The Warped Mirror: Claiming credit for Goldstone

Al Jazeera is currently marking the 40 year anniversary of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) with a special program and reports. One of the featured articles in this series is entitled "OIC initiated Goldstone inquiry." The article consists of an interview with the secretary-general of the OIC, who right at the outset emphasizes in response to a question about the Goldstone report:

What I would like to put on record is that the OIC was the initiator of this process. On January 3, during the attacks on Gaza, we convened the executive committee of the OIC on a ministerial level. It was decided that the OIC group in Geneva should ask the Human Rights Council to convene and consider the possibility of sending a fact-finding mission to Gaza. The OIC was instrumental in getting through this resolution and thanks to the good offices of Ms Pilay, the UN high commissioner, that she formed this fact-finding mission headed by Judge Goldstone."

That is surely a worthy achievement for an organization that owes its establishment to an incident that, for the past 40 years, has served for baseless anti-Israel incitement: According to its own website, the OIC "was established upon a decision of the historical summit which took place in Rabat, Kingdom of Morocco on 12th Rajab 1389 Hijra (25 September 1969) as a result of criminal arson of Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem."

Of course, then as now, the mosque and indeed the whole Temple Mount platform were under the authority of the Waqf, i.e. under Muslim authority; moreover, the fire was started by a mentally-ill Australian Christian tourist inside the mosque, where it was obviously the responsibility of Muslim guards to watch visitors. However, the arsonist not only managed to set a major fire, but was also allowed to escape from the mosque and it was only the efficient and professional conduct of the Israeli authorities that led to his quick arrest and prompt trial.

But of course, then as now, such facts were irrelevant. It is fascinating to read a Time magazine report from August 29, 1969 on "The Burning of Al Aqsa":

In their fury, many Moslems automatically assumed that the Al Aqsa blaze had been started deliberately - and by an Israeli. Hundreds of Arabs rushed to the still-burning mosque, threatening firemen who were trying to control the blaze and shouting 'Nasser! Nass-er!' When Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan arrived on the scene, he was jeered. An Arab mob coursed down the Via Dolorosa - the path Jesus took to the Crucifixion - shouting 'Death to Israel!'

[…] The Israelis, who have ruled Arab Jerusalem since 1967, protested their innocence, but in vain. Premier Golda Meir convoked an emergency Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem to offer help in repairing the mosque (the offer was spurned) and to appoint an investigating commission that included two Arab dignitaries […] Sheik Hilmi Al-Muh-tasib, chairman of Jerusalem's Moslem Council, quickly summoned newsmen to pointedly announce that 'a blond, freckled man dressed in khaki, who did not appear to be a Palestinian,' had been seen fleeing from the mosque just before the fire. That was all the information that Arab propagandists needed. Cairo Radio called the fire a 'premeditated crime.' Al-Fatah, the Palestinian Arab commando organization, demanded shrilly in its broadcasts: 'Moslems, what are you waiting for? The Zionists are burning down your sacred shrines. How can you face the Prophet Mohammed?' Jordan's King Hussein, whose grandfather King Abdullah was assassinated by a Palestinian Arab gunman in front of the Aqsa mosque in 1951, called for an Arab summit meeting."

From the numerous examples that document the fact that this vicious propaganda lie has survived for decades, here's one from a website named "Al-Jazeerah" (not identical with the news organization) which claims to be devoted to "Cross Cultural Understanding":

Today [August 21, 2002] is the 33rd anniversary of the burning of Al-Aqsa Mosque by Zionist thugs. On that day in 1969 Zionist aggressors set fire to Al-Aqsa […] in an attempt to destroy all Islamic landmarks in occupied Palestine. Muslims all over the world remember this horrendous crime with great anger. Zionist gangs acted with the support of Israeli occupation forces, violating all laws, rules and international resolutions that provide the holy city with special rights and special status in order to preserve all its Islamic cultural landmarks. […] The crime of setting fire to the Al-Aqsa Mosque was part of the ongoing Israeli aggressions against the mosque. Israeli occupation authorities have consistently adopted an aggressive policy toward Al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy city of Jerusalem."

And so on and so forth - an endless repetition of the baseless accusations and fabrications that four decades ago provided the motivation for the establishment of the organization that now proudly claims credit for initiating the Goldstone report. How fitting, given that the Goldstone report has been shown to be similarly lacking in substance. (See e.g. here and here - and don't miss what's being billed as the "Debate of the Year": Gold vs. Goldstone.) But aside from Goldstone, it's business as usual - so no prize for guessing what the first item is on the OIC's current newsletter, published on October 28: "OIC calls for an emergency meeting to discuss grave developments in Al-Quds"

The Organization of the Islamic Conference has called for an emergency meeting of the Executive Committee at the Ministerial Level to be held on November 1, 2009 at its headquarters in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The meeting will convene to discuss the grave developments unraveling in the occupied city of Al-Quds and the unceasing Israeli aggressions against the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Palestinians."