guess that clinches it

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat watched Mel Gibsons's controversial “Passion of the Christ” at a private screening on Saturday and said it was not anti-Semitic, officials said.

He watched the film — which Jewish groups say may foment anti-Semitic attacks — with Palestinian Muslim and Christian leaders at his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

“The president did not feel the film was anti-Semitic,” said Hanan Ashrawi, a prominent Palestinian Christian who watched it with him on a DVD copy.

The irony meter is officially pegged.