Following on from the letter's page of the New Statesman which printed a letter accusing Pilger of an error, Harry's Place's post 'Response to Pilger', wrongly accuses John Pilger of getting his facts wrong in his article 'Blair's Bombs'.
As Harry's Place curiously do not allow comments on that post, I will place my comment here.
In their post they wrongly claim that Pilger "asserted there had been no suicide bombings in Israel before Ariel Sharon became prime minister".
Whereas he actually said "There were no suicide bombers in Palestine until Ariel Sharon, an accredited war criminal sponsored by Bush and Blair, came to power".
Depending on your definition of 'came to power', I think Harry's Place are wrong to assume this means 'became PM'.
The suicide bombings started in 1994. Ariel Sharon has been in positions of power since he became Israeli Defence Secretary in 1981. This was shortly followed by a resignation 2 years later in acknowledgement of the Palestinian massacres that occurred under his instructions. This was just a short hiatus, he preceded to hold many top government jobs including Foreign Secretary before becoming PM in 2001.
I think Harry's Place owe Pilger an apology for their appalling slur on his professionalism!
This is a joke, right?
ReplyDeleteSharon was in power in 1981, suicide bombings started in 1994, to me that seems like Pilger was right and Harry's Place was wrong. It's no joke!
ReplyDeleteWhat a very strange semantic world you live in, Neil. In mine 'came to power' means... er... you know, came to power. Like when Tony Blair came to power here. Do I take it that you would say 'when Gordon Brown came to power', or perhaps 'now that John Reid is in power'? If you would, I think your colleagues in the party would look at you rather strangely.
ReplyDeletePilger got it wrong, as he so often does, because he never lets the facts get in the way of a good slur. Your desperate attempts to twist language until it coincides with what you wish were the truth are, frankly, a bit sad.
I admit the term 'came to power' is ambiguous, but it doesn't necessarily mean 'became PM' as Harry's place claims. Perhaps Harry's Place should have quoted exactly rather than saying 'became PM'.
ReplyDeletePerhaps Pilger did get it wrong on that single point if you interpret that he meant it in the way you and Harry's Place suggest, but the point he makes stands, Sharon's influence in government directly led to the suicide bombings starting.
In which case my semantics is no sadder than Harry's Place.
ReplyDelete"my semantics is" also post ironic eh Neil?
ReplyDeleteProbably too many beers you know!
ReplyDelete