Al Jazeera pulls antisemitic Massad piece; Israel haters freak (UPDATE)

Last week I - and many others - criticized an absurd article by Columbia professor Joseph Massad in Al Jazeera that pretty much said Zionists were Nazis and antisemitic, while those who are against Jewish self-determination were the only people who were against antisemitism.

Petra Marquardt-B. at JPost even created a little quiz to see if people could distinguish between Massad's hate and that from neo-Nazi websites. In fact, they are literally indistinguishable.

Surprisingly, Al Jazeera pulled the article after this criticism. Some things go even too far for them!

But not far enough for the rabid haters at Electronic Intifada. They are foaming at the mouth:

In an unprecedented act of political censorship Al Jazeera English has deleted an article by noted Columbia University Professor Joseph Massad after coming under intense criticism from Zionists in recent days.

The backlash has been so intense precisely because Massad goes to the core of Israel’s claim to represent Jews and to cast its critics as anti-Semites by showing that indeed it is Israel and Zionism that partake of the same anti-Semitism that targeted European Jews.

In doing so, Massad pulls the rug from under Zionists and Israel lobbyists by demonstrating that they are the anti-Semites and taking away the most formidable weapon they wield against critics of Israel: the accusation that anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism.

By neutralizing this ideological weapon that Israel has used so effectively in the Western media to cover up its colonization of Palestine, Massad’s pro-Jewish position and strenuous attack on Zionist anti-Semitism is clearly understood by Israel lobby figures such as Goldberg as a complete obliteration of their ideological arsenal.

Yet, I showed easily how Massad's main argument, that EI considers "convincing," is simply a lie.

I'm actually surprised that Al Jazeera pulled it; I was not aware of anyone who complained to them. I'm sure some complained to Columbia for employing a professor for whom facts are mere props to be used, shaped or discarded at will.

(h/t Emet)

UPDATE: AJ put it back, then removed it, then put it back again. Nowhere could I find the slightest indication that pressure from Jewish or Zionist groups made them take it down to begin with.