OPINION
Page 4
The Michigan Daily 9
The real liars, hypocrites and terrorists
WITH LAST week's kidnapping of
Sheik Obeid in southern Lebanon,
the Israeli government added yet an-
other entry into its catalogue of ter-
rorist activities. The fact that Israel's
government should resort to such
tactics is certainly not surprising to
anyone familiar with its history.
Successive Israeli governments
have a long history of kidnapping
and hostage taking in order to ad-
vance its political and military ends.
The first hijacking of a civilian
plane occurred in the mid-fifties
when Israeli agents hijacked a Syrian
plane in the hopes of trading its
hostages for Israeli soldiers who had
been captured on cross border raids.
In 1955, the Israeli government
held a number of shipwrecked Syrian
sailors for several weeks in the hope
of trading them for captured soldiers.
In 1970, following a series of
plane hijackings carried out by the
Palestine Liberation Organization,,
the Israeli army rounded up 450
Palestinians living on the West
Bank. According to the New York
Times, the people rounded up were
selected either because they were
prominent members of the
Palestinian community or because
they were related to leaders in the
PLO, both attributes which made
them particularly valuable as
hostages.
More recently, the Israeli army has
held hundreds of Lebanese and thou-
sands of Palestinian civilians in bar-
barous detention centers, without fil-
ing any charges against them, with
the hope of crushing resistance to
the Israeli occupation. It is worth
noting, that even the latest kidnap-
ping effort was carried out not in
order to combat anything that may
legitimately be termed "terrorism,"
but rather to bargain for the release
of Israeli soldiers who were captured
in Lebanon.
In short, when it comes to kid-
napping and hostage taking, the
Israeli government has experience.
Although the Israeli government
has over thirty years of kidnapping
and hostage taking to its credit, it is
worthy of receiving over $1,000 per
year per person in aid from the
United States. And it is the upstarts
in Lebanon who earn universal con-
demnation for their barbarism, even
though their actions would not fill a
page in the book of Israeli terrorism.
The fact that the level of aid for
Israel can be maintained in spite of
such acts is attributable, in part, to
the incredible number of lies and dis-
tortions streaming forth from our
political leaders and the media.
Suppose the following account of
the Israeli kidnapping of Islamic
cleric Sheik Abdul Karim Obeid had
appeared in the New York Times, or
any other major US newspaper:
"Early yesterday terrorists
armed with silencer-equipped pis-
tols attacked a village in southern
Lebanon, seizing Islamic cleric
Sheik Abdul Karim Obeid from his
home there. None of his family, who
were at home during the attack,
were reported injured, although his
wife was bound and blindfolded dur-
ing the kidnapping. Bloodstains on a
mattress in the home indicated that
Obeid may have been injured."
"A neighbor of Obeid's was shot
in the head and killed when he
peered out his door during the at-
tack. Police are withholding the
victim's identity. vending notifica-
tion of next of kin."
"The terrorists quickly fled in a
helicopter awaiting them outside
the village."
"Shortly after the incident, the
Israeli government came forth and
accepted responsibility, claiming
that Obeid is a high ranking official
of the Party of God, an Islamic re-
sistance organization opposing
Israeli expansionism in the Middle
East. Informed sources believe
Obeid will be held hostage, pending
release of captured Israeli troops
held by the Party of God."
"Reaction to the attack from
other nations was swiftly forthcom-
ing. Governments throughout the
world roundly condemned it. Even
officials of the United States gov-
ernment, which is known to
bankroll Israeli terrorist opera-
tions, expressed some reservations
about the attack...."
If your newspaper presented this
account in place of the one it actu-
ally did (i.e. using terms like
"commando" and "took to Israel",
(NYT 7/28), rather than "terrorist"
and "kidnapped"), you would proba- - _ _ _ _"_"'_
bly think you were getting an inac- on the McNeil Lehrer news show for "Israel," "an Israeli cabinet mem-
curate report of the incident. Due to that Israeli commandos staged the ber" in place of "Islamic cleric," "an
the long history of media propagan- kidnapping in "hot pursuit." Two Israeli villager" substituted for "a
dizing in its reporting of the Arab- U.S. senators, Dodd of Connecticut Lebanese villager," "Libya" substi-
Israeli conflict, most people simply and Lugar of Indiana, expressed their tuted for "the United States," etc..
cannot believe that any Israeli attack agreement with the "hot pursuit" The circumstances and brutality of
against Arab civilians is essentially theory. Of course neither of the cru- the attack would be the same, only
"terrorist." sading journalist hosting the show the characters would change, yet
The mass media has established thought to question this claim. nothing about the story would prob-
the concept of "preemptive retalia- Suppose that an identical opera- ably strike the reader as out of order.
tion" to justify Israeli attacks any- tion had been carried out by an Arab The fact that the corporate media
where at any time. This time they group against Israel. Also suppose did not use such terms as "terrorist"
added a new twist- the latest kid- that the exact same news account in reporting the Obeid kidnapping
napping was committed in "hot pur- appearing above was printed with should make clear that it has a dou-
suit." Moshe Arens, Israel's ambas- "The Popular Front for the ble standard in its reporting of the
sador to the United States, explained Liberation of Palestine" substituted Arab-Israeli conflict.
No care for nurses by 'U'
0
0
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WHILE PRESIDENT Duderstadt was
eager to speak for the cause of free-
dom regarding Chinese protestors
half way around the world, he seems
far more adverse to the idea at the
University under his control. When
nurses at the University hospital
went out on strike, the response by
the University was not to investigate
their grievances, but rather to have
them forced back to work under the
judicial threat of fines and impris-
onment.
Ironically the University is forcing
the nurses back to work by claiming
that their strike threatens the care be-
ing given to hospital patients. In
fact, it is exactly the issue of quality
care that has led 1700 of the
Hospital's nurses to go out on the
strike. University Hospital is
plagued by understaffing and admin-
.+
istrators have responded by forcing
nurses to work well in excess of a
normal workweek, sometimes over
60 hours a week. This practice can-
not help but to jeopardize the quality
of care provided by the hospital.
If the University were really con-
cerned about the well being of the
patients atits hospital, it would at-
tempt to attract more nurses by of-
fering better conditions and higher
pay. It's current position of forcing
nurses to chose between either work
or jail has more in common with
slavery than the human rights that
President Duderstadt claims to be
concerned about.
Edited and managed by students of the University of Michigan
Vol. XCiX, NO. 11-S 420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
signed editorials represent a majority of the Daily's Editorial Board. All other
toons, signed articles, and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion
of the Daily.
Striking nurses have been temporarily forced back to work by the
University with a court injuction. Strikers'grievances have not yet,
been addressed by the University.