General Information Staff Subscribe Donor Information Archives Syndicate Chronicle Headlines Other News articles		Weir delivers bias, bigotry in anti-Israel talk Journalist's biased claims go unchallenged Posted 11-15-2001, 11:07 by Richard Goldberg Meet Alison Weir, self-proclaimed journalist, savior of the Palestinian people and anti-Semite extraordinaire. Around 100 people had the unfortunate pleasure of hearing Weir speak on the night of Nov. 11 in Harris Hall. But this was no ordinary lecture. Weir brought shame to the journalist's trade that night as she regaled her sorrowful journey through "Palestine," witnessing the racist treatment and brutal occupation of the innocent, loving Palestinians by the Israel Defense Force. This high-tech presentation was accompanied by a slide show of photos Weir collected during her one month in Gaza and the West Bank-pictures of children on respirators, broken homes and caring families. The speech went further than just calling for an end of Israeli occupation or cutting off foreign aid to Israel. (For the record, she did suggest both.) Weir began with a brief overview of Zionism from the late 19th century until the creation of the State of Israel. Her presentation was filled with lie after lie, distortion after distortion, and propaganda after propaganda. Zionism, Weir claimed, was a movement founded by Jews who wanted to live in Palestine and forcibly remove the inhabitants of the land. False! The true origin begins with a French journalist named Theodore Herzl. He had been covering the Dreyfus Affair, in which Alfred Dreyfus, a French military officer, was framed, tried and convicted of treason because he was Jewish. Herzl understood that anti-Semitism in the world would never dissipate and the Jewish people needed a homeland-a refuge for any Jew fleeing persecution and oppression. Also, the Jewish National Fund provided the money which legally bought every piece of swamp land that the "evil Zionists" developed in Palestine. What Weir refers to as the Arab Uprising of 1929, most legitimate historians call the Hebron Massacre of 1929. On a Sabbath day in August, 67 Jewish seminary students and families were murdered in cold blood while they learned their holy texts and recited the Sabbath prayers. If that is an uprising that "caused deaths on both sides," than the Jews and the Nazis worked together during the Holocaust in some grand conspiracy. According to Weir, during World War II there was a secret "Zionist-Nazi" co-conspiracy to relocate the Jews of Europe to Palestine in an effort to flood the country with an enormous Jewish population. Words cannot describe such a dehumanizing, bigoted and ignorant statement. The Jewish Agency tried its best to evacuate as many Jews from Nazi Germany in order to save them from Gestapo beatings, ghetto liquidations, death camp gas chambers and SS firing squads. Between 1933 and 1939, when Adolph Hitler closed the borders, 350,000 Jews were evacuated to the United States and Palestine. To even suggest such a conspiracy shows a complete disregard for the millions slaughtered by Hitler, as well as a clear anti-Semitic agenda. Perhaps it would interest Ms. Weir to know that the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem was very close friends with Hitler and visited him several times throughout the war. Weir suddenly decided to cut short the history lesson "for lack of time" and skip ahead to the current Israeli barbarism in "Palestine." However, she neglected many important facts because of this shortcut. The audience deserved to learn that in 1947 the United Nations ratified a partition plan for Palestine-establishing a Jewish state, an Arab state and Jerusalem as an international city. She also forgot to mention that Israel accepted that plan, the Arabs did not and five Arab countries attacked Israel moments after David Ben-Gurion (who of course was one of the conspiracy masterminds, according to Weir) declared independence. The other issue that Weir entirely skirted was how the Palestinian refugee problem came about. Could it be that when anti-Israel Arabs refused to live as citizens under an Israeli flag and returned to their respective homelands, the Arab countries barred them from entering and instead forced them into refugee camps? Does she realize that the Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank existed from 1949-1967, before Israel won the territory in battle during the Six Day War? It's fascinating to note that the living conditions in East Jerusalem actually improved with Israeli rule-when the IDF entered the city in 1967 they found sewage in the streets and disease everywhere. Apparently these facts do not enter into the non-biased journalism that Weir practices. But even if none of that seems false or misleading, what Weir said next cannot be rationalized or excused. She claimed that in the Apartheid State of Israel today there are military checkpoints that sometimes deny Palestinians permission to pass. According to her "personal accounts," the Israeli soldiers have flashlights at night that point at you and motion you in different directions-these she referred to as "death points" because some Palestinians don't receive the right flashlight motion and are killed. The parallel that she is drawing is evil, blatantly false and a major affront to anyone who was victimized by the Holocaust. In the death camps, the Nazi guards would motion people into two lines, one line of women, children and the elderly and the other line of strong, working-age men. The first line would go through one gate leading to the concentration camp and the other line would go through a second gate leading to extermination. IDF checkpoints that ensure that no terrorist can pass from the West Bank to Israel to mass-murder innocent civilians is in no way analogous to the atrocities of the Holocaust. Only a sick, perverted mind would make such a connection. A mind like Weir's. It's not journalism to spend a month with Palestinian "victims" of Israeli brutality and not spend a month with the parents of the teenagers who were blown up at a Tel Aviv disco. It's not journalism to attend the funeral of a member of Islamic Jihad (of which she showed pictures and then referred to the black masks worn by the terrorists as ritualistic) and not grieve with the children of a 39-year-old mother ambushed and killed on a highway when coming home from work. Medill sent out an e-mail on its listserv to all students encouraging them to attend the event because Weir was labeled a journalist. For such a highly esteemed school of journalism to encourage students to attend the lecture of a poor journalist and high-quality bigot calls into question the values and principles it instills in its students. What's the matter with the Northwestern community these days? Pat Buchanan gets a candlelight vigil protest and a rabid anti-Semite like Alison Weir gets free publicity from the school. Email this Article Printer-friendly version Author Richard Goldberg [e-mail] Reader Feedback Post a comment Name E-mail address Subject   Comment ask me if you dare by Mahmoud (mshaleem@YAHOO.COM) on 05-20-2008, 13:27 As a palestinian of parents who lost their home and land by the zionist gangsters in 1948 Ms. Susan wier is speaking the truth. Israel is a rogue state that can not exit in peace. It is like a thief who steals something very valuable. The thief will make every effort to guard the bounty. How could someone make peace with a thief. NEVER! Alison Weir by Janice (jamwatro@aol.com) on 05-06-2008, 14:54 I want to make clear, to those who don't know, that Alison Weir, the journalist and activist, is NOT the Alison Weir (the historian) who writes all of the wonderful books such as The Six Wives of Henry VIII, The Children of Henry VIII, Innocent Traitor, The Lady Elizabeth, and Henry VIII, the King and His Court. There is also another Alison Weir, who just happens to be the sister-in-law of Alison Weir, the biographer/historian! Please don't confuse Alison Weir, the historian/biographer, with the other ones of the same name. Convenient lies by Irina (ira777@juno.com) on 04-08-2008, 20:37 I was highly disturbed after reading the article “US aid to Israel” published on April 4, 2008. As a ten year old girl living in Russia I knew more about Israel history then Alison Weir. I’d like to know how much bribe she took in order to write this article? While visiting Israel, did she have courage to go to Arab villages? Did she enjoy the destructions of the beautiful gardens and irrigation system by Hamas in Gaza? I’d like to know if she would have the same motivation to write about murders of Jews in Arab countries. Or she would be scared to be beheaded? Alison Weir, a true heroine by SAS (abc@123.com) on 03-13-2008, 16:28 Alison Weir is a heroine no matter what anyone says for daring to speak the truth that far too many people are afraid to speak. Alison Weir by Daisy Day (daisydozy@gmail.com) on 02-17-2008, 13:25 Alison, whom I am privileged to know well, is a wonderful woman who gives her time and personal resources to expose the bias of the US media against the Palestinian people. Her website merely demonstrates this bias, and I challenge any who accuse her of anti-semitism to refute the facts she charts. I travelled with Alison in the West Bank last summer, along with two Jewish Americans -- one a holocaust survivor -- and I can guarantee that Alison is not an anti-semite, but merely a seeker of truth. As usual, the zionist element has no defense against the truth other than claiming anti-semitism. Goldberg Review by zingadoon (iluvjews@yahoo.com) on 01-03-2008, 05:02 Keep it up goldberg and you'll turn the whole world against us. Good article...don't be intimidated by the hate! by Jacob (outtadawilderness@yahoo.com) on 12-30-2007, 22:41 No sense will sooth you hateful heinous people. Palestine has hijacked the moral highground and you all like sheep will follow the leaders into the stew pot of hatred and malice. The world does not have the sense to even reason anymore...We can't even say, Alison Weir by Valerie (vpbtulips@aol.com) on 11-18-2007, 07:18 I have just canceled an order for Weir's histories. Reading Innocent Traitor had prepared me for more scholarship, lack of bias and insight concerning the horrors of mindless religious bigotry. Apparently these attributes do not apply when it comes to her antisemitism. Where is the historian when it comes to Judiasm? Here is a brilliant mind, clouded by bias and hatred. I guess education isn't everything. Mr Goldberg by Beth Bdah (c.killingsworth@yahoo.com) on 11-08-2007, 12:39 Your history is lacking as well. Could it possibly have to with a bias on your part? What about the commandeering of private homes that is taking place in the Palestinian territories? You are what you hate, Mr. Goldberg ignorance by rachamim ben ami (rizzasrach@yahoo.com) on 11-07-2007, 10:02 Paul: For every a fter all that years of zionizm life some body talk truly by jehad (jehadnemer@yahoo.com) on 08-22-2007, 01:41 u Alison Weir and other itrested people if exerted more effort and able to coduct more sientfic studies will find more realities, Americans and westerns are far from know weir(d) and judicial-inc.biz by bill pinsky (billpinsky@yahoo.com) on 03-24-2007, 15:01 Any connection with Ms. Weir and this unabashed anti-semitic website? Nobody seems to be claiming responsibility for this filthy racist website, www.judicial-inc.biz. This website promotes the most absurd anti-semitic lies in order to stir up hatred against the Jews, Of course most of this anti-Jewish nonesense is couched as anti-Zionist journalistic exposes, which is a Weir specialty. These canards are regularly scored, Goebbels style, often to Jewish songs for effect! For example, a piece on the site entiled 'Guess What', claims that the UniBomber was Jewish ('The Uni-Bomber was A Zio-Bomber'. According to this bizaare tract Ted's parents were Jewish, never mind of course, that he is of Polish Catholic heritage andat least one of his VICTIMS was Jewish. Most of these vile productions are anonymous. However one piece which makes the outlandish claim that the IDF regularly strip searches children was credited directly to Alison Weir. Surprise, surpise. I can find no other information about this hatesite. I was wondering if anyone knows about Ms. Weir's involvement here which would certainly expose her as a Nazi. Alison's new action by alexander altman (altman56@optonline.net) on 03-06-2007, 18:06 This woman will hold gethering at 43 Hunting Ridge Road, Greenwich, CT three times: noon, 4PM, and 7 PM. She is tireless in her hate, but she must be stoped! SWAMP LAND by JOHN (DICKERSON3870@hotmail.com) on 11-23-2006, 04:05 YOU STATE: Alison Weir by Paul (paulnjmd@yahoo.com) on 11-22-2006, 16:49 Bravo, Alison Weir!!! The only bigot and racist is yourself Mr. Goldberg. Your denial of the facts that have been verified by numerous journalists, human rights organizations, NGO's, etc. is testament to the case that Alison Weir made about the suppression and grotesque distortion of the day to day reality in Palestine. The Israeli supremacist machinery continues to devastate a defenseless population. Wanton gratuitous killing, home demolitions, torture, humiliation, and racism are the sad facts that exist. Thanks to Alison Weir other Americans may get to know the truth as it actually is and not the Zionist lobby's distortion of reality. Weir vs Goldberg by H. Clifford (hcliffordws@aol.com) on 10-12-2006, 17:01 -Most of the land purchased by the Jewish National Fund was not swamp land. -Leonard Stein, Secretary of the World Zionist Org. documented meetings of Zionist officials with Nazis including Eichmann to arrange emigration of Jews to Palestine. -Israel first occupied West Bank and Gaza territory in 1948, long before the Six Day War. - What Goldberg fails to mention about the check points is that they are on Palestinian land, not at the borders which would be legitimate. The Israelis have no right to build settlements, fences, roads and check points on land that does not belong to them. Alison Weir by Michael De Orio (rmeorioNY@aol.com) on 10-06-2006, 16:10 I have no idea exactly who Alison Weir is but why is Goldberg so stupid to call a pro-Palestinian woman an anit-Semite? The Palestinians are Semites, of course, and many, if not most non-Jews throughout the worldd are disgusted by the actions of the Israelis and have every right in a free society to say as much. Why should Israel be exempt from criticism? For the $15 million+ every single day that the US taxpayers give-not loan-Israel, we own the damn country. Weir / by Fly Like a buterfly sting a bee (toll094@Aol.com) on 08-08-2006, 22:08 Weir by Richard (dteasdale@direcway.com) on 07-15-2006, 14:22 Can we all at agree on at least one issue...that there exists an overabundance of discord throughout that land we have come to know as the Middle East? Can we further agree that the root causes are many, both historical and current...and exceedingly complex? And yet further agree... that solution and resolution seem to be beyond the Powers of the currenly Powerful? Perhaps it is time we should all consider whether or not it remains in our power to change this. Perhaps when we all next visit our collect polling places we might consider doves over hawks. If we cannot bring ouselves to this, we shall remain co-conspirators to the violence and the mayhem...and the continued slaughter of the innocent.. Weir by gill K (gillkitty2000@yahoo.com) on 05-31-2006, 16:54 I too have spent time in the occupied territories and have met some decent and lovely human beings. Miss Weir abuses those very people with her one sided bias and hatred. People who do what she does and heat up wars and hatred with gross manipulations of the realities are doing more harm than good. Ms Weir is on a huge ego trip. Enjoy the voyage dear.. it's at the expense of the very people you are trying to help and who can only be helped when they reject terror Weir Delivers III by Fernando Leza (fernandoleza@gmail.com) on 05-29-2006, 14:16 I did find Goldberg's piece to be quite inaccurate regarding the historical record. And please, never stop listening to people who bring you other points of view, because I find that American Foreign Policy is usually wrong. If you want me to go visit you and tell you what i see, let me know. :-) Weil Delivers II by Fernando Leza (fernando Leza@gmail.com) on 05-29-2006, 14:13 The Israel Arab Reader edited by Laqueur and Rubin, and Righteous Victims by Benny Morris. Weir Delivers by Fernando Leza (fernandoleza@gmail.com) on 05-29-2006, 14:09 For those interested in an unbiased discussion of the historical record of Israel/Palestine, I recommend Alison Weir by D.C. Irving (dci@cheetah.net) on 02-28-2006, 20:26 So what's new? Alison Weir-voice of reason by Steven Cross (stevecr@yahoo.com) on 02-09-2006, 18:00 The truth hurts you. You can't handle Alison Weir's truth, so she must be labeled as anti-semitic. How pathetic and childish. How DARE she speak out against lovable ISREAL?!? by Steve Macklevore (Steve_Macklevore@Hotmail.co.uk) on 12-01-2005, 12:02 You've got to love it - a lone woman has the arrogance to question the morality, history and actions of the peace loving most moral country in the world - THE STATE OF ISRAEL. HOW DARE SHE!?!!! Not a word against Isreal is allowed in the United States (please don't mention freedom of speech). All critisism of Isreal comes from anti-semitic liars (don't mention Isreali peace and human rights organisations - they are actually run by and funded by Arabs - trust us) The Palestinians are blood thirsty animals (trust us on this one - they are the missing link) DON'T YOU DARE HAVE THE ARROGANCE TO QUESTION ANY OF THE ABOVE! IF YOU DO YOU ARE AN ANTI-SEMITE!!!! Never ever question the world's most moral state! Your idiotic, self-righteous article in the Northwestern News about Alison Weir by Marcia Federbush (marciaj@prodigy.net) on 06-04-2005, 22:30 I am a Jew who is horrified at Israel's "barbaric" (your word) treatment of the Palestinians. Don't you know that all the arguments you give to Weir's carefully documented talk (If Americans Knew has extremely knowledgeable writers, often Israeli professors, prepare well-researched booklets) are Jewish myths that American Jews spout, based on propaganda written by the good old Zionists -- Ben Gurion included? You -- and all members of Congress, all talk show hosts, and all current Zionists need to read. It's one of If Americans Knew's booklets, by Mazin Qumsiyeh, Ph.D., called Palestinian Refugees Right to Return and Repatriation. You can download it from the internet. It had the names and dates, for instance, of the 33 Palestinian villages massacred between 1948 and 1950, out of some 530 villages that from which Palestinians were ruthlessly forced out. Yes, our Jewish boys murdered and raped, and to this day are leaving piles of defecation in houses and stores that they destroy in Gaza and the West Bank. You need to read an unexpurgated version of Israeli revisionist history. Many Jews in Israel know about Al Nakbah, "Catastrophe," that Palestinians mourn on May 15th each year when Israeli's are celebrating the glorious founding of Israel, built with "absolute justice and moral purity." Media Bias by Fred Goldberg (fgoldberg@hotmail.com) on 05-11-2005, 09:59 You confirm exactly what she says on her website http://ifamericaknew.org/ that the media is biased towards Isreal. Shame on you for proving her right! Alison Weir by s. Hale "Dr. Dad" Shakman (SHale@DrDad.com) on 04-27-2005, 23:41 Certainly controversial. God tells the Jews to eat dung by Jews' Worst Nightmare (Xyklon-B@drivethejewsintothesea.org) on 02-18-2005, 08:00 Pope Innocent III says: "Crucifiers of Christ ought to be held in continual subjection." St. Thomas Aquinas says: "It would be licit, according to custom, to hold Jews in perpetual servitude because of their crime." "Thou shalt eat bread and cover it with the dung that comes out of a man. Thus shall the children of Israel eat their bread all filthy among the nations wither I will cast them out, saith the Lord." (Ezechiel 4:12-13) "The Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets and have persecuted us, do not please God, and they have become adversaries to all men, to fill up their sin always; for the wrath of God has come upon them to the end." (I Thessalonians 2:14-16) God tells the Jews to eat dung by Jews' Worst Nightmare (Xyklon-B@drivethejewsintothesea.org) on 02-18-2005, 07:56 Pope Innocent III says: "Crucifiers of Christ ought to be held in continual subjection." St. Thomas Aquinas says: "It would be licit, according to custom, to hold Jews in perpetual servitude because of their crime." "Thou shalt eat bread and cover it with the dung that comes out of a man. Thus shall the children of Israel eat their bread all filthy among the nations wither I will cast them out, saith the Lord." (Ezechiel 4:12-13) "The Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets and have persecuted us, do not please God, and they have become adversaries to all men, to fill up their sin always; for the wrath of God has come upon them to the end." (I Thessalonians 2:14-16) Perfididious Jews should all be shot by Jew's Worst Nightmare (Xyclon-B@drivethejewsintothesea.org) on 02-18-2005, 07:49 St. John Chrysostom, the Patriarch of Constantinople (died 406 A.D.) says: "How dare Christians have the slightest intercourse with Jews! They are lustful, rapacious, greedy, perfidious bandits: pests of the universe! Their synagogue is a house of prostitution, the domicile of the devil, as is the soul of the Jew. As a matter of fact, Jews worship the devil; their religion is a disease, their synagogue a an abyss of perdition. The rejection and dispersion of the Jews was done by the wrath of God because of His absolute abandonment of the Jews. God HATES the Jews, and on Judgement Day will say with those who sympathize with them: "Depart from Me, for you have had intercourse with my murderers!" Flee, then, from their assemblies, fly from their houses, and hold their synagogue in hatred and aversion." Retort by Boo Hoo (BooHoo@Hotmail.com) on 02-08-2005, 08:54 Humm... Instead of responding to the critic's arguments, the American Jew resorts to name calling and accuses the critic of Israel as being anti-semitic. How extraordinary. How novel. How witty. How clever. Well, no, actually. How pathetic. How unconvincing. Laughable by Kathy Ansitisis (kathyants76@canada.com) on 11-20-2003, 17:36 "Her presentation was filled with lie after lie, distortion after distortion, and propaganda after propaganda." She takes after every single Jewish reporter out there if you are going to say that. Also, remember that arabs are Semites too, andthe number one thing, Alison Weir word's will haunt you in the future because the world will realise she speaks the truth. Too bad you all are too ignorant, but time will be on her side..the truth's side. Alison is waking everyone up. You refuse to believe her and laugh at her? Laugh all you want, because it won't do any good. You know you're wrong, live with it. Weir-d Thinking.... by The Truth (kiwi@lpzq.com) on 07-01-2002, 02:15 The article was poorly written. However, the gist of it is accurate. Weir makes a living off of the University lecture circuit "gravy train", although bashing Israel is clearly a labor of love for her. She seems to be a bit loopy, perhaps the result of years of mean spirited pronouncements etching a well worn rut in her synapses. She is obsessed with the topic, to the point where she forgets herself and falls into Jew-baiting. Too much poison; not much reason. It's sad that students tuition $$ have to go toward subsidizing a hate monger, just because some students are too naive to know better, or too cynical to care. wow by Nick Carraway (PrinceleeSum@aol.com) on 12-04-2001, 00:54 Employ a copy editor, an objective reporter, or both... but do something! Comment by Harold (Cheadr@aol.com) on 11-25-2001, 14:46 Oh by the way- my last name is Peterson and I am an avid reader of the Chronicle in Jerusalem. Comment by Harold (Cheadr@aol.com) on 11-25-2001, 14:43 I am not only taken aback by the facts you present, but am impressed with the style it was composed in. This was a thorough report with no name calling of a "journalist" that obviously caused much surprise and sadness to the writer. I just wonder how such a "journalist" can be so outright biast against the most democratic country in the world. One which treats America's losses as its own. One in which men who speak outwardly against Israel is allowed to be in its government! I just hope that such a critic of Israel realizes the hypocrisy of the United States government. After repeatedly telling Israel to resrtrain against SPECIFIC terrorists, they go ahead and bomb Afghanistan, killing MANY innocent civilians. Back to top Hosting generously provided by Steadfast Networks.