Observations, articles, opinions etc. in Dutch and English. The author, Bert de Bruin (Yonathan Dror Bar-On), is a Dutch-Jewish historian, who has specialized in modern Jewish history and in the history of the Middle East, and who in 1995 emigrated from the Netherlands to Israel. In July 2008 his first book, Israel en ik - Vijftien bekende Nederlanders over hun verhouding met een zestigjarige (Israel and I - Fifteen well-known Dutchmen and -women on their relationship with a 60-year-old), was published. He also edited Een veilig Israel in een vreedzaam Midden-Oosten (A Safe Israel in a Peaceful Middle-East), which contains speeches (by Paul Bremer, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Dan Meridor, Mark Rutte, Maxime Verhagen and others) held at an international conference in the Peace Palace in The Hague in March 2010. For feedback please post a comment, or send this blog's author an email

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Could anybody please explain... (I)

Could anybody please explain to Shahira Amin that a young man who until a few hours ago was kept, for more than five years, in solitary and sunless confinement by kidnappers of the kind that is known for its throat-slashing techniques rather than for deep-rooted humanitarian values, might feel slightly intimidated and forced into being interviewed when several (comrades/colleagues/lookalikes) of those kidnappers stand behind and around him, fully armed? I felt really sorry for the Egyptian people and for Arabs worldwide when I heard that Shahira Amin is considered a symbol of free journalism and opposition to propaganda in her homecountry and in the Arab world. Just imagine what unfree journalism over there probably looks like. At least it made me appreciate anew the media in Israel, in spite of all their flaws.

Posted by Bert at 2:05 PM

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