islamist radicals (Little Green Footballs):
On Count One, Alan was not only the BBC’s man, he was the only permanent foreign correspondent in Gaza. He was, in short, the best and most informed provider of news about the Palestinian side of the story; a story which, in many of its details, is an embarrassment to Israel and those governments, most notably the Bush and Blair regimes, which support Israel’s efforts to break the will of the Palestinians to continue their struggle for an acceptable minimum of justice.
On Count Two, and if he has been murdered, Alan’s death, if it could be blamed on a Palestinian or a pro-Palestinian Arab and/or other Islamist group, would be a huge political setback for the legitimacy of the Palestinian struggle and the present leadership of it. (The Al Qaeda franchise would not give a damn about harming the Palestinian cause).
There is a case for saying (repeat a case) that the party with most to gain from Alan Johnston’s permanent disappearance was Israel. It would not be the first time that Israeli agents had dressed as Arabs to make a hit.
If Alan Johnston is dead, it’s my hope that the BBC at executive management level will rise above its fear of offending Zionism too much and allow its reporters (Frank Gardner and Jeremy Bowen are second to none) to make a full, thorough and honest investigation.
Hart displays a warmth and sensitivity here that’s positively Arafat-like. As LGF points out, he may be the first British journalist to accuse Israel of murdering Johnston. Never mind that it is illogical and that there isn’t a shred of evidence that points in this direction, obsessive Israel-haters like Hart will always believe that Israel is guilty of any imaginable crime, no matter how much of a stretch is necessary to do so. Although Hart repeats over and over on his site that he is quite aware of the distinction between anti-Zionism and antisemitism, his delusive approach to reality suggests that there is more to his motivation than a simple journalistic search for truth.
Technorati Tags: Alan Hart, Alan Johnston, BBC, Gaza, Israel