An ex Student Education Officer at Sheffield University is under an incredible slur by the Daily Mail. In a democracy people are supposed to meet discuss clarify each other’s positions perhaps reach an agreement perhaps not.  Suppose an opponent wilfully misstates someone’s position then attacks them for it.  There are at least two possibilities.  They do not wish for a coherent discussion that they may lose or they wish for a nasty cheap headline.   This is from the Daily Mail.  

The full sentence was

‘If terrorism means protecting and defending my land, I am so proud to be called terrorist. What an honour for the Palestinians!’

This statement is the same structure as this one.   

“If Donald trump loves Muslims then pigs can fly.”  Only a complete idiot or someone wishing to misrepresent would conclude that the speaker believes pigs can fly.

This is one definition of terrorist

“a person who uses unlawful violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.”

The UN states that every nation and person has the legal right to defend their land. 

So a Palestinian ‘protecting and defending my land’ is not of itself a terrorist. 

The United Nations resolution 2334 tells us that the West Bank settlements are a “flagrant violation” of international law and have “no legal validity”.

So any Israeli soldier helping the illegal settlements in the West Bank is acting illegally. They clearly use violence.  It is aimed at civilians.  It is clearly a political aim.  It really does look like they satisfy this definition of terrorist.

A debate on the issue of ‘spot the terrorist’ would be interesting.

On the one side we could have the young woman who believes “‘Together we are stronger, together we will win. Together our world will be brighter and more inclusive for all of us regardless of our differences and where we come from. Regardless of our religions and backgrounds or ethnicity. We can still disagree and still love each other through disagreement.’ 

On the other we could have an Israeli soldier using violence to help destroy a home in the West bank.

Apparently The Daily mail on line has 200million visits a month.  For an organisation of this size to attack a young Moslem student, and use her photograph is beyond disgusting.  Reading this Daily Mail article reminded me of another.

 

For what it is worth I have put in a complaint to the Independent Standards Organisation under harassment, discrimination, and accuracy.