CBS 60 Minutes: An Unholy Attack on Israel
April 24, 2012 11:04 by Simon PloskerThe status of Christians in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza has been featured in the media on numerous occasions. The April 22 edition of CBS’s 60 Minutes, however, presented an unbalanced picture blaming Israel for virtually every difficulty experienced by Palestinian Christians.
After watching the segment, one is left with the impression that Christians are being deliberately targeted by malevolent Israeli policies when nothing could be further from the truth. Undoubtedly, Palestinian Christians are affected by Israeli security measures such as the West Bank security barrier, referred to by Bob Simon as a “wall” despite the majority of the structure consisting of chain-link fencing.
According to Simon:
Palestinian Christians, once a powerful minority, are becoming the invisible people, squeezed between a growing Muslim majority and burgeoning Israeli settlements.
Could Israeli settlements really be responsible for the plight of Palestinian Christians? Or is it due to issues that Bob Simon fails to fully investigate?
Related Content: Ignoring the Real Causes of Christian Exodus
Simon refers to settlements to explain the plight of Palestinian Christians. But his analysis is naive and demonstrates a weak grasp of the issues he’s presenting.
Reporters with more experience reporting on the region repeatedly point to the suppression of voices critical of the Muslim majority in Palestinian cities.
The Associated Press reports:
The number of Christians in the West Bank is on the decline. While some leave for economic reasons, many speak of persecution by the Muslim majority, but always anonymously, fearing retribution.
Justus Reid Weiner has researched the plight of Christians in the Palestinian territories extensively. According to Weiner, Arab Christians rarely speak about their situation in public:
The human rights crimes against the Christian Arabs in the disputed territories are committed by Muslims. Yet many Palestinian Christian leaders accuse Israel of these crimes rather than the actual perpetrators. This motif has been adopted by a variety of Christian leaders in the Western world. Others who are aware of the human rights crimes choose to remain silent about them.
Ha’aretz looks at Israeli reaction to the broadcast even before it was aired:
“We conducted a thorough examination and we found out that no official Israeli source was asked to comment on the assertions in the report,” an Israeli diplomat said.
Israel’s embassy in Washington met with “60 Minutes” several times and found that the report was almost ready for broadcast. In one of the meetings with the investigative reporters, an Israeli diplomat presented an issue of Newsweek with a cover story about the persecution of Christian communities in Arab states.
“The ’60 Minutes’ reporters said that this was not the subject of their article so it was not relevant,” said an Israeli diplomat.
How could Muslim persecution of Christians not be relevant to the subject matter? And how could a supposedly credible media outlet initially fail to consider asking Israeli officials for their views?
For more information on the status of Christians in the Holy Land, read Michael Oren’s article in the Wall St Journal.
60 Minutes runs story on Israeli persectution of Christians - Jews Freak out - Stormfront
6:12 am
Apr 26, 2012
[...] Minutes runs story on Israeli persectution of Christians – Jews Freak out CBS 60 Minutes: An Unholy Attack on Israel | HonestReporting The reaction this Israeli Ambassador gives to this story is classic [...]
Hot debate. What do you think?
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slea
2:23 pm
Apr 26, 2012
After watching the shockingly one-sided program and the arrogance of the interviewer one has to wonder what the message was. If the question for 60 minutes was concern for the Christian community or why is the Christian community shrinking; then an in depth search would have revealed persecution by the Muslim community which is the most often stated reason for departure by Christians. But instead the focus was the effect that the security wall/fence on one family and its business. One has to wonder as Ambassador Oren did why no attemtion was paid to Muslim fire-bombing Christian churches and attacks by Muslims on Christians. Shame on 60 minutes pretending to be even-handed journalists.
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
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Haim Ahmed Emmet
12:06 am
May 02, 2012
It makes no sense complaining to CBS after the showing of the documentary as then the dammage has allready been done. So Michael Oren was right. Its possible for Arabs, Christian en Muslim to turn everything around. Today they claim that the Jew Jesus was the first Palestinian and that Christianity is Palestinian. Maybe they forgot the Muslim attach on the basilic in Beth Lechem and the brutal killing of a priest. Then the world made the mistake to press Israel to let these criminals escape. The wall in Beth Lechem is horrible, but is there due to the attacks by muslims on the state of israel and its civilians. The holy sites to the Jews have been stolen by the muslims or destroyed during the Jordanian occupation of Judea and Samariah. The Palestinians living there were abandoned and so none progress during 18 years.
Its Isreal that build waterlines, electricity, schools and a university. all forgotten. Its understandable that people want to be independant but then stop blaming others.
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Brian Burr
12:38 pm
Apr 26, 2012
I too would be concerned and disturbed as a Christian, understanding that the population of Christians in the Holy Land is waning. Yet, I would be outraged and active in my defense of the nearly genocidal assault on Christians in Egypt, Lebanon, Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, S. Arabia, Yemen, through the Muslim-Arabic North Africa and mid-Africa states (Nigeria, Sudan, Somalia, etc). I would be horrified at the systemic and violent attacks against Christians and all faiths other than Islam in all the Arabic Muslim states of the Mid-East, where there is a deep rooted hatred and effort to ‘cleanse’ these countries from any and all faiths other than Islam. Moreover, I would recognize that while Christians are ‘scooped up’ in a political and security cauldron in the West Bank which is unfortunate and unwanted, it is in no way directed toward persons for their faith, i.e. that they are Christian. It is directed toward them as potential security threats, as it would be against Israelis and Jews themselves, had they been ‘Palestinian’ – and there is nothing that precludes a Palestinian being Jewish (except of course for Hamas, and other islamo-fascist tyrants that refuse to accept Palestinians of any other faith than Islam). It’s so important to separate the cause from the effect, in this case, given the extremely complex issues involves, the least of which is certainly not security of the emotional reactions to situations which can clearly cloud and condition our judgments. Israel, in protecting itself against ideological sociopaths that use children as propaganda tools and willingly shield themselves behind woman and children in military and ideological actions, must defend its Israeli population. You will find hundreds if not thousands of Jews who have stories to tell about how them were caught in similar and unfair circumstances as the result of security measures that protect against any apparent or perceived threat, prior to that threat become a killing force. It means that Palestinian Christians have suffered. Yet, similar to the dilemma of the population of Gaza, is the cause of this Israel and Israeli policy and intent? Or, is the cause the ideologies of hate, and the politics of death and attack being forced upon these Arabic and Palestinian populations – regardless of their faith – by radical, islamo-fascist sociopaths who control and coerce tens of thousands of persons by force and threat? In that manner, the perpetuation of a state of internal war and unacceptable economic and social infrastructures are maintained. Unfortunately, if one doesn’t target the source of a disease, one will never root it out. Similarly, if one doesn’t attack the leadership of the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza, one will never solve this seemingly perpetual disaster.
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
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BUTSeriously
3:35 pm
Apr 26, 2012
Q: What is the biggest cause of Christian persecution in the M/E. Tick one:
1. Israel.
2. Zionists.
3. Settlements.
4. Jews.
5. Controlling the banks.
6. Controlling the media.
7. Controlling the U.S.
8. Racist Jewish Laws.
9. Jews drink the blood of children in Passover.
10. “NO OTHER RELIGION SHALL PREVAIL IN ARABIA” [The Quran].
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BUTSeriously
4:11 pm
Apr 26, 2012
“It is permissible to lie to the non-Muslim” [Quran]
“You shall not lie to the stranger” [Hebrew bible].
The twain shall never meet.
“A FALSEHOOD AND THE HOLY ONE CANNOT ABIDE TOGETHER”
Q. What will a billion Muslims do when they find everything they were inculcated in was a factual, historical lie – and 90% was antithetically so?
A: They will hate Jews and Christians even more.
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
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BUTSeriously
4:19 pm
Apr 26, 2012
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Poorly-rated. Agree or Disagree:
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Ed Frias
4:33 pm
Apr 27, 2012
Great response to him.
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Ed Frias
4:34 pm
Apr 27, 2012
Camera had a great article in response to the lies Bob Simon said.
http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=3&x_outlet=13&x_article=2226
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
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Jason
4:45 pm
Apr 26, 2012
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Poorly-rated. Agree or Disagree:
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Ellen
4:48 pm
Apr 26, 2012
I seems to me that they let a foolish, idiot and evil person go for this weekend from the mental hospital.Enjoy yourself and show us how stupid you are.
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
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aaron levy
4:57 pm
Apr 26, 2012
Paul, it is a shame that you reveal your total ignorance. I would suspect that you have either a vacuous brain or that you have had a frontal lobotomy, recently. I wonder myself why I take time to respond to you because I believe that people like you cannot be helped as you lower yourself into a vast pit of nothingness. You are beyond belief, a total, ignorant loser who can’t be helped or educated in the mainstream of civilization!
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
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haim
5:37 pm
Apr 26, 2012
what if we hunt you first bastard?
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Tony
5:53 pm
Apr 26, 2012
Hey, welcome back Paul!
I see you switched from Jooz to Kike. Too b ad – I liked Jooz – Kike is so like 19th century, you know?
Don’t want you to get in a rut, so here’s a couple more for you: try, Hebe, Hymie or Yid. Just to get in some variation, right? If you run out, I’ll give you a couple more. Got lots of ‘em for you.
Meanwhile, keep reading the Jooz lies on this website, and there’s lots more Kike sites on the ‘Net for you. It’s great that you keep reading our stuff – if you don’t come here, how would we get to you? Just be careful, cause after a while all this shit can rub off on you. If you find yourself not breathing like normal people, you’ll know it’s happening.
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614streets
6:40 pm
Apr 26, 2012
Go to my website for great videos about this subject.
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pc
7:30 pm
Apr 30, 2012
This guy is a Nazi.
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pc
7:31 pm
Apr 30, 2012
614 streets is a nazi site.
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Mr. Light-Bright
7:41 pm
Apr 26, 2012
Personally as a Christian I don’t get it… why are some Christians calling themselves “Palestinian” after the nation of Israel was restored? Palestine is not a nationality, and Christians have no need of a “Christendom” like attitude.
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slea
8:58 pm
Apr 26, 2012
Unfortunately this has become a useless discussion about Paul who doesn’t merit all this attention rather than a message to 60 Minutes about its lack of honest reporting.
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Nathan Zafran
11:52 pm
Apr 26, 2012
Paul, or Akhmed, or Adolph, or whatever your silly name is, you ask what I think. I think you’re a freak and abomination, and needs to be exterminated like any vermin.
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
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Bee Camper
2:04 am
Apr 27, 2012
Jews lose the battle for positive reporting and positive public opinion no matter how much they sacrifice. I was put off at the introduction of Israeli occupied West Bank. Really!!!!???? Then all of the USA is mongrel occupied Native American land. For every acre we demand Israel give to their enemies, the Arabs, we should give up a state, starting with New York. How’s that grab you, liberals?
Israel is a sovereign nation, we have no business dividing her up paltry land. The Arabs have been provided for again and again, they keep firing rockets, sending out suicide bombers and demanding more. If Mexico lobbed rockets at Texas, California, and Arizona every day we’d hear screaming from kingdom come. Let it happen to Jews and it’s just life like they’ve always known it.
Judgment will come for our roll in the travesty.
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BUTSeriously
2:44 am
Apr 27, 2012
“That would include all Israelis, Lebanese, Syrians and most importantly Jordanians.”
This is still a historical absurdity, and Europeans, both religious and secular, should be the first to admit it. The name was applied to Judea, the sovereign Jewish state, not any Arab or Islamic land or people, and it was a declaration of disdain for Jews exclusively. The Pre-Islamic Arabs were in the front rows of Rome’s armies as paid mercenaries: calling Arabs as Muslims is like calling Romans as Palestinians.
Precisely because this name was a reference to Jews for 2000 years exclusively, that the Muslims hated it pre-Arafat – this name was hated by Muslims pre-Arafat exactly as they hate Zionist today, and the reason none can evidence a Muslim Palestinian pre-Arafat.The transfer of this name from Jews to Muslims is a death wish and genocide of Jews by Europe and the Arab Muslims; it is akin to the serial 2-state demands made on Israel the past 60 years. If they could, they would call Arab Muslims the real and true Zionists.
It is a great shame cast on the entire Christian people that such a historical absurdity was allowed to stand with no back lash by Christians. It is absurd that Christians kept silent of it, when they should have targeted the Vatican, the EU & the UN for its silence and fostering of this lie, or rather of this covert genocidal aspiration on Jews, History and on the Christian beliefs to boot. It negates the Gospels, giving credibility to Jesus being a Muslim Palestinian and denies the Gospel text of a Jewish temple. It damages Christians far more than Jews or Israel, applying to:
“AND THOSE WHO CURSE YOU….
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BUTSeriously
2:59 am
Apr 27, 2012
“Then all of the USA is mongrel occupied Native American land.”
The difference of comparing Jews in Palestine with those who took over countries like America, Australia and many other lands – is that the Jews “RETURNED’ to their own historically proven motherland, as opposed invading a new land and people, and that Israel was re-established legally at the UN, with ALL nations voting in the Motion.
Jews have never occupied another peoples’ land in all their 4000 year history. In fact the Hebrew bible forbids Jews from occupying a single cubit of another peoples’ land – and this has been complied with fully. While Britain shamed herself by corrupting the Balfour, Jews could not and did not demand what is Jordan today because this was never the Jewish land, while all of the West bank is.
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slea
3:33 pm
Apr 27, 2012
BUTSeriously, Your arguments are brilliant. Unfortunately educated, well presented and thoughtfully reasoned arguments don’t seem to penetrate the emotional, ingrained, fiction-as-truth beliefs that alarmingly pervade the liberal media and college campus scene. That this is distressing to a life-long liberal is more than an understatement. That being said, I guess there is nothing else to do but persist in the attempt at changing hearts and minds. Thank you for continuing to try.
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Ed Frias
4:44 pm
Apr 27, 2012
Israel should have never let Bob Simon into Israel.
This guy has a history of being a Israel hater.
Simon is just another radical left wing anti Zionist.
3 years ago he did a piece for 60 minutes called,
CBS’s Bob Simon Describes Israel As An Apartheid State …
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/kyle-drennen/2009/01/26/cbss-bob-simon-describes-israel-apartheid-state
Who does Simon interview alot from his 2009 piece about Israel being an aparthied state, which is another lie by Simon? MUSTAFA BARGHOUTI
Barghouti is a well known Pallywood liar.
Last August, Barghouti showed the pro terrorist he is.
http://www.pmw.org.il/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=5544
[PA TV (Fatah), Aug. 19, 2011]
Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, Secretary General of the ‘National Initiative’ movement, in PA TV telephone interview:
“Of course, there is the operation which took place in Eilat – that is true. This operation harmed soldiers and people from the Israeli army, and was not directed towards civilians.”
Lies, Lies and More Lies by this terrorist Barghouti.
http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=234476&R=R2
Four family members killed in Eilat attacks named
08/19/2011 11:09
2 sisters and their husbands – Moshe and Flora Gez, as well as Dov and Shula Karlinski fired on by terrorists on way to Sinai vacation.
Two sisters and their husbands have been named as four of the victims of the multi-pronged terror attack which killed 8 Israelis near Eilat on Thursday.
Moshe Gez, 53, and Flora Gez, 52, as well as Dov Karlinski, 58, and Shula Karlinski, 54 were killed while on the way to a vacation in the South. The couples, hailing from Kfar Saba, were killed when terrorists opened fire on their vehicle on Route 12 near the border with Egypt.
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Ed Frias
4:58 pm
Apr 27, 2012
Camera has a great article which destroys all the lies Bob Simon said in his 60 minutes piece.
http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=3&x_outlet=13&x_article=2226
60 Minutes Smears Israel for Christian Exodus from Holy Land
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BUTSeriously
5:09 pm
Apr 27, 2012
The lier knows the truth better than the truth seeker – he has to manipulate it, which is not possible otherwise. Every Muslim knows that Hebron is the birthplace of Judaism more than they know their Quran. Every Christian knows Jerusalem is a Hebrew name and Capital – more than they know their Gospels. But because their beliefs hinges on a negation of these truths they have no choice but to deny such disdained truths. Why ruin a cherished lie?
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BUTSeriously
4:59 pm
Apr 27, 2012
Its not like cricket or football, where if one player makes a goal his team hugs him. With religions, they see the one who scores a point as the enemy and must be destroyed. It is understood only when a zoomed out big picture is examined. The three M/E religions are all in polar contradictions of their core doctrines, making any admission to the other party as a negation of their own beliefs, leaving each side facing an abyss.
Humanity’s grave plight is both Christianity and Islam have based their religions on ‘subject to Jews’ belief premises, with mutually exclusive contradictory takes even in their accusations of the same space-times they describe as revelations. If ever any truth is revealed, as with a Messiah or a relic spewed out of the earth, it will cause only death and destruction for any two sides on the wrong side of beliefs held as non-negotiable.
Its a no way out for all three systems, pointing only to disaster ahead. This is one reason why there is a discourse in the political/ideological war, between Lefties and atheists exploiting this depravity of beliefs. In a sense we cannot blame them: they see the chaos and insanity and want it thrown away. I can see no sanity of serial 2-states in Palestine or the acceptance of Muslims as Palestinians: its a computer malfunction.
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