:
NARRATIVES IN THE NEWS -

A poor translation triggers hysteria -

At 2am during the Sat/Sun overnight, I came upon this mess, but decided to get some sleep before posting about it. According to breaking news reports, the Israeli Government bombed and demolished the headquarters of the Hamas-led Gaza strip after an Israeli official had issued a dire warning which became mangled by most of the International Press.

But don't be too quick to blame the Wire Services, because I then came across a commentary at The Guardian by a philosophy professor from Oxford University which seemed to suggest that the ambiguous or maladroit translation originated at Ha'aretz, an English-language Israeli newspaper.

Excerpting from that commentary by Brian Klug:

*Referring to the rocket attack on Israel launched from Gaza, Vilnai warned that "they will bring upon themselves a bigger shoah because we will use all our might to defend ourselves." [ ... ]

What was he thinking when he uttered his remark? First, who did he mean by "they" and what did he mean by "bigger"?*

Who did he mean by THEY? He meant Hamas.

What did he mean by BIGGER?

The gist of it is: he meant that Hamas was, in effect, spitting into the wind, and that when they expectoration came back upon them, they would be feeling worse from it than they did before they spit.

He was positing the presumed premise that this cult which is dedicated to destroying Israel was firing rockets at Israel for that purpose.

I didn't read the article at Ha'aretz, but if it is true that they are responsible for this gaffe which sparked an international controversy, I think it behooves Ha'aretz to issue a public apology for causing this misunderstanding.

Various media then reported that the Israeli Government was sending a signal that they were planning a genocide. Whoa! There is a vast difference between demolishing a cult's headquarters and wiping out an entire people.

Lastly, those who have been following this topic need to keep in mind that some cults are suicidal. Heaven's Gate, the Sun Temple group in Switzerland, the People's Temple and others have committed mass suicide. It is possible that Hamas may belong to this category.

...