Skip to main content
Transcript for Monday, April 22, 2002, MSNBC Making Sense



KEYES: Now, one of the things that happened early on and actually led to an intensification of this conflict was the killing of 13 Israeli soldiers.



And apparently involved in that was a tactic where booby trap and suicide bomb approach was used.



I also found in an Egyptian newspaper where folks who referred to them as -- themselves as engineers, are quoted as saying that they had actually -- and I quote the article.



"We had made more than 50 booby-trapped around the camp.



We chose old and empty buildings, and the houses of men who were wanted by Israel, because we knew the soldiers would search for them.



We cut off lengths of main water pipes and packed them with explosives and nails. Then we placed them about four meters apart throughout the houses in cupboards, under sinks, in sofas."
It would seem to me that if the Palestinian fighters were using this kind of tactic, wouldn‘t that also result in a lot of devastation to the buildings?



RAHMAN: That‘s Israel's propaganda. No one will do that to his own family, Mr. Keyes. You know that.



Those people were in the camp. Most of them are police officers. They are with their families.



The Israelis attacked with hundreds of tanks, with Apache helicopters, and bombarded the refugee camp.



You have to be blind not to see those atrocities in the camp.



I have seen footages on American television, on French television, on Arab television. And what I saw is reminiscent of what the Nazis did in Europe in the Second World War.



KEYES: Well, actually, Mr. Rahman, you say that I shouldn't be able to believe that anybody would do this to their own family and all.



But the problem, I think, that exists right now for a lot of us is that, I wouldn‘t believe it if you told me folks were sending, 13-, 15- and 18-year-olds out with bombs strapped to themselves to blow up people in civilian areas and so forth.



I wouldn‘t believe any parent could send their child out to do that, but not only ...



RAHMAN: No one is sending their own children.
Egads, on the one hand you have members of the Palestinian Authority celebrating such people as martyrs, with Arafat's own wife wishing she had a son who could do such a thing, and here is a PA spokesman saying it doesn't happen. Argh! The entire transcript is a fascinating exercise in The Big Lie.



Amazingly, Rahman claimed that the story published in an Egyptian newspaper was Israeli propaganda. And there's Egypt, saying they'll go to war against Israel for a mere $100 billion....

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

John Wick: Chapter 4

No sense in playing coy, this is a great film. I’ve seen it twice and while I don’t quite love it in the way I love the first, original John Wick , it’s my #2. It’s a little overlong, has some wasted space and time, has one absolutely pointless and useless character, and generally ignores the realities of firefights, falling, getting shot, hit, etc. All that notwithstanding, it’s a great action flick, has a genuine emotional core, and is well worth your time if you’re into that sort of thing. Like I am. Summary: John Wick (Keanu Reeves), last seen saying he was fed up with the High Table, goes to war to obtain his freedom. Some of the most incredible action scenes ever filmed ensue, culminating in a very satisfactory finale and a devastating post-credit scene. The first Wick film was a surprise hit. It was a simple, straight-forward tale of vengeance told in a simple, straight-forward manner. Where it stood out was its devotion to human stunt work, on exploiting long camera shots that ...

Not the Hero We Deserve, But the Hero We Need

The Dark Knight is the best film I’ve seen in years. Not just the best “superhero” film, but the best film of any type. It’s not perfect, not quite a masterpiece, but it’s flaws are, to me, tiny and overwhelmed by the time the film ends. While relatively bloodless, it is consistently brutal, not just in what it depicts but in the themes that drive it. TDK is a film for adults, please leave the kids at home. Let’s deal with those “flaws” first, the largest being the character Rachel Dawes . In Batman Begins , I blamed Katie Holmes . Her acting was weak, to say the least, which is regrettable in that who she is and what she says and does are important to the film. Critics agreed and either for that or other reasons, Katie was replaced by Maggie Gyllenhaal , who is a better actress. Yet here she’s weak, real weak. Maybe it’s the character, not the actress, which is frustrating because Rachel is a pivotal character. The film,...

Dune Part 2 (2024)

I have come not to praise Dune but to bury it. I am in a distinct minority. So be it. To explain why, there will be some minor spoilers ahead; sorry. The short version is #NotMyDune. Summary: Picking up where Dune Part 1 left off, we find the young Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) hanging out with the Fremen. Plots to overthrow rival houses and empires ensue. Go here to see what I thought about Dune Part 1 (2021) . Overall, I found it to be technically brilliant, but lacking a human heart, an exercise in frenetic slow motion. D2 is more of the same, though with far more action. Acting-wise, everyone is doing a fine, more than adequate job. Absolutely no one or nothing stands out. The way the characters are written (adapted, actually), their back and forths and interactions, are all weak and unengaging. I generally hate when they speak. I've read the novel a ridiculous number of times, and these films are prompting me to read it again. I understand that trying to translate the n...