Commentary > Letters
Israeli Arab Member Of Knesset Responds
Letter to the Editor
To the Editor:
MK Haneen Zoabi was interviewed to your newspaper by Mr. Samuel Sokol. In the interview, as it was published on March 30, 2009, Mr. Sokol distorted MK Zoabi’s viewpoints regarding nuclear armament in the Middle East.
I would like to clarify my viewpoint as follows:
1. The headline of the interview is both misleading and can by no means be concluded from my statements. On the contrary, they completely oppose my democratic positions. It seems that the journalist by putting a provocative headline produced a “nuclear” figure of me, which is absolutely false.
2. When I was asked whether I was afraid of the Iranian nuclear weapon, I answered negatively, since I believes there is no such thing. Yet, I declared that my fear is more caused by the Israeli nuclear weapon, for two reasons:
• It gives a justification for the nuclear armament and the nuclear arms race.
• There is no questions regarding the existence of the Israeli nuclear weapon.
3. I was not asked about my point of view regarding nuclear armament in general, nor was the journalist even interested to know whether I oppose or support the nuclear armament for all countries.
4. It should be noted that I’m against any kind of nuclear armament, and I find Israel responsible for some countries seeking for nuclear weapon in the region.
5. I resent and protest the falsification of my viewpoints by your journalist whom we expected to be professional and would refrain from mixing his own Zionist tendencies with his professional work.
6. I had asked Mr. Sokol to send us the interview before publishing. By ignoring our request, he caused the newspaper and himself an unpleasant situation of presenting the newspaper in unprofessional and propagandistic way.
7. Having clarified the above, I ask you to re-publish the mentioned interview in accordance with these clarifications. Alternatively, you are requested to publish a note saying that the headline of the interview was misleading and distorting of my positions.
Haneen Zoabi, Member of the Israeli Knesset
MK Haneen Zoabi was interviewed to your newspaper by Mr. Samuel Sokol. In the interview, as it was published on March 30, 2009, Mr. Sokol distorted MK Zoabi’s viewpoints regarding nuclear armament in the Middle East.
I would like to clarify my viewpoint as follows:
1. The headline of the interview is both misleading and can by no means be concluded from my statements. On the contrary, they completely oppose my democratic positions. It seems that the journalist by putting a provocative headline produced a “nuclear” figure of me, which is absolutely false.
2. When I was asked whether I was afraid of the Iranian nuclear weapon, I answered negatively, since I believes there is no such thing. Yet, I declared that my fear is more caused by the Israeli nuclear weapon, for two reasons:
• It gives a justification for the nuclear armament and the nuclear arms race.
• There is no questions regarding the existence of the Israeli nuclear weapon.
3. I was not asked about my point of view regarding nuclear armament in general, nor was the journalist even interested to know whether I oppose or support the nuclear armament for all countries.
4. It should be noted that I’m against any kind of nuclear armament, and I find Israel responsible for some countries seeking for nuclear weapon in the region.
5. I resent and protest the falsification of my viewpoints by your journalist whom we expected to be professional and would refrain from mixing his own Zionist tendencies with his professional work.
6. I had asked Mr. Sokol to send us the interview before publishing. By ignoring our request, he caused the newspaper and himself an unpleasant situation of presenting the newspaper in unprofessional and propagandistic way.
7. Having clarified the above, I ask you to re-publish the mentioned interview in accordance with these clarifications. Alternatively, you are requested to publish a note saying that the headline of the interview was misleading and distorting of my positions.
Haneen Zoabi, Member of the Israeli Knesset
Copyright © 2010 - The Bulletin