I read that the mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people in Oslo and a nearby island in July, 2011, has complained that the coffee served to him in prison was too cold, and that the air-conditioning system in his cell was not sufficient to moisturize the air there. This man deserves to be crucified, but Scandinavian-style justice sentenced him to 27 years in prison, or in other words, a few months for each murder he committed. And yet, Behring Breivik is complaining about his prison conditions and wants to be able to play video games, and to have more freedom of movement and so on. I understand Arab justice very well. I understand its absence, that is, to the extent at which that injustice is disguised as justice in some Arab countries. But I do not understand Western justice which favors the killer over the victim, and almost encourages more crime. If Behring Breivik was being detained in Syria, for instance, he would have been given, instead of cold coffee, a bellow that the reader knows where he would have been forced to shove it. And instead of a rubber stab-proof pen, he would have been given an electrified wire that would have made his face light his whole cell. For the benefit of the readers, I will go over several international news stories which I read on my ongoing travels throughout the week, and will overlook some of our own news stories such as the call by a Salafi Egyptian cleric for the destruction of the Sphinx , the pyramids and statues in Egypt because they are idols (by making such statements, this cleric outbid the prophet's companion Amr ibn al-Aas himself, who had conquered Egypt and saw its antiquities but did not destroy them). Or stories like Lama, the girl who was tortured to death by her father, a preacher. - Tzipi Livni, the former leader of Kadima and former prime minister of Israel, [allegedly] admitted to sleeping with Arab officials, including Palestinian leaders, and blackmailing them. I have heard many rumors that back when she worked for the Mossad in France, she had “bedded" French intelligence officers. I asked colleagues in Al-Hayat's office in Paris about this and found that they too had heard such rumors, but we had no proof that encouraged us to publish the story. Well, now she is [allegedly] boasting this publically. I would not be surprised, because Israeli history is full of prostitutes and harlots, and Livni is like Rahab or Bathsheba. In the end, the Israeli government itself is nothing more than a political prostitution ring. - Further to the above, there are news in the English-language press that I will tackle very briefly, before moving on to what may be more useful. The late British TV star Jimmy Saville is now being accused of having committed sexual offenses. There was also a scandal involving the Bryn Estyn care home in Wales, where children were sexually abused. BBC 2's program Newsnight, meanwhile, shed light on an even bigger scandal involving senior figures in the British Conservative Party. During a live television program, ITV presenter Phillip Schofield presented Prime Minister David Cameron with a list of Tory pedophiles alleged in reports published online to be involved in the sex scandal in question. Lord McAlpine, a billionaire and one of the most prominent leaders of the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher, was named by mistake. As a result, he decided to bring cases of slander and libel that will break the back of those who made the allegations about him, both financially and professionally. Journalism is not rocket science or nuclear physics. Its two main pillars are facts and opinions. Facts must be correct, while opinions are sacred rights for those who express them. Every Arab writer, be it a journalist, novelist or a thinker, must have no doubt gotten some facts wrong. I was once accused of taking certain stances, although it is not my habit to take positions of principle – although I am indeed in support of an Iranian nuclear weapons program, support Hezbollah against Israel, and oppose arming the opposition in Syria for fear that the killing may increase. In other words, I am against the three most important declared positions of the majority of Arab countries. The writer who accused me could have expressed an opinion against all what I write, which is his right, or could have found in my writings a hundred flaws or more, because no one is infallible. Instead, he chose to attack me by [making allegations] about positions I publically declared. I conclude with the U.S. television series Homeland. This show is based on an Israeli series, written by two screenwriters including an Israeli named Gideon Raff. The show thus filmed scenes that were supposed to take place in Beirut's southern suburb in Tel Aviv and West Jerusalem instead, and shirts with Hebrew writings on them supporting an Israeli football team were seen, along with known landmarks in occupied Jaffa and elsewhere. I hope the Lebanese government will sue the producers of the show like it has threatened to do, because it is crude Israeli propaganda and not a television work. [email protected]
