Pages

Tuesday, October 07, 2014

B'Tselem researcher denies and deflects his Holocaust denial

B'Tselem researcher Atef Abu Roub posted a rambling, incoherent denial of his calling the Holocaust a lie on his Facebook page in Arabic - even after B'Tselem finally admits it on its English Facebook page.

First he states unequivocally that the Holocaust is an undeniable fact, and that he is absolutely against the killing of any civilians, ever.

He then says that the undercover journalist Tuvia Tenenbom "exceeded all journalistic rules" by being an undercover reporter and gaining his trust. He whines that he acted as his translator, without charge.

Aroub then claims that he never knew what the English word Holocaust meant, which is funny because the word wasn't mentioned in the video.

Aroub also says that in the atmosphere of joking that was throughout the interview, is it even possible that he would joke about the Holocaust?

He then goes on to say that Tenenbom's use of material during the many hours they spent together is a betrayal, but at the same time he says that Tenenbom acted inappropriately with one of the Bedouin families he visited.

Aroub defends himself in Arabic only. If he would try to make these claims in English he would look even more ludicrous than he does already.

Here's my transcript of the video:

Interviewee through translator Abu Roub: ...That you support the Jewish state.

"Toby": Why? Why do you think so?

Abu Roub: Not you personally.

Interviewee through translator The Germans pay for the Jews, while they say that Hitler killed millions of those Jews.

Interviewee through translator Abu Roub: Because you pay money, you support....

"Toby": Ah, because we are Germans, we support the Jews.

Abu Aroub: Yes.

"Toby": But ask him if he remembers that we also killed them.

Abu Aroub (without asking interviewee):  (Laughs) It's a lie. I don't believe it...Sometimes they kill tens of people (unintelligible) - they are resistance. Now there is strong media, and they are lying.

Now that we've determined that B'Tselem hires researchers who are quite at ease with lying through their teeth, what does this say about B'Tselem's research methodology?

We already know that it is a joke, but this proves that at least one of their researchers has no compunction about making things up.





Lilac Sigan posted a video from 1 October to her Timeline — with Sarit Michaeli.
(h/t Bob Knot)