Believing what you want to believe

Danny

Please note I have no evidence either way whether Vilnai used the word or not. I simply find it HIGHLY unlikely, I find it HIGHLY unlikely if he did use that the interviewer AT THE TIME didn’t pick him up on it and I further find it HIGHLY unlikely that Nidal al-Mughrabi happened to be listening to Army Radio at that exact same moment and HIGHLY unlikely that Nidal has the hebrew fluency to pick out that particular portion of the conversation. All in all, this adds to my scepticism. Add on the fact that there is not a single official announcement of this or “explanation” on any of the official Israeli websites in English or Hebrew. My guess - irrespective of Vilnai’s (non-)use of the word - that Mekel as usual for an Israeli representative, didn’t bother checking the facts and just came up with a response. I would also guess that Al-Mughrabi is either a victim of “chinese whispers” of a version of the talk translated from Hebrew to english to arabic or more likely is simply lying. What I would love is if someone somewhere has a recording of the interview. If a link can be posted I would be happy to listen, transcribe and translate. I will check back here regularly for a link if one turns up. Maybe you could ask Army radio, they must have a recording? As for the telegraph piece - this is DEFINITELY a lie. Vilnai should sue.

szeni

In the same story Con Coughlin calls Sderot a 'settlement', setting off many a Pavlovian dog negative perception by his readers of the legality of the place. In fact, Sderot is an Israeli town within internationally recognised borders. Inadvertently (?) Coughlin echoes Hamas's claim that all of Israel is a 'settlement'.

Wahida Shaheen

Surely as a spokesperson for the Israeli government, if you had to make a list of words you should NEVER use to define your country’s policy toward the Palestinians, certainly “holocaust” would be at the top. The backtracking by the Israeli ministry has also been extraordinary by trying to blame semantics. The word was no slip of the tongue as Israel’s actions have demonstrated.

Wasim Ashiq

In the words of hamlet. Doth protest too much to make it a lie. And even if we are to get lost in semantics. Israel's actions speak much louder than words.

Joshua

"Israel's actions speak much louder than words." -- But Hamas have proclaimed loudly today that they won the battle. I am not aware that well over one million Jewish dead rose up from their umarked graves at Auschwitz to proclaim they had won.

Danny

"Backtracking"??? Here is the Israeli Mofa site - http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA - please feel free to point out where the ministry has mentioned it let alone "backtracked". The ONLY source we have that the Israeli government has responded to the original Reuters article is .... Reuters. For completeness here is Army Radio - http://glz.msn.co.il/ - and the ministry of defence - http://www.mod.gov.il/. As for actions speaking louder than words, you are absolutely and completely and utterly correct without any doubt. The Holocaust ended up with 70 percent of Jews under Nazi control killed in the space of 5 years. In the space of 8 years Israel has killed less than 0.15%. Note that Jewish victims of the Holocaust - that would be the real one, not the made up one - hadn't killed at the same time the equivalent of 12,000 Germans.

Roy

'Propaganda gifts' to a well informed public shouldn't matter one way or the other. But since it is so hard to get the truth through the thick high wall of misinformation these days, one wonders if Stalin hasn't had a word with God in passing by.

szeni

I always find comments like those of Wahida Shaheed and Wazim Ashiq fascinating; they have access to Western media but chose to madden themselves with lies. Brings to mind Yehud Barak's comment about Arabs picking up any falsehood, as long as it smears Israel

Noga

What never ceases to amaze is the way some Rococo Leftist intellectuals purporting to fight antisemitism -- a racist crime grounded in defamation and malicious misrepresentation of Jews - bow down to the Hamas “interpretation”, even after being apprised of the meaning and usage of the term "shoah" in everyday Hebrew parlance. If you explain that Shoah in Hebrew parlance means disaster, you are an apologist for Likkudnik Zionism not better than Juan Cole trying to exonerate Ahmadinejad of his vow to "wipe Israel off the map of the earth". It seems too much to expect people, even thoughtful people, to be careful before pillorying someone for articulating in colloquial Hebrew what should have been translated as: The Palestinians are in danger of bringing upon themselves even a greater disaster.. Shoah means disaster, calamity. And it usually comes with its own special verb: "Le-hamit shoah", to bring upon someone or something a disaster, to wreack havoc. Hebrew speakers use it to describe a nuclear disaster (shoah garinit), an economic disaster (shoah kalkalit), among other usages. The Holocaust, when referred to by Hebrew speakers is always, always "Ha-Shoah", THE Shoah, to differentiate from any other shoah. Holocaust Memorial Day is “Yom Ha-shoah”. Seems to me that some commenters are determined to give this phrasing at this time a particularly sinister meaning.