Who Is Marwan Barghouti?

Perhaps they were trying to be fair and balanced. After poaching pro-Israel Wall Street Journal columnist Bret Stephens, the New York Times treated its readers to a pronunciamento by a convicted Palestinian terrorist: one Marwan Barghouti.

Better yet, the Times presented Barghouti as a Palestinian leader and parliamentarian. It took a worldwide outcry for them to add a note explaining that Barghouti was in prison for having murdered Israeli Jews. If you are going to print anti-Semitic propaganda you should at least label it as such. And besides, why are the thoughts of someone who promotes the murder of Jews considered fit to print?

Last week the Times and the mainstream media flew into the highest dudgeon over Sean Spicer’s stupid remark about the Holocaust. Now, it seemed to feel that it could go back to promoting real anti-Semitism.

It’s becoming a habit on the American left.  American leftists recently glorified, Rasmea Odeh, an organizer of the recent women’s strike. It did not seem to care that she was a Palestinian terrorist convicted of murdering Jews in Jerusalem.

Now, it has another step into oblivion by giving Marwan Barghouti a platform to slander and defame Israel. If his is a legitimate voice, Israel should not waste its time negotiating with Palestinians.

The Times of Israel responded to the New York Times:

Barghouti is the former leader of the Tanzim armed wing of Fatah and the founder of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a Fatah terror group. He was convicted in an Israeli civilian court in 2004 on five counts of murder and one attempted murder, and was implicated in and held responsible for four other terror attacks. He is serving five life terms for the murders, and an additional 40 years for attempted murder.

It continued:

… Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid decried what he called The New York Times’ “intentional deception” of its readers by omitting any mention of Barghouti’s past.

“Anyone who reads the column without prior knowledge of the facts will come to the conclusion that Barghouti is a freedom fighter imprisoned for his views. Nothing is further from the truth. The missing part of the column is that Marwan Barghouti is a murderer,” he wrote.

Lapid said The New York Times had been being exploited by Barghouti. “The attempt by The New York Times ‘to be balanced’ amuses Barghouti. He understands that this sacred attempt at balance creates equal standing between murderer and murdered, terrorist and victim, lie and truth,” added Lapid.