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Mehdi Hasan Embarrasses Himself on Debate Show on Israel
Few tears were shed at HonestReporting in November 2023, when MSNBC announced the cancellation of the regular show of Mehdi Hasan, a long-time detractor of Israel.
Rather than accept his effective demotion, however, Hasan eventually chose to quit the network and launch his own independent media company, Zeteo.
Unfortunately, while MSNBC did very little to restrain his brand of anti-Israel agitprop, Hasan now has even more freedom to pursue his obsessive attacks on Israel through his own outlet and on social media.
So it was gratifying to see Hasan’s holier-than-thou persona brought down a peg or two when he came up against UK lawyer Natasha Hausdorff and author and political commentator Douglas Murray in a must-see Munk Debates on anti-Zionism.
Speaking in favor of the motion that anti-Zionism is antisemitism, Hausdorff and Murray beat Hasan and hateful Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy by 66% to 34%. Not only that, between the beginning of the debate and the end, support for Mehdi’s position actually dropped by 5%.
But more importantly, people saw that Hasan, the author of the book
Left: @mehdirhasan intentionally misleads his audience about a quote by Arthur Balfour
Right: @UKLFI‘s Natasha Hausdorff calls out his shameless lie pic.twitter.com/SrS9KuXk3w
— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) June 18, 2024
It’s interesting to observe how Hasan, even when caught red-handed, tries to deflect. Let’s remember that he was rightly called out for factually misquoting Lord Arthur Balfour, the author of the 1917 Balfour Declaration. Natasha Hausdorff never made any judgment on Balfour’s character, which was not the issue.
That didn’t stop Hasan from reposting the below tweet quoting from a 2017 opinion piece by Palestinian American activist Yousef Munayyer that called Balfour a “white supremacist” and “antisemite.”
Damn that’s crazy what else did Arthur Balfour say https://t.co/FDGiIu5cBy https://t.co/IMhSkJMDYP pic.twitter.com/3kmdLzAbzM
— David Grossman (@davidgross_man) June 19, 2024
Making False Claims Against Your Opponent
Here’s another example of how Hasan twists the truth when he claims that Douglas Murray “advocated for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza” in The Spectator.
cc: @DouglasKMurray https://t.co/0nBPpS99Xf pic.twitter.com/24hkEIunEJ
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) June 19, 2024
This is the relevant text from Murray’s Spectator article:
Rather than advocating for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza as Hasan charges, Murray speculates what Israel might do in the immediate aftermath of October 7. Unsurprisingly, Israel has not “clear[ed] all the Palestinians from that benighted strip.” And the charge that Murray is advocating ethnic cleansing when says “It could be a good time to do it”? In the context of the subsequent passage, it is clear that he is referring to the fact that Arab states care very little for the Palestinians and certainly not enough to prevent Israel from carrying out such an action (which it, in any case, hasn’t).
It’s the Audience’s Fault
And if you’ve lost the argument, then why not simply blame the voting audience?
So, we lost the Munk debate on “anti-Zionism is antisemitism” last night.
Given the pro-Israeli audience jeered @gideonle when he mentioned Palestinian deaths & then booed me when I mentioned the ICC & Oxfam, I can’t say I was shocked.
Who boos… Oxfam?pic.twitter.com/9HfMTCkpkl
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) June 18, 2024
Hasan relies on the “halo effect” to suggest that organizations such as Oxfam are beyond reproach. As it happens, there’s plenty to say about Oxfam and many other non-governmental organizations that sound like benign charities but, in reality, are a major part of the global anti-Israel campaign.
So the audience, which Hasan accuses of being pro-Israel by default, are within their rights to jeer.
And maybe, just maybe, Mehdi Hasan, the audience actually got this one right.
The author the Editorial Director of HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
The post Mehdi Hasan Embarrasses Himself on Debate Show on Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Report: IDF Probes Whether Houthis Used Iranian Cluster Bomb-Bearing Missile
Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi addresses followers via a video link at the al-Shaab Mosque, formerly al-Saleh Mosque, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
i24 News – The Israeli military said Saturday it launched a probe into the failure of its defenses to fully intercept a missile launched by Yemen’s Houthi jihadists, parts of which struck not far from the Ben Gurion airport on Friday night.
According to the Ynet website, one of the hypotheses being examined is that the projectile contained cluster munitions, similar to those used by Iran to fire at Israeli cities during the 12-day war in June. Cluster munitions pose a challenge to interceptors as they disperse smaller explosives over a wide area.
In June, Iran fired several missiles carrying scattered small bombs with the aim of increasing civilian casualties.
The IDF said on Saturday that its initial review suggests the ballistic missile from Yemen likely fragmented in mid-air. Five interceptors from various systems engaged with the missile, including THAAD, Arrow, David Sling & Iron Dome.
Authorities said that shrapnel impacted a house in the central Israeli moshav of Ginaton, yet no one was hurt, with the fragment landing in the house’s backyard.
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Iran Forces Kill Six Militants, IRNA Reports, Israel Link Seen
The Iranian flag is seen flying over a street in Tehran, Iran, Feb. 3, 2023. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iranian security forces shot dead six militants in a clash in southeastern Iran on Saturday, a day after armed rebels killed five police officers in the restive region, the official news agency IRNA reported.
IRNA said evidence showed the group was linked to Israel and may have been trained by Israel‘s Mossad spy agency. There was no immediate Israeli reaction to the allegation.
Another two members of the militant group were arrested, the report said. All but one of the militants were foreign, it added, without giving their nationality.
Iranian police said this month they had arrested as many as 21,000 suspects during the 12-day war with Israel in June.
Iran’s southeast has been the scene of sporadic clashes between security forces and armed groups, including Sunni militants and separatists who say they are fighting for greater rights and autonomy.
Tehran says some of them have ties to foreign powers and are involved in cross-border smuggling and insurgency.
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Benny Gantz Urges Time-Limited National Unity Government to Further Chances of Hostage Deal
Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz attends his party’s meeting at the Knesset, Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, June 27, 2022. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – Blue and White Party leader Benny Gantz on Saturday called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition politicians to form a temporary national unity government to further the chances of bringing home the hostages held in Gaza.
Addressing Netanyahu, Yair Lapid and Avigdor Liberman, Gantz said that the proposed government’s two supreme priorities would be the release of Israeli hostages held by the jihadists of Hamas and instituting universal conscription in Israel by ending the exemption from military service enjoyed by the ultra-Orthodox.
Upon attainment of the goals, the government would dissolve and call an election.
“The government’s term will begin with a hostage deal that brings everyone home,” Gantz said in a video address. “Within weeks, we will formulate an enlistment outline that would see our ultra-Orthodox brethren drafted to the military and ease the burden on those already serving. Finally, we will announce an agreed-upon election date in the spring of 2026 and pass a law to dissolve the Knesset [Israeli parliament] accordingly. This is what’s right for Israel.”