An open Letter to Eyad Kishawi

An  open letter to Eyad Kishawi of Al Awda


Oh,  Eyad. Eyad. Eyad.

Its obvious why you are so misguided.  You’ve never learned how to do even fundamental research.  (Or perhaps you do know and are simply maliciously  lying. That would make you evil.)

Just a few days ago, you sent out photos of dead children.   Heartbreaking. Tragic

You wrote “These children were murdered by Israel”.

Except for one thing, Eyad. They weren’t.

“Thanks to Tazpit News Agency’s investigative work, it was found that the photo had been originally published on a news site based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates called Moheet one month earlier on October 19. On the Moheet website, the photo was titled “Syria killed 122 Friday…Assad Used Cluster Bombs.”

These children were murdered in Syria, Eyad.

How many people received this email?  Hundreds?  Thousands?  Don't they deserve to know the truth?  Do I expect a retraction? No.  I do not believe you are a man of personal integrity.  I do not believe you care about the truth.

What I found even more disturbing, Eyad was this statement you made:

“These children were murdered by Israel and by extension the Zionists who support it, right here all around us.  When these Zionists go to counter protests and ignorantly carry that flag, standing across from us as we demand our right to life, they call for this horror.  “

Eyad.  This is 21st century blood libel.  You are inciting violence, not simply against the Zionists who oppose you on the street- the ones who speak truth to your lies, but to the entire Jewish community. 

You are manipulating people with lies, and inciting violence.  These are not the acts of a man of peace. These are not the acts of a man with integrity


UPDATE:
I just received this email from Eyad Kishawi. (Yes, i intend to check the provenance of the second photo as well) Its a retraction.  I'm pleasantly surprised. 

Dear Friends

I sent yesterday two photos: one had two dead children and a woman and the other had four.  As tragic as it is, the former were murdered in the Syrian civil war, resulting from a brutal regime clinging to power, a regime that had maintained a policy of avoidance with Israel while deploying fighter jets against its population.  The latter, the one of the four children, they were murdered by Israeli forces.  Humanity is universal and brutality is universal, regardless of the perpetrator.

We owe it to the Syrian people to recognize their pain as we stand with our people under seige.  A correction is due in the sea of violence.

Eyad Kishawi

The Huffington Posts' Lying Headline

The shrill headline on the Huffington Post reads:

Israel Gaza Blockade: Calories Calculated By Israelis To Force Malnutrition 

Yet that's not what the body of the article says. Not by a long shot.  In fact, its quite the opposite

The article reads:

JERUSALEM, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Israel calculated the number of calories Palestinians would need to avoid malnutrition under its blockade of the Gaza Strip, according to a study which the Supreme Court forced the government to release.

 "Avoid" malnutrition. Not "force" it.

The study, "Food Consumption in the Gaza Strip - The Red Lines", estimated the required daily calorie intake in the territory at 2,279 per person.  Apparently the  calorie calculations were based on a model formulated by Israel's Health Ministry and were  in line with average Israeli consumption.

Here's a screen shot of the deliberately misleading headline

 

The Huffington Post has a reputation for  demonizing Israel- and has spawned a  website "Huffington Post Monitor"  that exists to debunk its lies.  How long with this hateful and misleading headline remain?  Your guess is as good as mine.

UPDATE:
The answer is less than 24 hours.  As of today, a corrected headline appears, as well as this statement:

Correction: The original version of this article had a headline of "Israel Gaza Blockade: Calories Calculated By Israelis To Force Malnutrition." This version has been corrected to reflect the text.

Here's a screen shot of the new headline

Eyad Kishawi of Al Awda Deceives to Demonize Israel

Eyad Kishawi, from the local branch of the extremist organization Al Awda just sent out this email - to thousands

From: Eyad Kishawi
Sent: Saturday, March 10, 2012 10:37 PM
Subject: [Al-Awda-SF] Israeli Zionism in action-another massacre in Gaza [2 Attachments]

[Attachment(s) from Eyad Kishawi included below]

Please share and break the silence. Show how Israel murders our children and has been doing so for 64 years. Let people know what Obama and Netanyahu do to a population under siege.

End Israeli apartheid, end the occupation, end ethnic cleansing. Boycott, divest and enforce sanctions on this criminal entity.

This girl deserved a future.



Eyad, like J Street, needs to hire a fact checker. This photo was taken in 2006, and had been used fraudulently to demonize Israel before.



ATTENTION EDITORS - CAPTION CORRECTION FOR SJS01 - 05 WHICH WERE TRANSMITTED AT APPROXIMATELY 1725 GMT ON AUGUST 9, 2006. THE CAPTION INCORRECTLY STATES THE CAUSE OF DEATH. CORRECTED VERSIONS IMMEDIATELY FOLLOW THIS ADVISORY. WE ARE SORRY FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE CAUSED. REUTERS. A Palestinian man carries the body of three year-old Raja Abu Shaban, in Gaza August 9, 2006. The three-year-old girl who had been reported killed by an Israeli air strike in Gaza on Wednesday actually died of an accident, Palestinian medical workers said on Thursday. Workers at Gaza's Shifa hospital said on August 10, 2006 that the initial mistake over the cause of death appeared to have arisen because the girl's corpse was brought in at the same time as the bodies of the gunmen. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES)

Thanks Israellycool for bringing this to our attention.

We've learned today that J street can be fairly casual with truth and accuracy, but when prodded will issue a correction. Eyad Kishawi will get a copy of this post via email. Will he issue a retraction to the Al Awda email list? We'll let you know.


UPDATE:

Eyad has issued a retraction. Of sorts. He has proven that once again, reading comprehension and historical accuracy are not the hallmarks of anti-Israel activists.

He writes

Hello Friends

"I was contacted and threatened by "Zionist Warriors" claiming that Israel does not murder our children and that we send out fraudulent information on Israel. To underscore the truth, I am sending out the photo of the latest 12 year old Palestinian child recently murdered in cold blood and cleansed from the Gaza open air concentration camp. Long live Palestine. Zionist threats only make us stronger."


This is the email that Eyad claimed was "threatening".

To: "ekishawi@yahoo.com"
Sent: Sunday, March 11, 2012 9:05 PM

Eyad- you recently sent out an email showing a little girl that you represented as being killed by Israel

However, the photo you attached was from 2006, and showed a young girl that had been killed in an accident.

You wrote:

"Please share and break the silence. Show how Israel murders our children and has been doing so for 64 years. Let people know what Obama and Netanyahu do to a population under siege.

End Israeli apartheid, end the occupation, end ethnic cleansing. Boycott, divest and enforce sanctions on this criminal entity.

This girl deserved a future."

See attachments- your photo, and the original photo from Reuters in 2006 See http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1681556/posts
Reuters corrected the caption on the photo which mis-represented that the little girl's tragic death was caused by Israel.

ATTENTION EDITORS - CAPTION CORRECTION FOR SJS01 - 05 WHICH WERE TRANSMITTED AT APPROXIMATELY 1725 GMT ON AUGUST 9, 2006. THE CAPTION INCORRECTLY STATES THE CAUSE OF DEATH. CORRECTED VERSIONS IMMEDIATELY FOLLOW THIS ADVISORY. WE ARE SORRY FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE CAUSED. REUTERS. A Palestinian man carries the body of three year-old Raja Abu Shaban, in Gaza August 9, 2006. The three-year-old girl who had been reported killed by an Israeli air strike in Gaza on Wednesday actually died of an accident, Palestinian medical workers said on Thursday. Workers at Gaza's Shifa hospital said on August 10, 2006 that the initial mistake over the cause of death appeared to have arisen because the girl's corpse was brought in at the same time as the bodies of the gunmen. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES)
If you share a commitment to truth and decency, I trust you will send an email to the Al Awda list retracting the photo, and apologizing for the misinformation


Have we inspired Eyad Kishawi from San Francisco's Al Awda- Palestinian Right of return coalition to pursue truth and accuracy in reporting? Somehow, I doubt it.