Wednesday, December 13, 2000

JOURNALIST (The Independent) Robert Fisk, for whose courage I have high regard, has come under increasing Jewish and Israeli attack worldwide for his fearless reporting of atrocities from the Middle East. I think he stands a good chance of being assassinated in some quiet way. To protect himself, he has today published an article in his newspaper's argument section (I download it from the Internet after somebody draws my attention to it) setting out the whole case, and reading in part:

Israeli ambassadors and Israel's lobbyists have never been such frequent visitors to European newspaper offices, to complain about reports or reporters, sometimes in a quite disgraceful manner. The Johannesburg Star - a sister paper of The Independent which carries my own Middle East reports - was confronted by one pro-Israeli group this year which claimed that I was in some way assisting the right-wing historian David Irving - someone I have never met and never wish to meet. They subsequently withdrew their allegation.

He hopes to salve his own neck by taking a swipe at me -- "getting out of a hole by trampling on someone else's face," as I call that technique. He lowers himself in my esteem for that reason.

Flailing at likeminded strangers is not a method of self-protection that I would choose, even when under pressure. I have read many of his articles, which is why I admire him; pari passu, I doubt that he has read many, if indeed any, of my books.

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