Topic: WorldNetDaily
In a May 19 WorldNetDaily article, Aaron Klein expresses his offense at the two examples President Obama cited in his Middle East speech, complaining hat Obama "compared an Israeli who died in a Hamas terrorist attack that targeted civilians to three Palestinian girls killed in an Israeli anti-terror operation in which Hamas had reportedly shot at Israeli forces from near the girls' home, drawing return fire."
But complaining about purported false equivalence wasn't enough for Klein. He also attacked the father of the dead Israeli as "far-left":
The Israeli father whose son was killed by Hamas, as referenced by Obama, was Yitzhak Frankenthal, the founder of a far-left Israeli group that blames Israeli "occupation" for Palestinian terrorism.
Frankenthal's son, Arik, was 19 years old when he was shot in a drive-by Hamas terror attack in July 1994.
The "far-left Israeli group" Klein is apparently referring to is the Arik Foundation. Contrary to Klein's claim, though, blaming Palestinian terrorism on Israeli occupation is a cherry-picked oversimplification of the foundation's views. From its website:
The Arik Institute was established to resolve the reactions of repression and denial among both the Israeli and Palestinian populations.
Among the Israeli public, these reactions are most apparent regarding the meanings of occupation. The occupation is perceived by Israel (and the world) as an unavoidable counter-measure. The perception of occupation as the worst form of terror is fundamental, yet nearly inexistent. An absurd situation has arisen as a result, whereby Israel is being perceived as the victim of the current conflict, while those that oppose Israel 's policies are labeled terrorists.
Among the Palestinian public, repression and denial is apparent in regards to empathizing Israel 's need to be assured, beyond doubt, that Palestinians are willing to live harmoniously side-by-side with Israel and that they would in fact do so - if given an independent Palestinian state.
The Arik Institute has defined three main goals that guide its activities:
- To bring Palestinians - advocates of peace and reconciliation - into the limelight of Israeli society (and possibly the global society) in an effort to promote reconciliation and peace. This is the purpose of the Joint Palestinian-Israeli Peace-Force, or J.P.I, for short.
- To arouse Israeli and global awareness regarding the tragic consequences of the occupation and the effects it has on Israeli, Palestinian and global societies. The Institute acts to achieve this goal via P.R. campaigns, educational activities and the Internet.
- To act within the Palestinian public, and promote an awareness among Palestinians regarding the psychological, security and political assurances that are necessities to the Israeli public.
The Institute does not, under any circumstances, meddle with political questions such as what the layout of the future borders should be, what is to be done with Palestinian refugees and other central issues currently highlighted by the Middle East conflict and its political discourse.
We do not deal with these issues because we are not interested in affiliating political connotations to universal values such as Peace, Tolerance or Reconciliation. We do, however, both applaud and support whichever political entity that promotes reconciliation, and that strives to achieve peace.
Klein curiously fails to mention that Arik Frankenthal was a soldier in the Israeli military at the time he was killed. Klein also describes Arik as the victim of "a drive-by Hamas terror attack"; but according to his bio on the Arik Foundation website, Arik hitched a ride in a vehicle whose occupants were "wearing Yarmulkes and speaking a fluent Hebrew" but who turned out to be members of Hamas, and "during the ensuing struggle Arik was killed by the terrorists' fire."
Klein, it seems, can't be bothered with accuracy when it comes to writing about those who conflict with his right-wing agenda.
