-Caveat Lector-

Conspiracy Theories on Space Shuttle Columbia Blame Jews, Israel for
Disaster Says Anti-Defamation League
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=669
&u=/030218/180/3awfj.html&printer=1
Tue Feb 18, 3:11 PM ET

To: National Desk

Contact: Myrna Shinbaum, 212-885-7747 or Todd Gutnick, 212-885-7755 both
of the Anti-
Defamation League

NEW YORK, Feb. 18 /U.S. Newswire/ -- In an effort to use the Space
Shuttle Columbia disaster for their own purposes, anti-Semites, Holocaust
deniers and Israel bashers are promoting warped conspiracy theories
about "Jewish" or Israeli involvement in the crash. The Anti-Defamation
League (ADL), which monitors and exposes extremism, said today that
conspiracy theories about the shuttle, "are taking on a life of their own on
the Internet."

"Even in times of tragedy for the American people, the anti-Semites and
hatemongers never let up," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director.
"As we witnessed with 9/11 and the Big Lie, the anti-Semites and the bigots
are quick to contort the facts to suit their own purposes. Conspiracy
theories about the Shuttle Columbia are taking on a life of their own on
the Internet."

Several conspiracy theorists suggest that the shuttle accident was staged
by Israel and America to distract attention from events in the Mideast.
Others suggest that Col. Ilan Ramon, the Israeli astronaut who perished on
the mission, was really a "spy" who was collecting information on Iraq.
Holocaust deniers made much of the fact that Ramon was the son of
Holocaust survivors and singled out his presence on the mission as
"evidence" of Jewish or Israeli complicity in the disaster, suggesting his
death was an intentional bid to gain sympathy for the Jewish State. Shuttle
conspiracy theories have surfaced in chat rooms, bulletin boards, e-mail
messages and on Web sites frequented by extremists and anti-Semites.

Following are examples of e-mail and Internet posts on the Columbia
accident:

How then can the Bush and Sharon administrations win support for space-
based weapons? A cynical solution is to make martyrs of an Israeli-American
space shuttle crew. Show them to be victims of outmoded technology and,
more important, obsolete thinking in NASA (news - web sites) and in
Congress about keeping space free of nuclear power and potential war-
making technologies. Is it conceivable that an American president would
deliberately sabotage the Columbia?" -- Yoichi Clark Shimatsu, Hong Kong-
based journalist, The Laissez Faire Electronic Times, Feb. 17, 2003 edition.

"Astronaut Ilon Ramon was conducting secret experiments on the Columbia
to discover new ways to beat Saddam's threat to use biological weapons
and chemical weapons against Israel. For most of his 16 days on board the
Columbia, he had been using cameras linked directly to the Israeli Space
Agency to study desert dust and wind- drifts emanating from the deserts
of Iraq. -- Anti Israel author Gordon Thomas, February 4, 2003.

"A reasonable suspicion is Col. Ramon photographed and measured the
dispersion of inert substances over the Middle East as part of a weapons
development program for the Israeli Defense Force." -- Right-wing
conspiracy e- mail list, February 4, 2003.

"The target of this event was the trinity of evil, as the shuttle carried
Americans, an Israeli, and a Hindu, the trinity of evil against Islam. This is a
message to the American people that Bush's term is nothing but a string of
curses cast upon them, and that it will lead to the exhaustion of their
resources and the elimination of the false American dream... This is a
divine message to the Israelis, saying that they are not welcome in
space." -- Abu Hamza Al- Masri, Islamic fundamentalist leader, in an
interview with Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, London, February 4, 2003.

Human beings are often muttering, "Why is God silent?" On the morning of
Feb. 1, He fairly shouted at a deaf, dumb and blind western world, which,
until then, had been content to celebrate NASA's selection of an Israeli
astronaut in the midst on the ongoing collective punishment of the
Palestinian people. ... A few people will glimpse the awful truth at the
core of the explosion, while the majority will sink deeper into the
inhibiting awe and petrifying idolatry that characterizes American
subservience toward all things Israeli, Zionist and Judaic. But God is not
mocked. Dare we say it? In this case, He would appear to be the
mocker." -- Holocaust denier David Hoffman, Feb. 2, 2003.

So...... is it even remotely possible that either the U.S. or the Israeli
government is responsible for blowing up the shuttle this morning? No
matter what happened, it's a tragedy, but it's interesting to note that it
was the one time we happened to have an Israeli astronaut aboard. -- Right
wing conspiracy e-mail list, February 1, 2003.

"Understand, the psychological warfare technicians do not even need to
publicly blame Iraq for the Columbia disaster. It will serve as a distraction
in the global press during the final weeks of war preparation in the gulf. It
will serve the dual purpose of unifying the country behind President Bush
(news - web sites) as he grandstands." - Alex Jones, Infowars Web site,
February 1, 2003.

EDITORS NOTE: Further examples are available online at www.adl.org. To
speak with an expert on anti-Semitism, contact the ADL Media Relations
Department at (212) 885-7749.

------

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading
organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that
counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.

http://www.usnewswire.com/

-0-

/© 2003 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/
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