Three Americans Arrested in Iran are Jewish

joeblow · August 06, 2009, 05:51:24 AM

Three Americans Arrested in Iran are Jewish

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/ ... spx/169011

Reported: 22:56 PM - Aug/04/09
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(IsraelNN.com) The three Americans who were arrested in Iran last week are Jewish. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Monday that the U.S. is concerned about the current status of the three. Their whereabouts are not currently known.

Kurdish authorities identified the three Americans as Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd, and Joshua Fattal. All three are journalists, and were arrested after crossing the border from Iraq to Iran.

3 Americans arrested in Iran - Extreme Zionists or backpackers?

http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1105196.html

By Natasha Mozgovaya, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Israel news, Americans, Iran

Israel may not be the only country where efforts to secure the release of a kidnapped citizen affect government policy. Just as former U.S. President Bill Clinton was in North Korea in a bid to negotiate the release of two American journalists, a similar series of events was taking shape in Iran.

Several days ago, Iran arrested three Americans who strayed across the border from Iraq on allegations they illegally entered the country, and a lawmaker said Tuesday that authorities were deciding whether they will be accused of spying.

Officials in northern Iraq's Kurdish region said Sunday that the three - Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Joshua Fattal - were tourists who inadvertently crossed into Iran on July 31 while hiking in the region. Friends and family say the three were adventurous travelers who accidentally stumbled into the wrong place at the wrong time.
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On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters that the U.S. was "worried" and called on the Iranian government to provide updates regarding the status of the three backpackers.

However, two days ago, when the Kurds gave Iran details regarding the three, things got complicated. An Iranian television channel reported that the three were not backpackers, but rather "Jewish reporters" ? and even called one of them an "extreme Zionist."

Bauer, a California resident, reportedly writes for the San Francisco Chronicle, the Christian Science Monitor, The Nation and New American Media. Shourd, Bauer's partner, writes for the Website Matador.

There was some confusion in Iran over the identity of Josh Fattal, who they confused with a man by the same name who studies in New York City.

Fattal told "Haaretz" Wednesday that he studies in the Jewish School, he's in NY and he is fine, and that he is certainly not the backpacker detained in Iran.

The Kurds said that two of them were studying Arabic in Damascus.

As devoted travelers, the three habitually wrote about Middle East issues as freelancers.

Despite U.S. President Barack Obama's repeated calls on Iran to accept his invitation for dialogue, the two nations have had no formal diplomatic relations since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Swiss diplomats, representing American interests in Tehran, have tried to gain access to the three detainees.

Deputy Secretary of State Philip Crowley said Monday that the U.S. was making every effort to understand what happened and to bring them home as quickly as possible.

Deputy State Department spokesman Robert Wood said later the same day that he had heard nothing about any charges of the three being spies, and said such reports were not credible.

Ognir · August 06, 2009, 08:37:10 AM

Let's see how the Jews spin this one, maybe they were arrested because the Iranians are anti-semites :lol:

kolnidre · August 06, 2009, 09:23:01 AM

The spin I detected from an article I read the other day wasn't very subtle, using the term "hikers" over and over, as if they were just wandering around and happened to cross into Iran.

The Kurdish region of Iraq is full of Israeli operatives, so it's no wonder Iran is sensitive about crossings from there.

Nice spin from Ha'aretz, too, using the misnomer "kidnapping" once more. Like those IOF soldiers were snatched from Israhell. No, they crossed over into Lebanese territory where they didn't belong (not that they belong in Palestine, either).

I also took a good look at the totally left-wing "ethnic media" clearinghouse Bauer is associated with, New America Media. No surprise, they are financed to the teeth with foundation funds, including the Ford Foundation and Carnegie Endowment.

abduLMaria · August 06, 2009, 09:34:02 AM

Quote from: "kolnidre"The Kurdish region of Iraq is full of Israeli operatives, so it's no wonder Iran is sensitive about crossings from there.

having been manipulated by these people, i have no sympathy for them.

let them (the 3 Jewish spies) eat depleted uranium.

kolnidre · August 06, 2009, 10:11:48 AM

Quote from: "abduLMaria"having been manipulated by these people, i have no sympathy for them.

I won't play the victim (and I'm not saying you are), but I know from personal experience and lifetime regrets of what you speak.

Not to make light of their deception and manipulation, but that reminds me of a line from the Blues Brothers movie, when Elwood says, "I know all about exploitation. I've been exploited all my life."

Travis · August 06, 2009, 05:59:01 PM

Lets see how this thing unfolds. The Jews want to whack Iran and this could just be another media ploy to further demonize the Iranians.

Ognir · August 06, 2009, 06:36:10 PM

no mention of it in the MSM
taboo subject

scorpio · August 09, 2009, 04:47:46 AM

Quote from: "Travis"Lets see how this thing unfolds. The Jews want to whack Iran and this could just be another media ploy to further demonize the Iranians.

This is my suspicion as well. We are supposed to believe that these 3 people decided
to take an innocent stroll along the Iraq/Iran boarder?
Yeah right!