4 April 2007

This is probably the most necessary and worthwhile Action Alert that Arab Media Watch has issued so far this year. Please take a moment to commend an excellent commentary by Mike Smith in today's Daily Telegraph about the discrimination faced by Israel's Arab citizens, entitled "Second-class citizens in their own country."

It is extremely rare for such views to be published in a newspaper that is traditionally staunchly pro-Israel, so please let the Telegraph know that publishing Smith's commentary is welcome and necessary, and encourage them to publish such views more often.

AMW can confirm that the newspaper is receiving many complaints from the pro-Israel lobby, so we should counter this straight away. When AMW called the Telegraph's comments section to express a desire to thank Smith, the response was very positive.

The commentary, which should be read in full, is available at:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2007/04/04/do0404.xml

Write to dtletters@telegraph.co.uk, dtcomment@telegraph.co.uk, and / or post your comments in the "have your say" section at the end of the commentary, which is inundated with negative and abusive comments.

Please be concise and polite, and BCC letters to info@arabmediawatch.com. If you want your letter to be published in the newspaper, indicate this in the subject line of your email (do not copy and paste the subject or contents of this Action Alert) and provide your full name, address and contact details. Letter-writing tips can be found at:

http://www.arabmediawatch.com/amw/MediaLobbying/LetterWritingTips/tabid/134/Default.aspx