Gibbs' briefing blocks questions on honor for child-killer

[Confederate Kahanist]

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=129125



"Is the president concerned that Palestinians have just dedicated a public square to the honor and memory of Dalal Mughrabi, who in 1978 led a group which murdered one American and 38 Israel civilians – 13 of whom were children?"

This was the first of a two-part question WND's White House correspondent, Les Kinsolving, tried to ask at today's White House press briefing conducted by Robert Gibbs, with one followup question: "If the president had been in that area, as the vice president was, he would have spoken against this salute to child murderers, wouldn't he?"

But at the briefing in the White House Rose Garden, Kinsolving was not allowed by Gibbs to ask any questions at all. Neither were another 30 of the 50 reporters present.

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Among the 20 chosen by Gibbs were reporters from NBC and Fox News, recognized for 10 questions apiece; CBS and the New York Times, nine questions each; National Public Radio, CNN, MSNBC and American Urban, five each; and AP Radio and CBS Radio, four apiece.

Kinsolving has been covering the White House since the last year of the Nixon administration with press secretary Ron Ziegler. He is third in seniority.

None of the 14 White House press secretaries he has covered has, during so many press briefings, refused to allow him even one question as Gibbs has.

The New York Times reported the honor of naming a square near Ramallah after Mughrabi was put off one day from the actual 32nd anniversary of the attack because of Israeli protests and because Vice President Joe Biden Jr. was in the area to promote Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

On the morning of March 11, 1978, Mughrabi led about a dozen Palestinian militants in rubber boats to land on the coast near Tel Aviv. She reportedly led the team in killing American photographer Gail Ruben then opened fire on passing traffic and stopped a taxi to kill the occupants. The attackers then seized first one bus of tourists then a second.

When police eventually stopped the bus, now loaded with 71 hostages, a nine-hour gun battle followed. The death toll reached 39, with dozens more hurt.

In a column in the Los Angeles Times, Ron Kehrmann, Yossi Mendelevich and Yossi Zur combined to describe the event that was "honored" this week: "The terrorists tied all the men's hands to the bus seats. When Israeli security forces stopped the bus, the terrorists ran out while throwing hand grenades into the bus, setting it on fire. The men inside were burned alive.

"The three of us writing this article each have experience with Palestinian terrorists. Seven years ago this month, on March 5, 2003, our children were killed by a Palestinian suicide murderer who exploded the bomb he was carrying on a city bus in Haifa. Seventeen people, mostly children on their way home from school, were killed," the three continued. "Our children were just beginning their lives when that bomb exploded. Tal Kehrmann was 18 years old. Yuval Mendelevich was 13 1/2 . Asaf Zur was almost 17 years old.

"We don't believe people who murder children should be held up as heroes."

Fatah, in contrast, considers  Mughrabi "a courageous fighter who held a proud place in Palestinian history," the New York Times reported.

To Israelis, to honor her is to glorify terrorism, the report said.

The paper said the square, planted with greenery and flowers, is outside the headquarters for the Palestinian Authority's National Political Guidance, a body responsible for morale in the Palestinian security forces, according to the political guidance chief, Gen. Adnan Damiri.