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| Middle East |
| Go ahead and ululate... |
| 2001-09-15 |
On Tuesday, the world saw video of Arabs dancing for joy in the streets of East Jerusalem, ecstatic over the devastation in the United States. Arabs later were dancing for joy in the streets of Nablus on the West Bank. But the world is not permitted to see that celebration. Why? Because the Palestinian Authority objects to dissemination of the tape. Palestinians are the focus of too much nasty publicity. Guess Yasser Arafat is worried about getting a bad image: The true Palestinian reaction conflicts with Arafat's cynical, hypocritical condemnation of the terrorist attack. A freelance cameraman, on assignment for Associated Press Television News, shot the footage of the Nablus rally. He was taken to a Palestinian security office and told that his life could not be guaranteed if the tape were made public. In other words: Air it, and you're dead. In other words, Arafat's terror-fomenting butcherhood has the right to control the international media. Like hell it does. Blackmail must be defied. The news agency must not surrender the precious right upon which the very foundations of journalism rest: free speech. America is hated because of our commitment to upholding democratic rights. Thousands of Americans senselessly perished this week because of that. Bowing to the Palestinian Authority's wishes diminishes the deaths of all those slaughtered. With rights come responsibilities. And risks. If they don't know it already, the media must accept that they are now covering a war. The journalists — print and electronic — assigned to it are war correspondents. War correspondents are, by definition, willing to risk their lives to ensure that truth does not become the first casualty. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |