Extraordinary bias

Letter in Voice of the People. The Chronicle Herald. Oct. 20, 2007

Paul Schneidereit shows, in his Oct. 16 column, an extraordinary bias. He is critical of the 2005 selection of Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, for a Nobel Prize for his efforts in preventing nuclear proliferation, suggesting the selection committee "conveniently overlooked the fact that such proliferation, involving North Korea, Pakistan and Iran, had gone on for years under the IAEA’s nose." But Mr. Schneidereit makes no mention of Israel, which refuses to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and has amassed, for decades, hundreds of nuclear weapons.

He castigates the awarding of the Nobel Prize to Yassir Arafat, calling him a terrorist. He makes no mention of the Nobel going to a number of Israel’s leaders whose indulgence in terrorism is well known. Menachem Begin’s history of terrorism against the British, Arabs, Americans and Jews is notorious. There is no mention of Yitzhak Rabin’s record in ordering the breaking of bones of Palestinian children and the demolition of thousands of homes and entire peaceful Palestinian villages, like Imwas (Emmaus), Yalu and Beit Nuba, my own hometown, and the expulsion of over 10,000 inhabitants in June 1967.

Mr. Schneidereit states that despite the Oslo accords, Palestinian attacks on Israelis never ceased. He makes no mention of the fact that Israel, under Rabin, continued its illegal expropriation of Palestinian land and the expansion of the illegal Jewish settlements, in violation of the Oslo accords that he signed.

Ismail Zayid, MD, Halifax