British Blogger Sued by Hamas
Via my good friend Andrew Ian Dodge comes the news that a British blog has been sued by… Hamas. The people at Harry’s Place have the tendency to speak what’s on their minds. They’re direct, but honest.
Since Hamas likes neither directness nor honesty, Harry’s Place is now in trouble.
Here’s what happened: the Middle Eastern based news network Al Jazeera reported that a member of Hamas GB had used the words “evil Jews” in a speech. Harry’s Place obviously pointed this phrase out and, quite rightfully, seemed to have made the point that the Hamas member, Mohammed Sawalha, the President of the British Muslim Initiative, is an anti-Semite (which he most likely indeed is).
However, Al Jazeera later changed “evil Jews” into the “Jewish lobby.” In short; Sawalha - who disgraces the name Mohammed - seems to have riled against either Jews in general, or the so-called Jewish lobby. The latter, of course, is mostly used as an excuse to say all kinds of anti-Semitic things while enabling one to defend oneself against accusations of anti-Semitism nonetheless.
As the people at Harry’s Place point out, it’s a bit interesting to see that Sawalha does not object to them pointing out that he, Sawalha, isn’t just the ‘President of the British Muslim Initiative,’ but also ‘a senior activist in the clerical fascist terrorist organisation, Hamas.’ ‘The BBC report disclosed that Mr Sawalha “master minded much of Hamas’ political and military strategy” and in London “is alleged to have directed funds, both for Hamas’ armed wing, and for spreading its missionary dawah”.’
In short; Hamas Great Britain is now suing a British blogger for writing that a Hamas leader is, wait for it, anti-Semitic.
It’s a strategy used often by terrorist and extremist organizations in the West these days. They all too often use our own laws against us. Not in the pursuit of justice, but in the pursuit of an radical agenda. Justice is raped, and used as a weapon against freedom and democracy, instead of for it.
This is exactly why I don’t like censorship laws; it’s too easy for them to go haywire. This is presumably a defamation case rather than strict censorship, but they are certainly related.
However, it’s one thing to sue, it’s another thing entirely to win. I could try and sue anyone for some crazy charge, but it wouldn’t stick. Let’s hope this case gets thrown out quickly.
Yes, but the problem is that even if they don’t win, the legal expenses can be prohibitive for bloggers, who usually are not professionals raking in big advertising bucks. Just the threat of a lawsuit would be enough to force most bloggers to back off. Good for Harry that he’s standing up to this guy.