An article by Molly Moore at the Washington Post sympathizes mightily with Palestinian athletes training for the Olympics: High Hurdles for Palestinian Athletes On Road to Olympics. (Hat tip: scaramouche.) The article dwells on how the Israeli occupation has damaged training facilities and prevented athletes from working together; every reference to Palestinian terrorism is qualified in that by-now-familiar formulation that casts doubt on Israel’s efforts to prevent their citizens from being murdered (while still being strictly correct):

…military operations in Palestinian cities and communities, which Israeli officials say have been taken to prevent suicide bombings and other attacks, have damaged some training facilities and sports clubs. …

Although the Awisats’ community inside Jerusalem has been spared from military incursions, the large fence-and-wall complex that Israel is constructing through the West Bank, in what it says is an effort to reduce terrorism…

Now, no one could deny that it’s better for young Palestinians to train for the Olympics than to get fitted for explosive vests. But the ones responsible for the hardships these athletes must endure are the Palestinians themselves, who have turned their backs on every chance they ever had to resolve the conflicts, choosing instead a genocidal, annihilationist, and ultimately suicidal path, and forcing Israel to institute the checkpoints, roadblocks, and now the security fence.

The Washington Post is not doing the Palestinians any favors by continuing to enable their destructive behavior. This sort of writing without context produces gems like the following, that sound positive on the surface—unless you know a little more about the subject:

“I feel I am carrying extra responsibility,” said Raad, who lives in the Palestinian community of Jabal Mukaber, on the southeastern edge of Jerusalem, and is coached by his father. “If I succeed, I’m doing something positive not only for myself, but for my country.”

He paused, recognizing he has no official country. Jabbing his hands at the air almost as forcefully as he attacks the water when he swims, Raad said, “The goal is going for the championship, having the Palestinian national anthem played and everyone standing in its honor.”

Sounds heart-warming, doesn’t it? A Palestinian Rocky, excelling against all odds, a tear in his eye as his National Anthem plays and the crowd cheers.

But the Palestinian anthem, so blandly referred to by the Post as if it were a Middle Eastern Star Spangled Banner, is a perfect example of the real problem. How many national anthems can you name that sing about the joys of revenge?

My country, my country
My country, the land of my grand fathers
My country, my country
My country, my nation, the nation of eternity
With my determination, my fire and the volcano of my revenge
The longing of my blood to my land and home
I have climbed the mountains and fought the wars
I have conquered the impossible, and crossed the frontiers
My country, my country, the nation of eternity
With the resolve of the winds and the fire of the guns
And the determination of my nation in the land of struggle
Palestine is my home, Palestine is my fire, Palestine is my revenge and the land of eternal
My country, my country, the nation of eternity
I swear under the shade of the flag
To my land and nation, and the fire of pain
I will live as a guerrilla, I will go on as guerrilla, I will expire as guerrilla until I will be back
My country, my country, the nation of eternity

UPDATE: LGF reader ZBeeblebrox brings up another point about the Washington Post’s context-free writing; how can you do a piece about Palestinians at the Olympics and not even mention the mass murder perpetrated by Palestinians at the 1972 Olympics in Munich?