A hijack or xalata?

This year, our PM’s resolution should be to sack all his many foreign and local advisers and find someone half decent at strategy. If last year’s fake “cup of tea in the young couple’s kitchen” sketch as his end-ofyear speech to the nation was disastrous,

For those of us who knew or could even simply figure out what was really happening, the whole drama was just painful to watch. But the general public immediately realised that what was being played out was seriously wrong too. Much of it did not make sense and none of us ended up hailing Muscat as the great negotiator/hero of the day as was expected from us, I believe – in fact, quite the opposite. Questions, doubts and disbelief in everyone’s mind led to great Christmas party conversation throughout Malta.

Alleanza tried to help answer some of the questions gently via the video that we were given. The video, we were told, shows the totally jovial atmosphere from inside the actual plane during the actual ‘hijack’. It can be found on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v =cqoFwLxMQVA&feature=youtu .be

So far it has had 21,166 views and counting. It clearly contradicts the sombre and heroic imagery presented for international consumption by the PM’s group. Because we dared to question the validity of what the PM’s group had pumped out to the media for regurgitation, the Pro-Muscat media immediately kicked into overdrive to cover up their huge gaffes in their story-line so far. But his advisers’ counter to the video merely landed our PM in more muck as people savaged his team for insulting their intelligence.

MaltaToday was first with their “Fake videos doing rounds on social media” story. They showed a video that had been taken months previously and even gave the link of where it came from. Clearly, ‘theirs’ had nothing to do with the “hijack” per se. They dubbed it a fake. Of course it was, but it was not the one that we shown. By ‘associating’ a clearly fake one with ours they must have thought that people would assume that they were both fake! They actually employed the classic way of discrediting serious information by discrediting its source. Glenn Beddingfield used the same tired technique and, as was to be expected, the usual liberal apologists of course followed suit to pump this message. The seeds of doubt were sown and yet it all backfired in a big way as people quickly cottoned on to their game.

To those who therefore are still in any doubt about the validity of ‘our’ video, let me ask four simple questions:

a) Did any one of these apologists give a link to an actual website showing that the video that we posted was old and was also therefore fake?

b) The image attached here with this article is split into two. On the left, the real hijacked plane is captured by the local media in Malta on the actual day of the hijack. On the right is a still taken from the video itself. Notice the colour of the sky and the cloud formations on both these images. They are the same. What are the chances of that happening, if the video we presented was a fake video?

c) In ‘our’ video, the plane can be seen landing in Malta via the views captured through its windows. Did we do fake that too? Did we then round up a whole load of Libyans (or copy their accents), whilst the airport was shut down completely, hire a plane on the same day of the hijack and somehow fake the whole thing? All this, so that you get exactly the same weather in the two shots? Is that what they want you to believe?

d) The only other possible scenario is that it’s an old film of a previous flight into Malta. But, again, there hasn’t been any commercial flight using a large plane as in the video to Malta from Libya for many years. And the video clearly shows a large commercial plane – exactly like the ‘hijacked one’ – landing in Malta.

So if one eliminates all the above weak excuses, what other possible fantasies can the apologists throw us to discredit ‘our’ video, exactly?

Let’s be blunt, credibility is not exactly their forte, So, quite frankly, up to this point we prefer to trust our friends rather than this government that lies easily and continually to us and keeps denying real events. It is they who have made an art of denying the truth and lying. They are making lies of reality and making reality out of lies. If they have any solid proof that ‘our’ video is fake, then I say go ahead and produce it.

Otherwise, I think that it’s now high time for us to be asking them to provide us with truthful answers – not the other way around. Perhaps the PM can also finally answer properly some very serious questions in this regard: questions that are still pending in this ‘hijack’ case. For instance:

Is it true that our PM was informed of the hijack scenario hours before the plane actually landed in Malta? (If I was made aware of a potentially abnormal situation before a plane landed in Malta, surely the PM can confirm that he too was fully aware, no?)

Did our security services know about this situation first and ask for clarification from others? Or were they not even aware of anything but some ‘civilians of very good will’ approached them and made them aware of the situation? Who actually knew first: mere civilians or our security service/defence teams?

From whom were the PM’s staff then trying to obtain more information and assistance? And was this done through ‘normal diplomatic channels’ with their Libyan counterparts? Or was it again a case of ‘individuals of good will’ helping our government out of this potentially sticky situation – people who could truly help in the circumstances?

Did the government get any help from their official Libyan counterparts or did Muscat and his staff have to ask for help from the Libyan side that our government still refuses to recognise? And while we’re on the subject, why is our government still not recognising the official Libyan Chargé d’Affaires (as per the official paperwork received by our Foreign Minister six months ago!) but are instead still recognising someone else whom all Libyan authorities refute categorically and officially?

Is it true that ex-Qaddafi regime supporters living in Malta have recently formed and are operating a new Libyan party? Was this all notarised by a Maltese lawyer? And is all of this actually legal in Malta?

Do the green flag-waving scenes have anything to do with this new party? Was it all a show of force by one side on our territory or was it all mere coincidence?

Is it true that the two ‘kidnappers’ where actually on their way to be arrested at their destination but the plane was somehow diverted to Malta instead during the flight?

Were the passengers made fully aware during the flight that it was a ‘safe’ hijack and no harm would come to anyone as opposed to a real and potentially dangerous one? It’s this why, therefore, the video shows them in ‘ xalata’ mood and how they came off the plane in a totally relaxed manner?

Why did the ‘hijackers’ not admit to the hijack per se in court or even seek refugee status at any point? And why were they even taken to a Maltese court when the hijack actually took place in Libya and should all therefore fall under Libyan jurisdiction and not Maltese?

If the time-line is to be followed properly, the ‘hostages’ were released by the ‘hijackers’ before any demands were made and before any negotiations with our PM could have taken place. How could the passengers therefore have been released thanks to our PM’s great negotiation skills? Or did it all end peacefully thanks only to the intervention of the diplomatic people (which our government refuses to recognise) and with whom Muscat was already in contact before the plane even landed?

Were the passengers’ belongings checked thoroughly as they came off the plane? What was found? Nothing or perhaps millions of euro? And can anyone from the Muscat side confirm that everything and everyone that entered our country actually left our country, when the ‘hostages’ went back to Libya after just a few hours in Malta?

Why all the theatrics in Valletta, with the ‘hijackers’ being unusually publicly paraded outside the law courts instead of the usual procedure of being taken through the security gates at the back of the courts?

Why were there even more theatrics by our PM on international TV news when he stated that a two guns and a grenade had been found on board when, by the time of those transmissions, it was well-known (or should have been!) that they were actually plastic and gelatine replicas?

Simply put, we have lost trust in the ability of this government to tell us the truth without being prompted to do so. We reject being fed only what the government (that lies) wants us to believe because they say it’s so.

You see, we should not accept the passive role they have imposed on us but should stand up to them. The apologists should not be asking us to provide them with answers. Our role is to ask questions and it is the role of the government to reply factually to them and not the other way around. And I ask the Opposition to join us and start asking serious questions because it is our inheritance and our security that is at stake here.

2017 will be a time to bully the bullies, because bullies only pick on the weak – and we are not weak!

On behalf of the Alleanza Bidla Party, may we wish you all a very good and exciting year ahead. Ultimately, it’s all a matter of time before the whole truth will come out and, whether they like it or not, this government will be held responsible for its actions and will have to answer all that our nation asks from it. As for me, I can’t wait to get started and on with all the hard work that 2017 will bring with it. Prost neujahr!