by Scott Creighton
The more I learn about Jon Stewart, the more detestable he becomes. After years of exposing neocon propaganda, Jon Stewart is now reporting it as “news” to his liberal audience.
In the comment section of an article I wrote about Jon Stewart having multiple Bush adminstration neocons on his show to help them remake their reputations and sell their books to make more money, a reader mentioned Jon running with a story a couple of months ago about all those “evil Hamas” children’s shows. You know the ones. The story is that Hamas (described quickly by Jon Stewart as “the terrorist organization in Gaza”…. actually it’s a political party that won and election in 2005 or 2006) makes all these horrific cartoons to teach the kids in Gaza how to be evil and antisemitic (I guess that explains why the IDF had to kill so many of ‘em during Operation Cast Lead).
I decided to look the video up and I found it is even worse than I could have imagined.
I found it at Huffington Post dated 2 3 2010. It’s on a format that I don’t know how to embed on WordPress. If anyone knows, please give me a hint.
The video speaks for itself. Jon running through a couple choice ”Palestinian” cartoons that depict Jews as bloodsucking, evil, murders of Palestinian kids. One even has a Micky Mouse type character telling kids to blow themselves up for Hamas. According to Jon the characters the Palestinian kids are watching are “antisemitic caricatures” which of course would lead one to believe the Palestinian kids in Gaza are also antisemitic.
They run another clip in which the supposedly “Palestinian” cartoon shows an Israeli kid killing Palestinian kids from his roof top with an Uzi. Afterward, Jon says “What the fuck? And they wonder why this conflict is so intractable.”
This of course is to make people think the reason the conflict is unresolved is because of these “crazy” antisemitic Palestinians…. that is completely unbelievable propaganda coming from someone I had once respected.
Let me say this…
These clips are supposedly translated and released by MEMRI TV… fact is, Gaza has “two TV stations run by the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation (which is controlled by the Palestinian Authority), and no radio stations. It has four ISPs. Most Palestinian households have a radio and a TV, but there are no figures available.” (source) The Palestinian Authority is the Puppet regime who lost the election to Hamas in 2006 (or 2005?)… there is no way in HELL the Palestinian Authority would air that kind of hate filled propaganda…. and HAMAS DOESN’T HAVE A TV STATION.
You want to see the inside of the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation? Tell me if you see Micky Mouse telling anyone to blow up the jews…
So where in these photos is the program director you compared to Hitler, Mr. Stewart? Are these the Palestinian kids that are being made into antisemites?
So if the videos and cartoon arent coming from here, where are these hatefilled cartoons coming from that people like Jon Stewart are using to foster hatred and fear of the Palestinian people?
Well that’s simple… just look at the videos… they are all “translated” by MEMRI TV…. MEMRI TV is based out of Washington DC. They have many topics to discuss like how we need to go to war with Iran before they blow up Israel. Here is some information on MEMRI TV… the source of Jon Stewart’s cartoons that he used to demonize Palestinians in Gaza about a year after Operation Cast Lead…
MEMRI was co-founded in 1998 by Yigal Carmon, a former colonel in Israeli military intelligence, and another Israeli Meyrav Wurmser.
When founded in 1998, MEMRI’s staff of seven included three who had formerly served in military intelligence in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
Yigal Carmon — MEMRI’s founder and President. Carmon is fluent in Arabic. He served as Colonel in the Military Intelligence Directorate (Israel) from 1968 to 1988.
Dr. Nimrod Raphaeli is a Senior Analyst at MEMRI… He spent most of his professional career at the World Bank, and has consulted for the International Monetary Fund.
Meyrav Wurmser (co-founding Executive Director). Wurmser was one of the authors of the “Clean Break” document which proposed reshaping Israel’s “strategic environment” in the Middle East, starting with the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.
What else…
PRA considers that “MEMRI’s slogan, ‘Bridging the Language Gap Between the Middle East and the West,’ does not convey the institute’s stridently pro-Israel and anti-Arab political bias.” It further notes, that MEMRI’s founders, Wurmser and Carmon, “are both hardline pro-Israel ideologues aligned with Israel’s Likud party.
According to PRA, MEMRI’s translated articles and its commentary are routinely cited in national media outlets in the United States, including the New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times, while analyses by MEMRI staff and officers are frequently published by right-wing and neoconservative media outlets such as National Review, Fox News, Commentary, and the Weekly Standard.
Oh well, look at that. Jon Stewart is running with videos “translated” by ideologues from the Likud party AND he is helping right-wing neoconservatives here in America remake their images and sell their books.
Wow. Didn’t see that coming. anything else?
What? The videos this propaganda mill releases aren’t translated correctly? hmmm…
In 2007, CNN correspondent Atika Shubert and Arabic translators accused MEMRI of mistranslating portions of a Palestinian children’s television programme.
“Media watchdog MEMRI translates one caller as saying – quote – ‘We will annihilate the Jews,”‘ said Shubert. “But, according to several Arabic speakers used by CNN, the caller actually says ‘The Jews are killing us.”‘ [45]
Several commentators, such as CNN‘s Arabic department, have claimed that the transcript of the April 13 show (2007) provided by MEMRI contains numerous translation errors and undue emphases. Brian Whitaker, the Middle East editor for the Guardian newspaper (UK), wrote in a blog for the newspaper that in the translation of the video, showing Farfour eliciting political comments from a young girl named Sanabel, the MEMRI transcript misrepresents the segment, by attributing a sentence said by Farfour, (“I’ll shoot”), to the child, and ignoring the child’s statement (“I’m going to draw a picture”).[46]
Whitaker further criticized MEMRI’s translation. He and others commented that a statement uttered by the same child, (“We’re going to [or want to] resist”), had been given an unduly aggressive interpretation by MEMRI as (“We want to fight”). Also, where MEMRI translated the girl as saying the highly controversial remark (“We will annihilate the Jews”), Whitaker and others, including Arabic speakers used by CNN, insist that based on careful listening to the low quality video clip, the girl is variously interpreted as saying, “The Jews [will] shoot[] us”[46] or “The Jews are killing us.”[47] Other sources have also pointed out that MEMRI’s translation “I will commit martyrdom” should more accurately have been “I’ll become a martyr” – a passive statement rather than an active/aggressive threat.
They mistranslated “The Jews are killing us” to “We will annihilate the Jews”? Well, I can see how that is an easy mistake made by most Likud Party propaganda mills run by ex-Israeli Military Intelligence officers and World Bank/IMF neocons…
But what do other prominent Jewish people think about MEMRI TV…
Norman Finkelstein, in an interview with the Muslim newspaper In Focus said MEMRI ”uses the same sort of propaganda techniques as the Nazis… [I]t’s a reliable assumption that anything MEMRI translates from the Middle East is going to be unreliable
The current director of MERI TV is Steven Stalinsky.
Steven Stalinsky has been Executive Director of MEMRI for a decade. Mr. Stalinsky’s has briefed staff of the White House, State Department, Homeland Security, Justice Department, Office of Director of National Intelligence
Steven Stalinsky has an interesting past.
Under the headline “Terrorists against Bolton” the web magazine Front Page has published an article by Steven Stalinsky defending John Bolton…
Then there is Meyrav Wurmser…
Meyrav Wurmser is a central figure in the right-wing’s web of Middle East policy institutes, as is her husband, David Wurmser. According to the Hudson Institute, “Through her work at MEMRI [she] helped to educate policymakers about the Palestinian Authority two-track approach to ‘negotiating peace’ with Israel: calling for peace in the English press and with Western policymakers while inciting hatred and violence through official Arab language media.” Before joining the George W. Bush administration as a State Department policy adviser under John Bolton, her husband was an American Enterprise Institute scholar and associate of the Middle East Forum.
Meyrav Wurmser is married to David Wurmser. David Wurmser in a neocon from wayback. He was an advisor to Dick Cheney and was also appointed to aspecial intel office in the Pentagon right after 9/11 by another neocon, Douglas Feith. In one day or so he and his partner produced “a memo that suggested “hitting targets outside the Middle East in the initial offensive” or a “non-Al Qaeda target like Iraq.” In the memo, U.S. attacks in Latin America and Southeast Asia were portrayed as a way to catch terrorists off guard when they were expecting an assault on Afghanistan.[4]“
This is the source of the videos Jon Stewart used to demonize Palestinians and specifically Palestinian children trapped in Gaza.
After years of exposing neocon propaganda, Jon Stewart is now reporting it as “news”. Just thought you should know.
(thank to the commenter who gave me the heads up on this)
Filed under: How propaganda works, Jon Stewart Neocon Shill, propaganda, Revolution Muslim PsyOp Site, Scott Creighton
Get Vodpod and Post to WordPress. I tried this video and I can post it (but didn’t)
BTW: I felt he sold out long before now and wrote about.
http://buelahman.wordpress.com/2009/05/06/how-jon-stewart-went-from-hero-to-zero-to-appease-the-elite/
what gets me is that ultimately this segment he did insinuates that the KIDS are turning antisemitic… this is horrible.
Like Finkelstein says, it’s Nazi-like propaganda demonizing children for gods sake.
and it certainly sheds light on Stewart’s penchant for helping neocons remake their images….
I remember when he did that, Beulahman… I was disappointed as well.
But this is different in a way, you know? Going back on a statement he made about Truman being a war criminal is one thing… all that is important for people to understand and all…
but the kids in Palestine are still alive. And they are still being targeted according to the Goldstone report.
And what Jon Stewart is doing is helping to create an atmosphere in America that will help to make it easier for the next Operation Cast Lead….
I don’t watch Stewart anymore… did not see the ‘sick’ videos…. there are some sick people in this world..
Absolutely different. What I meant was that up until the time I posted that, I liked and respected him. To me, it was that particular show that showed us that he is owned. He was correct, but still capitulated.
He has gone down hill ever since and I don’t watch or feature him (or Colbert) any more. I once did.
Love this side, you proof “all americans are stupid” wrong !
Now, this is from 2001 , Bill Cooper – notice 4min 20sec into audio .
http://www.youtube.com/user/Marbus0#p/u/3/936XZOPn3i0
One of my favorite jokes (my own) is… “do you know the difference between a jew and an arab?” To wit, most reply “I don’t know.” I then say, “I don’t know either.” Historically they are both from the semite race and have been at each other’s throats for thousands of years. But the turning point was the Balfour agreement (& oil in the middle east) giving the zionists their “homeland” which really wasn’t theirs in the first place. It’s a documented fact that the “great migration” never took place. There’s not a shred of archeological evidence to support that bullshit. But wtf do the jews care? They’re not into reality by any longshot – just dominance, apartheid, and extreme hypocrisy/bigotry. Unfortunately most israeli’s are against their gov’s approach to the arab problem, it’s the same prob we got here with the peace movement. The elites control, all the rest of us suffer.
Great article.
thanks chris
Hi cinderman. How’s paradise?
I read a great article by Hedges the other day about sessesionist states like Vermont. He also mention yours? There’s like 20 or so of ‘em.
I’m thinking about moving to Vermont unless surf’s up… got a spare couch?
[...] “Media watchdog MEMRI translates one caller as saying – quote – ‘We will annihilate the Jews,”‘ said Shubert. “But, according to several Arabic speakers used by CNN, the caller actually says ‘The Jews are killing us.”‘ [45] [...]
It never ceases to amaze me how much people can’t see past the liking of Stewart or thinking he’s funny. They can’t see the con part of the propaganda. Thanks for what you’re doing to get people to open their eyes and be more skeptical about what gets delivered along with the entertainment.
I’m a fairly new fan of Jon Stewart and have been recording all the shows since the beginning of the year but watching on average 2 per week. I’ve managed to catch up to March and today watched the one with Bush’s former speech writer, Mark Theissen who’s pushing his new book.
This might not be the best time to say this but I watched this show with an extra-critical eye due to the ongoing furore on American Everyman about Stewart and his guest list. Stewart verbally ground Theissen under his heel, treating him with the contempt that his opinions deserved. I was pretty impressed.
I will continue watching the backlog of shows and will withhold judgement until I catch up with the one’s being discussed here. (Being in the UK, I’m not allowed to watch the linked videos.)
Jasper..
think about what Stewart accused Tucker Carlson of being in his famous “you’re hurting America” segment…
he said that what they were doing with their staged “debates” was just the same as pro-wrestling.
Stewart does the same thing. He brings these people on and coddles them for the most part but sometimes he has to “really stick it too” one of them or the other.
Think about it… if he was really out for blood or some kind of revelation that could bring indictments, do you think they would continue to show up on his show to sell their books? Most of these ex-Bushites aren’t nearly as quick witted as Stewart, they would fear an appearence on his show if he were to actually turn that intellect toward exposing them for what they really are. The only reason they keep coming on his show is they know he isn’t going to do that.
Do you think he would still have a show?
of course he playfights with one of them every now and again to build up his progressive “street cred”… but in the end, if he were actually what he pretends to be, they would dump him like MSNBC dumped Phil Donahue.
First off, the Palestinian Authority has not had any control over the Gaza Strip since Hamas took over a few years ago. It may be legitimate to say that the PA wouldn’t air something like that, but to suggest that they would have any power to stop it is simply uninformed. You say that, “HAMAS DOESN’T HAVE A TV STATION.” This is simply not true.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5186883
Secondly, Jon Stewart has a show on Comedy Central. He is a comedian. Attacking him for journalistic merit – or anything other than bad taste – is quite silly. You say, “if he was really out for blood,” “hey would fear an appearence on his show” (sic), “if he were actually what he pretends to be, they would dump him like MSNBC dumped Phil Donahue.” OK, l get that you wish he would be the progressive attack dog you feel the world needs. Heck, I wish one existed too, but the guy comes on after South Park. His background is in stand-up comedy. He was in “Half Baked.” If you’re going to make such a serious attack on a TV personality, perhaps pick someone more serious to attack.
Hey, Jon Stewart – Greg Cameron here again. I don’t know if you caught it, but I saw a frequent guest of yours – Bill Kristol – on BBC recently. You should have attended to his words. He said quite specifically he liked Bill Clinton and said Clinton tried to turn back the clock on New Deal and Great Society programs and even put an end to welfare. Kristol’s eyes were really glowing over that last one. A World Without Welfare. Yes, we need a man like Herbert Hoover again. That much is Kristol-clear. Think about it, Jon. Kristol was praising Clinton because, in effect, Clinton enacted Republican policies(and without all the muss and fuss that a direct attack on social programs, welfare, etc. by Republicans would have had). I know Clinton was popular in the entertainment set because he seemed easy-going(just how easy-going we didn’t fully appreciate at the time), good-humoured, and otherwise personable. The thing is, are you buying the car or the advertisement? Does a good cover make up for a crappy book? The yahoos hated Clinton because, so to speak, they like their whiskey straight(and they considered him a turncoat good-old-boy to boot). But Bill Kristol’s words pave the way for a conservative revisionist take on Clinton – and they’ll find much to like, rest assured. Clinton once said on your show you have no ideas of the forces you have to deal with when you’re president. He’s not my favourite person, but I think I believed him there…for once. Bill Kristol, you might remember, wanted to give some military dude a Congressional Medal of Honor or some such hunk of tin for his work waterboarding so-called terrorist suspects(anyone who had the misfortune to get caught in a web that was cast very broad indeed). I tell you, Jon – if you wanted to torture me, you’d strap me to a chair facing Bill Kristol with his trademark smile. After a half hour of that, I’d confess to any damn thing. Kristol’s smile creeps me out every time. As far as Jon supporting or not supporting the Palestinians, what do you expect? American liberalism has no soft spot for Palestinians(and the more extreme their religion becomes is not going to make it any more easy in this political climate). Anyone expecting otherwise is not being observant. In some Jewish liberal circles, a Jewish entertainer supporting the Palestinians would be the equivalent of crying three cheers for Hitler – unfair? You bet. But that’s the way it is. Oh, and by the way, Jon – I just finished reading the autobiography of a professional wrestler, Superstar Billy Graham. I thoroughly recommend this book to you, Jon. Remember a few years back when you were saying the Democrats should ‘reach out’ to the fundamentalists and ‘understand’ them, presumably in some social worker sort of way? Well, this book is an easy entry into the fundamentalist mind. Billy Superstar Graham, as orchestrated by the Greenberg dude, is surprisingly shrewd and observant for a fundamentalist and his book quite innocently captures the contradictions and the downright strangeness of the American cultural landscape. He even has an astute critical eye for the people of his own religion, not at all typical of his keep-criticism-in-house ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters.’ Even though Graham’s interest in creationism and so-called intelligent design(anyone thinking intelligent design is anything other than creationism in a cheap suit should read Graham’s thoughts on the matter – he at least has the virtue of being honest) made me groan and hope for better days, I still richly enjoyed Graham’s autobiography and I recommend it enthusiastically…especially to you, Jon. Bon appetit. I’ve probably said way more than enough. Am I taking Jon too seriously? Perhaps, but he was the de facto opposition during the years of the Bush regime. It sure the hell wasn’t the Democrats, believe me. Anyway, I’m outta here…Greg Cameron, Surrey, B.C., Canada
The Lord shall deal with satanists such as Jon Stewart.
Stewart is a Jew first & foremost. His opinions about Palestine & “Israel” are that of a Jew. In his defence, he doesn’t hide his Jewishness so this must be taken into account. I still like watching him but have to turn it off when he starts talking about the Middle East – or I might be inclined to throw my PC across the room in disgust.
[...] example: there’s the time Jon Stewart played the MEMRI TV video demonizing Palestinians, Stephen Colbert’s recent revolting sucking-up to globalist Joe Biden, [...]
[...] example: there’s the time Jon Stewart played the MEMRI TV video demonizing Palestinians, Steven Colbert’s recent revolting sucking-up to globalist Joe Biden, [...]
Last I heard Jon Stewart was a comedian, and his show was parody of actual news.
Why not spend your time criticizing real ‘news’ networks like FOX or CNN.
Jon Stewart may have his own biases or opinions, but who doesn’t; and he doesn’t claim to be a news network reporting ‘truths’. It’s like criticizing Lewis Black for using profanity.
It’s all Viacomedy, alas. I had hoped for more, but didn’t get it. As they say, he who pays the piper calls the tune. Dance, baby, dance!
It’s about shaping public opinion while making corporate money, whether it’s through fake Fox News or the real satirical news of The Daily Show.
The Daily Show trivializes and placates serious issues and events, like Mel Brooks with “Springtime for Hitler.”
It is off-color and insensitive, but some find it humorous. If you can joke about it, it can’t be that bad, but I don’t think the average Palestinian would find it funny.
While I often find Jon Stewart funny, his forays into “serious” politics are maddening. Comedians have an unfair advantage when they try to get into political discussions…they can put on their “serious” face and therefore give extra gravitas to their statements, to indicate how important their words are, and yet any time they want, they can revert to silliness and comedy in order to mock their opponents…its neither a level playing field for discussion nor a rational method of debate.
That said, your negative comments regarding MEMRI are WAY off base. First of all, MEMRI provides an invaluable service bringing the written and video content of the Arab/Muslim world to light for westerners. Prior to MEMRI this kind of information was not widely available.
MEMRI translates thousands and thousands of hours of video and thousands and thousands of pages of text from Arabic, Farsi, and other languages into English.
There is PLENTY of source material at your disposal if you want to make an argument that MEMRI–whether through neglect or intentionally–mistranslates for it’s English-speaking audience.
All of the original material available and MEMRI’s translations are available. There is absolutely nothing hidden.
The fact that the best you can do to substantively discredit their work is to quote that “several translators” disagree with parts of one of their translations is, frankly, clear demonstration that your accusations are a joke. You’re grasping at straws in an attempt to portray them in a negative light.
[And with or without MEMRI, there is plenty of substantive evidence of some of the disgusting ways in which some factions among the Palestinians indoctrinate their children to hate.]
It doesn’t matter whether MEMRI is right-wing or left-wing, started by people who are Israelis or Tongalese, people who have a perspective on the overall Arab-Israeli conflict or not. The translations are the translations and they are completely public and available for review.
Do you think MEMRI engages in frequent mistranslations on behalf of (what you believe to be) their slavish Zionist agenda? Then find a preponderance of evidence among the thousands of hours of video and thousands of pages of translations.
But until you can do that….or you can quote a trustworthy source that has done that, your criticisms of MEMRI reflect poorly on you and your obvious agenda, and not them.
I proudly donate money to MEMRI
[...] media outlets such as National Review, Fox News, Commentary, and the Weekly Standard. Jon Stewart and MEMRI TV: After years of exposing neocon propaganda, Jon Stewart is now reporting it… [...]