David Singer has just written a take on this:
The Palestinian Authority (PA) Ministry of Information has now issued a book instructing Palestinian Arabs on the words they should use to replace ” the Israeli and American dissemination of poisoned terms".
Palestinian Arabs are encouraged to use terms that indicate that Israel is the result of “a racist, colonialist endeavor,” and the book instructs Palestinians never to use the name “Israel” alone but instead to use the term “Israeli colonialism.” To use “Israel” by itself is damaging, according to the PA, because to do so “describes Israel as a natural state.”
Whilst most of the misleading and deceptive terms to be employed are not new – the book highlights official PA approval and acceptance of the use of such terms in the semantic war that has been ongoing for the last 130 years – alongside the actual conflict that has been played out between Jews and Arabs during that period.
For example – the use of the term “West Bank” was introduced by Jordan in 1950 to replace the biblical names “Judea and Samaria” – names that had been used throughout the centuries and were still being used by the British Mandate authorities in 1948. This change of name has been an effective propaganda tool in trying to erase any Jewish connection with and entitlement to these areas after they were occupied by Jordan in the 1948 War of Independence and subsequently lost by Jordan to Israel in the 1967 Six Day War
Similarly the use of the term “freedom fighter” instead of the term “terrorist” has had an impact on the way the Jewish-Arab conflict has been perceived.
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Exactly. Read it all.
If I'm ever charged with murder I want the man who first said "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter" as my defense counsel.
[Hat tip Shirlee]
I can recommend a BBC news anchor who said those very words, Geoff... He has the gift of the gab, but a lawyer he's not.
ReplyDeleteIt's a nasty glib line isn't it Daphne.
ReplyDeleteIt sums up the insidious degeneracy of moral equivalence in a few words. They are perfectly capable of saying Jew murdering suicide bombers are the same as the Macquis. I've actually heard this said.
No one has a monopoly on weasel words. Indeed, our local pollies and business people, discussing nothing more interesting than local politics or local business matters use an impressive and expanding dictionary of weasel words.
ReplyDeleteBesides, I thought we weren't allowed to talk about "terrorits" anymore; it upsets non-terrorist Muslims ... which is just awful, isn't it. Wouldn't want to upset Muslims. Don't want to hurt their feelings.