The Florida Times Daily (www.timesdaily.com) reports that the Arab Network Al-Jazeera television had to pay four Kuwaiti lawyers for deeply insulting them in calling them "Jews":

A Kuwaiti court has ordered Al-Jazeera television to pay $16,670 in damages to four Kuwaiti lawyers who sued it for slandering their country. [...]

In an episode aired Feb. 5, a guest on the live talk show, Sayyed al-Nassar, described Kuwaitis as "the Jews of the Arabs." The term "Jew" is considered derogatory to some people in the Arab world.

This is one more proof of the racism that runs in Arab/Muslim society, where "Jew" is a derogatory and offensive term. Al-Jazeera and the ones involved in this despicable episode don't even realize how racist they are - the Al-Jazeera spokesman doesn't critize the fact that "Jew" is an insulting term in the Arab world, he criticizes the fact that the guest used the insulting language ("Jew") and the judge made Al-Jazeera responsible.

Many of the Arab/Muslims of today are the new Nazis, attacking Jews wherever they are and continuously defining the Jewish people as "sub-human". These people make me sick.

I copy the full article below - thanks to the Wall Strret Journal Best of the Web for the link.

Al-Jazeera Ordered to Pay Damages
Associated Press Writer, By DIANA ELIAS, November 13. 2002 3:18AM
http://www.timesdaily.com/apps/pbcs.dll/
article?Date=20021113&Category=
API&ArtNo=211130616&Ref=AR

KUWAIT CITY (AP) - A Kuwaiti court has ordered Al-Jazeera television to pay $16,670 in damages to four Kuwaiti lawyers who sued it for slandering their country.

By Kuwaiti law, the plaintiffs may sue for more compensation after Tuesday's ruling, and one of the attorneys said they would ask for another $66,600 in damages.

Al-Jazeera, the Arab world's most popular station, contested the action, even though the government closed its editorial offices in Kuwait earlier this month, saying its reporting was "not objective."

Al-Jazeera's attorney, Mishal al-Namesh, said the Qatari-based satellite channel would "most probably" appeal Tuesday's ruling.

Although widely respected in the Arab world for its independence, many Kuwaitis view Al-Jazeera as biased toward Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, whose forces invaded this small state in 1990.

One of the plaintiffs, Mohammed Taleb, told The Associated Press that the lawsuit named the chief executive officer of Al-Jazeera, Sheik Hamad bin Thamer Al Thani, and the host of the "Opposite Direction" program, Faisal al-Qassem.

The closure of Al-Jazeera's office might complicate the execution of the court order, but Taleb said the plaintiffs were willing to pursue the matter through legal channels in Qatar.

In an episode aired Feb. 5, a guest on the live talk show, Sayyed al-Nassar, described Kuwaitis as "the Jews of the Arabs." The term "Jew" is considered derogatory to some people in the Arab world.

The show was discussing reconciliation between Kuwait and Iraq.

Al-Nassar, who is an Egyptian researcher, also said Kuwaitis had stolen Iraqi oil before the Iraqi invasion and that their country was no more than a "thorn in the side of Arabs" and a "transit station for foreign forces."

Taleb said Al-Jazeera should have stopped the show to avoid further insults. In fact, the host did end the show about 15 minutes early, saying he was not happy with the level of the dialogue.

Al-Jazeera attorney al-Namesh told AP that the channel behaved correctly.

"There was no mistake on Al-Jazeera's part ... it was the guest who made the mistake," al-Namesh said.

When the station reran the program the next day, it cut out some of the remarks.

Posted by David Melle
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