Meet England's Helen Thomas: Patrick Seale
By Moshe Phillips - February 18, 2011
Patrick Seale is a columnist that is not at all well known in the U.S. At
least not yet that is, however that may soon change. His criticism of
America and Israel is a main theme that pervades his columns and is so
intense that it must be labeled perverse. His work has long appeared in
daily newspapers in London and in the English language press in the Arab
world.
Criticism of Israeli policy is of course one thing in of itself and it no
doubt has its place. Seale, however, has long ago left genuine criticism
behind and engages in lies about Israeli history and government policy and
dark innuendo about Zionist schemes to control world affairs. His language
is highly charged and his voice is shrill. In short, he is the British Helen
Thomas.
Seale is a leading example of a particular variety of Israel basher /
Arabist that is found in England. These haters have thrived there in the
media and in the foreign service for generations. They are closely related
to the American of the species who inhabit Foggy Bottom and newspaper
editorial offices. European media elites and other post-modern leftists
enjoy participating in Israel bashing to be sure, but the British enthusiast
can be particularly nasty. No doubt this is due in part to the humiliation
that developed when the Irgun and Stern Group militias sent the Brits
packing from the Holy Land for good.
Seale's screeds have been given little play in the U.S. by the mainstream
media. This is due in no small part to the fact that he's not a very good
writer and also in all likelihood because he has a total inability to ever
exhibit anything close to an objective viewpoint.
Several years ago the *Metro* daily free commuter newspapers in Boston, New
York and Philadelphia (originally owned out of Sweden) repeatedly published
Seale's columns, giving him the largest audience he had had in the U.S. up
to that time.
Seale's February 15 *FP* article appears to be the first they have
published. So was Seale's *The future of the (de)stabilizing Israel-Egypt
peace treaty* of better quality? Hardly!
Unbelievably the thrust of what Seale has to say is that the Camp David
Accords did not lead to peace but to more violence! He complains about
"Israel's military dominance over the region" and "regional hegemony."
Seale followed up this nonsense with attacks on late Israeli Prime Minister
Begin (who he claims "out-foxed" Sadat) and Henry Kissinger (who he
incredibly states was "committed to protecting Israel"). The only villains
Seale sees are Jews.
The list of Seale's inaccuracies in the piece is a long one. A typical
example of Seale's insanity is his portrayal of Israel's 1981 raid on Iraq's
nuclear reactor as somehow linked to Camp David. Seale would prefer a Middle
East where Saddam Hussein was still in power in Baghdad and Iraq was a
nuclear power.
Patrick Seale's common sense is blinded by his intense hostility towards
Zionism and Israel. The question that remains is what in the world happened
to the common sense of the editors at *FP* who decided to open up their publication to a hater like him.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Jewish Eye.
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