People like Ahmed Shihab-Eldin are Destroying Huffington Post Live
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Ahmed Shihab-Eldin anti-Semitic Huffpo Arianna Huffington Israel Arianna Huffington Jews Dovid Efune HPMonitor Huffington Post anti-Semitic Huffington Post Iran Huffington Post Israel Huffington Post Jews Huffington Post live Iran Threat Iranian nukes Israel News Jewish News
Arianna Huffington, Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Huffington Post (L) on a World Economic Forum panel. Photo: WEF.
Only seven years old, the top online news site in the world, The Huffington Post, founded by Arianna Huffington, has been a hot-bed for anti-Semitic and anti-Israel expression since close to its inception.
Two anonymous blogs, Huff-Watch and HPMonitor, that are wholly dedicated to the cause of exposing and highlighting offensive material found on the site, have emerged in recent years and have done a tremendous job at drawing attention to numerous editorial transgressions and loopholes. Their documentation is exhaustive and detailed, and they are to be applauded for their important work.
“The Internet news website the Huffington Post has become a home to a sub sect of commentators expressing anti-Israel hate speech and anti-Semitism,” explains the mission statement of HPMonitor. Huff-Watch goes a step further, writing, “Few are aware, however, that for at least the past two years, Israel and Jews have been HuffPost’s secondary ‘targets.”
I have had my own surprising experiences with the site, having published blogs with them over the years, but it was during a recent appearance on Huffington Post Live, their new online streaming TV station, that I was utterly shocked.
It appears to me, and I have heard this from others as well, that their general modus operandi is to stack their live shows with guests that tow their party line, and invite one token opposing voice to join as an ambush prop, (perhaps more on this at a later stage.)
The show I joined, in ‘the lone voice’ capacity, was focused on Iran, the tensions between Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Obama over the former’s call for the establishment of a red line, and the latter’s demand for veto rights over any Israeli action.
Strangely for a staff member, a Huffington Post producer and host joined the show as a commentator. A former Al-Jazeera producer, Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, describes himself on twitter as “Palestinian by blood American by birth,” and posts links on the social media network to news items that accuse Israelis of human rights crimes.
For the most part, the other guests on the show adamantly insisted that a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities would always be a bad idea, and that Prime Minister Netanyahu is a warmongering barbarian. Frankly, there are dangers to an Iran strike, and reluctance is understandable albeit misguided. Then, I pointed out that 7 million Israeli lives were at stake, which prompted Shihab-Eldin to drop this gem:
“I have to retort to what David said, which is misrepresenting and misleading people on the real threat in the region, um, you know, Obama rightfully doesn’t want a war, we can’t afford a war, we said that earlier, he says there is a threat from Iran to Israel even though Iran currently doesn’t have weapons and Israel does….let’s try and put ourselves in their shoes, they see themselves in a region where the US has invaded Afghanistan, has invaded Iraq, two of their neighbors, Israel has a nuclear weapon, so if there is a threat to anyone, they are the ones who feel threatened.”
How the Huffington Post gets away with placing someone who vocally campaigns for this morally corrupt position in a role of senior responsibility, is simply beyond me.
To present a more passive stance against Iranian nukes and call for the extension of diplomatic efforts is one thing. It is quite another to stand behind a terror sponsoring regime that is guilty of incitement to genocide, and blame its victims. If The Huffington Post seeks salvation; the bad apples must be cast away. Absent a thorough house cleaning, readers be warned: Arianna has created a mouthpiece for the devil.
The author is the editor of The Algemeiner and director of the GJCF and can be e-mailed at defune@gjcf.com.
9:33 am
Mr. Efune,
You guys really need to stop. You and your fellow writers…etc..are the ones destroying Israel.
If you or we can’t question a government, and that includes Israel then that is the problem.
The people of Israel have questioned Bibi and have decided he needs to at least share power in a new government. That means they DISAGREE with the government. Are they too anti-Semitic?
You have lost your credibility and the world knows it. I’ve been to Israel – it is a nice country but it is just another country on the Earth that is the same as everyone else.
Calm down and start thinking about the best way for Israel to succeed with the rest of the world.
Oh – and please stop the Palestine bashing with your comments on Ahmed Shihab.
Thank you.
9:24 pm
Mr. Efune
So many things that could be mentioned in your brief but incendiary commentary.
Calling the Huffington Post Anti-Semetic ? Really? Have we as a group not tired of this baseless and well overused allegation and do we not prefer that it be used in genuine circumstances ? Perhaps you confuse the term Anti-Semitism with critcism of the political decisions of a country, which in every other part of the world is accepted and encouraged, but you somehow imagine that Israel should have some sort of “exemption” from any and all criticism?
The human rights violations of the Israeli regime are VERY WELL DOCUMENTED and in most parts of the democratic world, accepted as fact.
The entire “Iran” debacle and saber rattling at the hands of the Israeli regime has been one of the most destructive and potentially life threatening “games” being played in the Middle East, and was in part simply politically motivated to garner votes. As to the actual threat from Iran, why not look to the well informed senior military leadership in both Israel and the United States- they have almost uniformly DISPUTED the potential threat from Iran. Do you refer to them as Anti-Semetic as well?
Your “news article” or “commentary”, which is better described as selective bias, adds nothing to the collective argument regarding the topics at hand.