In April 2012, CBS’s 60 Minutes broadcast one of the most biased pieces of reporting of that year (and a Dishonest Reporter Award finalist) on the status of Christians in the Holy Land. Bob Simon presented an unbalanced picture blaming Israel for virtually every difficulty experienced by Palestinian Christians.
The segment included an interview with Christy, a young Palestinian from Bethlehem, whose family home had been affected by Israel’s security barrier on three sides. Christy was forced to flee to the UK to escape persecution by Palestinians who disagree with her political views and sympathy for Israel’s case. At a meeting in London in 2013, Christy explained to me how Bob Simon and CBS had, through selective editing, misrepresented her views on the security barrier and the situation of Christians in Bethlehem.
Christy greatly impressed me, both for her courageous stance and the intelligent manner in which she presented her side of the Palestinian issue in stark contrast to the anti-Israel propaganda that so dominates the discourse.
We were, however, unable to report Christy’s case on the HonestReporting site at the time due to the precarious situation that she and her family back in Bethlehem found themselves in.
Now, despite having experienced death threats both in Bethlehem and in the UK, Christy has very bravely put her story on YouTube in the form of a lecture given to a Swedish university and a personal appeal to Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat to hold to a promise given to her that a Palestinian state would respect fundamental human rights and democracy.
Christy gives us a view of life under the Palestinian Authority not often told, particularly from the media that all too often downplays or completely ignores the lack of freedom and internal violence within Palestinian society.
UPDATE
Christy’s family has publicly denounced her following the airing of this video. More at The Times of Israel.
