E Pluribus Unum

Marwan Barghouti, the head of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, has been indicted on murder charges for allegedly orchestrating more than three-dozen terror attacks. Barghouti's lawyers say he wants to draw attention to Israel's actions as an occupying power. The judge in the case has said he will not permit the defense to "turn this court into a political stage.'' As he was led into the courtroom Wednesday morning, Barghouti shouted in Hebrew that "the uprising will be victorious.'' When he was asked how he felt, Barghouti replied in Hebrew, "Baruch Hashem,'' or "God be praised,'' an expression commonly used by observant Jews. And if that isn't mortifying enough, I have to tell you about NPR's latest puff piece romanticizing alleged criminals like Barghouti. In its report on the indictiment, the NPR story began with the following sentence:

One of the most visible and charismatic leaders of the Palestinian uprising was indicted in an Israeli civilian court today ...

...and explained how Barghouti's popularity had soared among those on the Arab street. It then proceeded to end the report using the following word:

"hero"

Was that really necessary? But wait...it gets worse. Here's what Serge Schmemann wrote in the New York Times:

"The accused, a Ramallah resident, heads the West Bank terror organization," the indictment declared. "The accused was subordinate to Yasir Arafat, who heads the terrorist organization." What the indictment did not note was that Mr. Barghouti, 42, is also the second most popular figure among the Palestinians, after Mr. Arafat, and a man often cited as a potential successor to Mr. Arafat.

...or as James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal puts it:

What O.J. Simpson's indictment did not note is that he won a Heisman Trophy in 1968.

BTW, did you know that Nelson Mandela said this recently?:

"What is happening to Barghouti is exactly the same as what happened to me. The government tried to de-legitimise the African National Congress and its armed struggle by putting me on trial."