Wednesday, June 8, 2005 West Bank, Israel A shocking documentary by Arab television network Al-Jazeera has led to violence in the streets here in the West Bank. An unnamed peace loving Jewish man on a mission of mercy was beset by stick wielding Muslim youths yesterday. According to witnesses, the man barely escaped in his car. He was briefly treated at a local hospital and released. The hospital refused to release information on the man's condition or the extent of his injuries. "It was quite shocking," said a witness, an aged Palestinian woman who spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing retribution by the gang of stick wielding hooligans. "He seemed like such a nice man. And handsome, too. Like a young President Bobby Kennedy." The woman said she has often seen the man in the village. "He try to teach us to love love and hate hate and this is what we do to him? How can we ever have peace?" Politicians and commentators are directly attributing the attack to a documentary aired last weekend on the controversial Arab news network Al-Jazeera. The documentary started by detailing the South American children's party game known as "piñata." In this game a candy filled effigy is hung from a tree. Children take turns hitting the effigy till it breaks, releasing the candy. The children, turned into a sugar mob, grab the candy and devour it as quickly as possible. The documentary took a shocking turn when it then showed what appeared to be an Orthodox Jewish man suspended from a tree. A gang of Muslim youths beat at him with sticks, ignoring his cries of "Oy-ch! Oy-ch!" The footage concluded with an obvious special effect showing the Jewish man appearing to break in half while chocolates spilled from him. While no-one in the village would confirm the children had seen the documentary, a corner stand was found selling bootleg DVD copies for a dollar a piece. The DVD was labeled, in Arabic, "How-To Get All The Free Candy You Can Eat Without Really Trying." Special editions were available for an extra dollar that came packaged with broken broom handles. Al-Jazeera initially released a statement saying they stood by their sources and believed the documentary to be accurate in substance if not entirely truthful. "How do our critics know Jews are not filled with candy if they themselves have not whacked them with sticks?" read the statement. Late in the day, after all the major news shows had already aired, Al-Jazeera issued a hasty retraction, which read in part, "We regret our error. While we honestly believed Jews to be candy filled, further investigation indicates this may not be the case." But many consider the retraction to be worthless because the violence it inspired cannot be undone. "It is irresponsible to report such things!" said the Palestinian woman who witnessed the attack. "Do they not know immature people may see and believe? They are responsible for this violence." As a result of the documentary, previous calls for strict limits to be placed on news outlets are rising with renewed vigor. "If these so-called professionals cannot be bothered to get their facts straight before reporting then they should be stopped from reporting," said a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. "Within minutes after the documentary aired, my niece's blog reported the truth about Jewish men," said the spokesman. "She once beat her boyfriend with a stick after he gave her a fake diamond. Anyone with a computer could be assured from her account that Jewish men are not candy filled. Why does it fall to bloggers to fact check when media are liars?" Despite the growing controversy, the victim of yesterday's attack refused all requests for interviews. His only comment was, "I bare no racist hate against the children. They love chocolate."