After a recent suicide bombing of a Jerusalem bus, which killed eleven people, the government press in Egypt was filled with praise for this ?most honorable mission?, as it was called in al-Gomhouriya. All of the leading Egyptian newspapers called the terrorist massacre a ?martyrdom operation?, with no condemnation whatsoever even of the choice of targets - children on their way to school in Jerusalem and adults on their way to work. The government newspaper al-Akhbar went so far as to categorize the murdered - including Ilan Perlman, age 8 - as ?eleven Israeli terrorists...?
The al-Akhbar editorial was entitled, ?The Jerusalem Operation: The Only Response to Israeli Terrorism,? and it stated, ?Reacting to all of the inhuman acts of the Zionist entity intended to subdue the Palestinian people, a martyrdom operation took place yesterday [November 21, 2002] in occupied Jerusalem...? Why? ?[I]n order to prove conclusively that Israel deludes itself in its belief that its uncontrollable appetite to kill, destroy, and terrorize will bring security and peace.? Calling the Israeli government, with whom Egypt maintains a peace treaty, ?the ruling gang in Tel Aviv,? not even recognizing the seat of Israel?s government in Jerusalem, the newspaper continues, ?This operation, in which eleven Israeli terrorists were killed and dozens were wounded, stems from a number of reasons...? The main reason cited, however, is in fact another Arab terrorist assault, the Hebron attack: ?[T]his operation is a consequence of a brave ambush prepared by Palestinian martyrs... in Hebron...? Another excuse for the suicide bombing provided by the Egyptian newspaper is ?the state of madness that over took the ruling Israeli gang led by Ariel Sharon, who seeks to spill more Palestinian blood, especially the blood of children, women, the elderly, and the brave people of resistance.? For the Egyptian government newspaper al-Akhbar, ?This weapon, the weapon of legitimate force, is the only weapon that Israel fears. Only the resistance can smash the Israeli arrogance and idiocy of its leaders.?
The editor of al-Gomhouriya, a daily, was positively ecstatic about the massacre of Jews in Jerusalem. He gleefully reported, ?Yesterday a 23 year-old Palestinian martyr blew himself up in a bus in Jerusalem and consequently eleven Israelis were killed, forty-seven wounded, of whom, nine are in critical condition!? The editorial column later summarizes, ?The Israelis will wake up in the morning put their victims in plastic bags, and a few hours later the Palestinians will embrace each other having pronounced the Shahada (the Islamic declaration of faith) and be on the way to carry out the most noble, precious, and honorable mission.? As for Israel, writes the al-Gomhouriya editor, ?The brave Palestinians will continue to be regarded as terrorists by the Israelis as long as they carry out martyrdom operations by which they are trying to react to a few of the crimes committed against them!? Triumphantly, the newspaper describes what it says was Jerusalem mayor Ehud Olmert?s reaction, ?looking at the remains of the bodies, [he] said, 'we deluded ourselves into believing that terrorism came to an end, but it apparently continues.'? Olmert may ?consider those who carried out this valiant, courageous operation as 'terrorists,'? the editor writes, but ?Israel is a terrorist state in its words and actions, in its appearance and ideas, and that most of its leaders are nothing but war criminals that will not be spared by the tribunal of history, even if it takes a long time.?
The larger circulation governmet daily in Egypt, Al-Ahram, while more careful in its praise for terrorism, still managed to call the Jerusalem bus bombing a ?a martyrdom operation....? The Egyptian editorialist comments on the lesson of the suicide bombing by saying, ?violence breads nothing but violence and that security measures as tight as they maybe will not prevent the bloodshed of such operations and that the only solution is the return to the negotiating table and the achievement of a peaceful solution that will satisfy both sides and will realize their legitimate claims, especially the one relating to the declaration of a new Palestinian state.?
[With special thanks to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) for providing the English texts.]
The al-Akhbar editorial was entitled, ?The Jerusalem Operation: The Only Response to Israeli Terrorism,? and it stated, ?Reacting to all of the inhuman acts of the Zionist entity intended to subdue the Palestinian people, a martyrdom operation took place yesterday [November 21, 2002] in occupied Jerusalem...? Why? ?[I]n order to prove conclusively that Israel deludes itself in its belief that its uncontrollable appetite to kill, destroy, and terrorize will bring security and peace.? Calling the Israeli government, with whom Egypt maintains a peace treaty, ?the ruling gang in Tel Aviv,? not even recognizing the seat of Israel?s government in Jerusalem, the newspaper continues, ?This operation, in which eleven Israeli terrorists were killed and dozens were wounded, stems from a number of reasons...? The main reason cited, however, is in fact another Arab terrorist assault, the Hebron attack: ?[T]his operation is a consequence of a brave ambush prepared by Palestinian martyrs... in Hebron...? Another excuse for the suicide bombing provided by the Egyptian newspaper is ?the state of madness that over took the ruling Israeli gang led by Ariel Sharon, who seeks to spill more Palestinian blood, especially the blood of children, women, the elderly, and the brave people of resistance.? For the Egyptian government newspaper al-Akhbar, ?This weapon, the weapon of legitimate force, is the only weapon that Israel fears. Only the resistance can smash the Israeli arrogance and idiocy of its leaders.?
The editor of al-Gomhouriya, a daily, was positively ecstatic about the massacre of Jews in Jerusalem. He gleefully reported, ?Yesterday a 23 year-old Palestinian martyr blew himself up in a bus in Jerusalem and consequently eleven Israelis were killed, forty-seven wounded, of whom, nine are in critical condition!? The editorial column later summarizes, ?The Israelis will wake up in the morning put their victims in plastic bags, and a few hours later the Palestinians will embrace each other having pronounced the Shahada (the Islamic declaration of faith) and be on the way to carry out the most noble, precious, and honorable mission.? As for Israel, writes the al-Gomhouriya editor, ?The brave Palestinians will continue to be regarded as terrorists by the Israelis as long as they carry out martyrdom operations by which they are trying to react to a few of the crimes committed against them!? Triumphantly, the newspaper describes what it says was Jerusalem mayor Ehud Olmert?s reaction, ?looking at the remains of the bodies, [he] said, 'we deluded ourselves into believing that terrorism came to an end, but it apparently continues.'? Olmert may ?consider those who carried out this valiant, courageous operation as 'terrorists,'? the editor writes, but ?Israel is a terrorist state in its words and actions, in its appearance and ideas, and that most of its leaders are nothing but war criminals that will not be spared by the tribunal of history, even if it takes a long time.?
The larger circulation governmet daily in Egypt, Al-Ahram, while more careful in its praise for terrorism, still managed to call the Jerusalem bus bombing a ?a martyrdom operation....? The Egyptian editorialist comments on the lesson of the suicide bombing by saying, ?violence breads nothing but violence and that security measures as tight as they maybe will not prevent the bloodshed of such operations and that the only solution is the return to the negotiating table and the achievement of a peaceful solution that will satisfy both sides and will realize their legitimate claims, especially the one relating to the declaration of a new Palestinian state.?
[With special thanks to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) for providing the English texts.]