07-07-12 The Opinion Makers on Arafat, Shadid and Jordan TV fight

July 7, 2012. The Opinion Makers. In this episode of The Opinion Makers audio podcast, co-hosts Ray Hanania and Ali Younes discuss the death of Palestinian President Yasir Arafat. Was he murdered? The Palestinians are exhuming his body to investigate traces of Polonium 210 which two years later was determined to have been the poison used to murder a former Russian spy. Also, Hanania and Younes discuss the vicious hatred from Israelis including the column by Lenny Ben-David in the Times of Israel, and example of the kind of racist commentary that pagues Israeli discourse.

And, Hanania and Younes discuss the circumstances of the Feb. 2012 death of two-time Pulitzer Prize Winning Author Anthony Shadid. Why isn’t the mainstream American news media exploring charges that the New York Times forced Shadid to go to Syria against his will, and the cause of his death? Is it media bias against American Arabs.

And in the final segment, Hanania and Younes discuss the YouTube video of Jordanian Member of Parliament Mohammed Shawabka who while debating a political activist named Mansour Sayf al-Din Murad during a live Jordanian TV broadcast pulled out a gun. The two were discussing aspects of Jordanian politics including attitudes surrounding the uprising in Syria. Shawabka stood up and began screaming and pointing at Murad, who was sitting opposite him, while the host of the program, Mohammed Habashneh, seated in the center, desperately urged his guests to “calm down.” Shawabka threw his shoe at Murad, causing Murad to stand up and knock over the table and then Shawabka pulled out a silver pistol.

Links to stories:

Ali Younes' columns:

http://english.alarabiya.net/index/searchengine/search_en?q=ali%20younes

Ray Hanania's columns

http://www.hanania.com and http://www.RadioChicagoland.com

Ali Younes is an award winning writer and political analyst based in Washington D.C. and he writes a regular column for the Al Arabiya Arabic news channel’s English language web site at English.alarabiyah.net

Ray Hanania is an award winning columnist and radio talk show host based in Chicago. He writes for the Saudi Gazette and Creators Syndicate. Reach him on his web site at www.RadioChicagoland.com

Biography of Yasir Arafat

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasser_Arafat

Reuters story on autopsy demand on Arafat’s death

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/04/us-palestinians-arafat-israel-idUSBRE86309520120704

Lenny Ben-David’s hate column

http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/for-the-palestinians-sake-its-time-to-kill-off-arafat/

Jordanian Member of Parliament pulls gun out on Jordanian TV Show

http://www.timesofisrael.com/jordanian-mp-pulls-a-gun-on-his-critic-during-live-tv-debate/

The controversy over Anthony Shadid’s death

http://arabjournalists.blogspot.com/2012/07/controversy-over-anthony-shadids-death.html

New York Times responds to Shadid death charges

http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/06/nyt-we-did-not-pressure-anthony-shadid-127137.html