Max Blumenthal writes:
As the new Free Gaza flotilla prepares to sail to Gaza, a suspicious video has emerged by an unknown “gay rights activist” claiming that he was rejected by the flotilla activists because of his sexuality. The anonymous activist, who had no previous online history, produced no evidence to support his claim. Within minutes, Benjamin Doherty — the man who helped expose our friend Tom MacMaster — was able to cast serious doubt on the video’s authenticity. It appeared pretty clear that the video was a pinkwashing hoax.
Since then, Doherty and I have gathered evidence suggesting that the video has links to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, or is at least being promoted through an official government hasbara operation.
Signs of Israeli desperation, I would say.
I completely missed the op-ed by Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal which was published in the Washington Post last Monday. And except for a really good interpretation of it by Lawrence Davidson, who also quotes the op-ed in full at Consortiumnews.com, I haven’t seen the op-ed dealt with anywhere among the sites that I frequent. Davidson reads it as a Saudi threat to decrease oil production an inch at a time until Washington and Israel smarten up. That could mean $5 a gallon for Americans. I.e., There will be “consequences,” Turkei says, if Washington vetoes the Palestinian bid for recognition at the UN in September.
http://consortiumnews.com/2011/06/20/saudi-oil-muscle-for-palestine/
Delia Ruhe: Thanks very much for bringing the Prince’s op-ed to our attention. If this is official Saudi policy, things just might develop in the right direction for the Palestinians. It will be interesting to closely follow events the next few months.
Who exactly did the propaganda dept. in Israel hope to influence with that video? And, did they honestly think people would be fooled by it for long ?
PS What was once surreal, and edgy, ‘far out’ theory about ‘appearance and reality’/fraud and simulacra, etc etc , from the likes of Baudrillard, is now becoming the mundane norm and the order of the day.