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.