Times of Oman editorial denied Holocaust; calls critics "Zionist termites"

A March 27 editorial by  Debasish Mitra, opinion editor at the Times of Oman:

World would be a better place without Israel

An otherwise masterpiece, Merchant of Venice, perhaps suffers from one blemish. In Act one scene three Shakespeare should have added one line to Antonio's speech wherein he says about Shylock: "Mark you this, Bassanio, The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. An evil soul producing holy witness, Is like a villain with a smiling cheek, A goodly apple rotten at the heart. Oh, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!" Shakespeare should have added one more line here — Hypocrisy thou art is a Jew.

And indeed, hypocrisy has always been the weapon with which Israel has bestridden the world, fooled us and misled the international community. With lies, damn lies, the zionists have screened the obvious. With chilling and appalling cynicism it has always abused humanity, defended its "institutionalised racism" and continued with its policy of expanding Jewish settlements on grabbed Arab land in complete moral turpitude delegitimising the existence of the Palestinians and their right over their ancestral land.

With hypocrisy Israel has legitimised zionism, used holocaust on the sly to subterfuge its moral and intellectual cretinism and have sought to manipulate history...

We will never accept fabrication of holocaust to legitimise zionism and occupation.

A Western blogger in Oman, who blogs about tons of topics, was offended by this obvious anti-semitism:

I see the Opinion Editor at the Times of Oman, Debashish Mitra, is continuing to spread the hate for all things Jewish at the Times of Oman in his latest piece titled, “World Would be a Better Place without Israel“. Seems that he is continuing the legacy of Times of Oman editor, Essa al Zedjali, (who recently passed away) who at one point said that Hitler was justified in his actions against the Jews! (Reported by Muscat Confidential way back in 2009) I wrote before about this rising hatred for Israel/Jews in June of 2010.

What do you think someone is implying when they say the “world would be a better place without Israel“? Does that not sound like someone who would agree with the absolute destruction of that country and its people into the sea? Is that the kind of dialogue and solution that the Opinion Editor of a major English publication in Oman should be encouraging?!

Mitra, quite literally, freaked out at this criticism:

They have been lurking in the shadows and their plan was to corrode society in Oman from within, like termites in wood works. They are the Zionist zealots who have been living like parasites in the Sultanate running blogs that, more than anything else, seek to justify the atrocities Israel has been perpetrating —sans remorse— against the humanity in general, and Palestinians in particular. These termites, nay Zionist virus, have recently been exposed, caught red-handed in their attempts to contaminate people's minds, polluting Oman's social mosaic. Their sinister design to malign Arabs and muffle voices that expose Israeli shenanigans now lie completely stripped of all camouflages.

A blog, Anti-Semitism continues at Times of Oman, is a classic example of how these Zionist zealots have been clandestinely operating in the Sultanate. The blog, oozing out malice and hatred against Arabs and Palestinians in overdose, was posted on March 30, 2013, in response to an opinion piece, World would be a better place without Israel published in Times of Oman on March 27, 2013. The blogger not only accuses Times of Oman of propagating anti-Semitism but also heaps upon the Arabs and Palestinians unspeakable insults saying: "Israel was created legally in 1948 and the few Arabs who moved to that area only after the Jews started coming to avoid the death camps of Germany refused to accept land and peace and attacked Israel from every direction. At that time (and many times to follow) Israel continued to not only survive but defended herself admirably even at 100 to 1 odds!"

That is indeed an unpardonable travesty of truth, a sinister attempt to malign the Arabs, belittle the Palestinians' struggle for independence, and deny history. The comments against and about Hamas and Palestinian Authority smack of malice and are loaded with lies worthy of challenging in any court of law. On behalf of every Arab and Palestinian, we demand an explanation from the blogger on the proclamation that Palestinians have never been a "partner for peace" in West Asia.

He goes on in this vein for another eight paragraphs. The slightest skepticism about the Palestinian Arab narrative made Mitra go off the rails.

Another Western blogger in Oman notes something funny:

The reality is this, these opinion pieces incite hatred towards a religion and insults an internationally recognized state.

Which, as it happens, breeches the 1984 Press & Publications law. Amongst many other things, the law states:

1. Newspapers are not to publish anything that is politically, culturally, or sexually offensive;
2. Newspapers are not to publish anything that ... creates hatred toward ... any ethnicity or religion;
3. Newspapers are not to publish anything that ... promotes religious extremism;
4. Newspapers are not to publish anything that ... insults other states.

Furthermore, these same requirements are stipulated in Omantels (at the behest of the TRA) terms of service which all businesses must sign and adhere to. Oops.

Oops, indeed. Although I doubt that the editorialist is the slightest bit worried about prosecution.