Israel Matzav

Hamas bombs al-Arabiya office in Gaza

A bomb exploded late Monday night at the al-Arabiya office in Gaza. Al-Arabiya is a Saudi-sponsored cable television news network. Hamas has claimed responsibility.

It is widely believed that the Saudi-owned TV channel al-Arabiya was targeted over a report aired last week in which it was claimed that Palestinian Prime Minister and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh cursed God.

"Even if God sets conditions for us, we will reject this," Haniyeh was heard saying in a news footage broadcast on al-Arabiya.

Hamas officials said Haniyeh's comments were taken out of contest, claiming he was quoting a Fatah official who had made similar remarks during an interview with Hizbullah's mouthpiece al-Manar TV.

They also claimed that al-Arabiya deliberately singled out the remark to slander Haniyeh instead of airing other parts of the conversation he was having with Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar.

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Demands by the Hamas-led government that the Saudi broadcaster apologize for the report were shunned, prompting a wave of threats against al-Arabiya.

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Hamas supporters refer to al-Arabiya TV as 'al-Ibriya', meaning 'the Hebraic' in Arabic instead of 'the Arab' (channel), accusing the news channel of promoting American and Israeli interests in the Middle East.

In case you're wondering, Fatah has made similar accusations against al-Jazeera, which is seen as supporting Hamas.

I know - let's give the 'Palestinians' a state reichlet and then they will stop blowing each other up. Then they can concentrate on blowing up Jews instead....

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:02 AM