Soccer Dad

Does Arab News have and Ombudsman?

Tzahi Hanegbi (and the Sharon government) have been making (or publicizing) wild accusations about Israel's right wingers. Such items are picked up and used by Israel's enemies.
Arab News reports that "Islamic Bodies Warn Against Aqsa Attack". And of course we have to worry about such an attack because

The OIC was founded in 1969 following an attempt by Jews to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque by setting fire to the shrine that caused extensive damage to the building. It aims to promote international solidarity among Muslims and political, economic, and social cooperation among its member states.

There's nothing like a good blood libel to get the Muslim masses riled. But that's what this is. The fellow who set fire to the Mosque was not Jewish.

By the following day, it become apparent that a non-Jewish tourist from Australia was responsible for the blaze. On August 23, Dennis Michael Rohan was arrested for arson, suspected of starting the fire. Rohan was an Australian Protestant follower of an evangelical sect known as the Church of God. By his own admission, Rohan hoped to hasten the coming of the Messiah by burning down the al-Aqsa Mosque. Rohan told the court that he acted as "the Lord's emissary" on divine instructions, in accordance with the Book of Zechariah, and that he had tried to destroy the al-Aqsa Mosque in order to rebuild the Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount. He was hospitalized in a mental institution, found to be insane and was later deported from Israel.

And as I recall from reading he was arrested by Israeli police.
Do you think that I should point this out to the Arab "News?"
Crossposted on Israpundit and Soccer Dad.

Posted by SoccerDad at July 28, 2004 03:14 AM | TrackBack