"Open Zion" publishes pure anti-Israel lies (updated)

"Open Zion," Peter Beinart's "commitment to debate and embrace of a Zionism that's both nuanced and heartfelt" at the Daily Beast, has once again descended into publishing baldfaced anti-Israel lies.

Anna Lekas Miller, someone with no credentials as far as I can tell ("a freelance writer in Brooklyn covering the Middle East, Arab America, feminism and activism"), rehashes the most absurd Arab rumors about the riots in the Temple Mount last week and Beinart doesn't deign to fact check any of them:

Last night, a march of extremist Israeli settlers took over the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, filling the streets with Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers enforcing a strictly “Jews only” policy on the streets of the Muslim Quarter that put the nearly 30,000 Palestinian residents of the Muslim Quarter under curfew until the march was over.

I can find no news stories about this incident, so I cannot say for certain that it is not true. But read on to see how much credibility Anna has...

This follows a week of attacks of this nature on Al-Aqsa Mosque—the third most holy site in Islam just a few meters away from the Dome of the Rock, the iconic golden crowning glory of Jerusalem.. Under normal circumstances, though anyone can enter the Muslim Quarter of the Old City, only practicing Muslims are allowed to enter the inside of Al-Aqsa Mosque. However, in recent years extremist Israeli settlers—protected by IDF soldiers or Israeli police—have stormed the mosque, claiming that it should be destroyed so that the Third Temple can be erected in its place.

As far as I know, no Jews ever enter the mosque, except for police during riots. The Jews peacefully walk in the outdoor areas of the Temple Mount that they are allowed to by Jewish law.

However, every time they do that, Arab media characterizes it as "settlers storming the Al Aqsa Mosque," and Miller simply believes them.

Recently, due to heightened tensions leading to violent clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli soldiers in the West Bank that many Israelis fear could lead to a Palestinian uprising, the attacks on the Al Aqsa Mosque compound have intensified.

Again, there have been no attacks on the mosque, except when the Arabs start rioting first.

The most recent string of attacks started on Sunday when an Israeli soldier threw a young Muslim Palestinian woman’s Qu’ran on the floor, trampling it until it was destroyed.

Never happened. This was a rumor that was started by Muslim women who were apparently blocking the Moroccan Gate to stop any non-Muslims from entering the Mount; when police tried to move them away they started going crazy - and this false rumor started. However, Miller has added a flourish of "trampling it until it was destroyed" - originally, the rumor was just that it was kicked.

A few days later on Wednesday, eight Israeli settlers accompanied by soldiers stormed the mosque, interrupting the worshippers during prayers and violently ripping off a woman’s hijab—a traditional head covering required for worship at Al-Aqsa Mosque.

As far as I can tell, this never happened either.

On Friday—International Women’s Day—dozens of Israeli policemen once again stormed the mosque as Palestinian worshippers gathered for noon prayers. According to Israeli Police Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld, Israeli police entered the mosque when Palestinians who had seen them outside the mosque threw rocks and two firebombs at them. The police then responded with teargas and stun grenades, pushing women aside and injuring one journalist, turning what would have otherwise been peaceful Friday prayers into violent clashes.

The Muslims started the violence, as always. Here's a video taken by the Muslims themselves, showing them throwing chairs and other projectiles at the police from inside their supposedly holy spot:



The article gets even worse in its characterization of the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron. Of course, Miller cannot be bothered to note that these were Jewish holy places two millennia before Mohammed was born.

In other words, Open Zion decided to publish a pack of lies, written by someone with no apparent expertise, parroting absurd rumors from the most extreme Islamist sites, without even a modicum of fact-checking or journalistic ethics.

(h/t JM)

UPDATE: Open Zion published a number of corrections, but kept a number of lies - for example, no one said the Quran was "destroyed" except Ms. Miller (even the Al aqsa Foundation just said it was "kicked"), and she kept the claims of "settlers storming the mosque".