A similar post was run a while back, just to show that there is a whole range of news that never makes it into the mainstream media in Sweden. As readers know, the MSM in Sweden is very selective—they select only the items and the facts that fit their ideology. So here are a few quick items to illustrate what’s missing in Aftonbladet and its fellow mainstream media pals.
Item # 1: Here is a photo which was taken just this week. Many have heard about the building freeze in the “territories”—well, this is some new construction that popped up recently south of Jerusalem. Before anyone starts ranting about settler imperialism and how Jews are living it up at the expense of the Palestinians, let me just say that this is 100% non-frozen new Arab housing. Yes, this palatial example of Palestinian architecture is located on the eastern edge of the Arab village of Husan on the Beitar Road. Take a drive and check it out! It’s a positively eye-popping 7-story extravaganza in gleaming white stone, or as they would call it in Aftonbladet, another example of the squalid hovels of the dispossessed (no photos, please).
It’s very politically incorrect to point out that there are substantial numbers of prosperous Palestinians, but it’s true. The Foreign Policy Digest notes that:
-“While the global economic recovery remains sluggish, the economy of the Palestinian Territories is growing at a breakneck pace. In 2009, as American Gross Domestic Product (GDP) shrank by 2.6%, the West Bank’s estimated growth rate of 7% outpaced all but ten countries worldwide. Given that the West Bank’s GDP growth rate reached 9% in the first half of 2010, its economic expansion shows few signs of slowing. The strength of the economy has also led to tangible improvements in the daily lives of some Palestinians.”
In this case, “some” would refer to the owner of the house, the contractors, laborers, and suppliers of construction materials, home furnishings, appliances, and other goods to fill this luxury home.
Item # 2: Barry Rubin, director of the Global Research in International Affairs Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs reflected on the legacy of Yasser Arafat in his Jerusalem Post column this week. Not surprisingly the Swedish media did not pick up this item nor did they take the opportunity to look back at Arafat on the sixth anniversary of his death. Aftonbladet, Dagens, and Svenska Dagbladet all failed to mark the date. Rubin notes:
-“Today, the Arafat era’s lessons have been largely swept under the rug: his persistent mendacity, use of terrorism, cynical exploitation of an ‘underdog’ posture to garner sympathy and unfailing devotion to the dream of wiping Israel off the map. The placing of that last priority over creating a Palestinian state is why there is none today.”
It’s important to remember that Arafat’s popularity amongst Euro-leftists was more Euro chic than substance, remarks Rubin:
-“a British reporter who revered him admitted that Arafat didn’t have support from his people. ‘Foreign journalists,’ she recounted, ‘seemed much more excited about Mr. Arafat’s fate than anyone in Ramallah.’
“At the time of his death he was more popular in France, where almost half the population saw Arafat as a great national hero, than among his own people. In a June 2004 poll, only 23.6 percent of Palestinians named him as the leader they most trusted.”
“At the time of his death he was more popular in France, where almost half the population saw Arafat as a great national hero, than among his own people. In a June 2004 poll, only 23.6 percent of Palestinians named him as the leader they most trusted.”
Perhaps it’s time for Swedes to realize that although they find revolutionaries romantic, real life with terrorists is less than charming.
Item #3: Free speech got smacked down in the West Bank when it clashed with Islamist sensibilities, as the CP and other sources reported this week. A man from the PA town of Qalkiliya was arrested on charges of blasphemy, “illustrating a new trend by authorities in the Arab world to mine social media for evidence.”
Here is another case where life in the near-state of Palestine is much less appealing than left-wing apologists would have you believe. Although the leftist media is quick to portray alleged Israeli “occupation” as a threat to Palestinian freedom, this case vividly shows how “living free” in the PA is definitely less free than the life of Arab Israelis, who can say whatever they want against Israel.
Now, this man—who used an anonymous account at the local café may receive a “potential life prison sentence on heresy charges for ‘insulting the divine essence.’”
But there’s more:
-“Many in this conservative Muslim town say that isn't enough, and suggested he should be killed for renouncing Islam. Even family members say he should remain behind bars for life.
-"’He should be burned to death,’ said Abdul-Latif Dahoud, a 35-year-old Qalqiliya resident. The execution should take place in public ‘to be an example to others,’ he added.”
It all goes to show you, Sweden, real life is just not as simple as it looks in the pages of Aftonbladet.
By: Chanah Shapira
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