Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Toronto Star Puts the Most Positive Spin Possible on Two Pro-Hamas Canadians Jailed in Cairo

Those who know and love them hail their "beliefs and their professionalism," the Star headline asserts. The article goes on to depict them as saintly altruists (or altruistic saints):
Tarek Loubani fled the ravages of the Gulf War, a young refugee who landed in Canada and went on to become an emergency doctor in London, Ont.
John Greyson, originally from Nelson, B.C., is an award-winning filmmaker and a York University professor lauded as an icon of Canada’s queer community.
On Monday, both Canadians remained in an Egyptian prison days after they were arrested for reasons that remain unclear amidst ongoing strife in the politically fractious country.
In a written statement, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Lynne Yelich called for an explanation for their arrest. “We strongly believe that this is a case of two people being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” she said. 
Friends, family and colleagues described the men as passionate activists and professionals united by their concern for the plight of Palestinian...
Well, that's one way to put it. Here's another:
John Greyson really hates Israel. The man, often described as a Canadian filmmaker, is known for only two things. Documentaries about gays. And hating Israel... 
But the director of Moscow Does Not Believe in Queers will not be doing a doc, Gaza Does Not Believe in Queers. Instead as a member of Queers Against Israel, John Greyson demands that everyone join him in boycotting the only country in the Middle East that wouldn’t chop off his head.
Now the director of Uncut, You Taste American and After the Bath was arrested while waiting to cross into Gaza to make another propaganda doc.
And the war-fleeing emergency room doctor? He's "an ISM activist, a pro-terrorist group linked to several Hamas acts of terrorism." Which, on planet TorStar, is a "concern for the plight of Palestinians."

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