CNN Report on Antisemitism in Palestinian Media
Narrator: The world commemorates the most tragic example of Antisemitism, and assures itself nothing like it could ever happen again. But Israeli cabinet minister, Natan Sharansky, claims that as in Nazi Germany, there is a culture of hatred of Jews within Palestinian society, exacerbated by the Palestinian Authority controlled media.
Sharansky: “The message is the same – Jews are the parasites of this world. The more Jews you kill, the more happy we’ll be – Palestinians, Arab people and all the mankind.”
PA TV preacher: “The Jews will fight you and you will subjugate them. Until the Jew will hide behind the rock and tree, and the rock and tree will say: ‘Oh Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.”
Narrator: “Sharansky claims clips like this shown on Palestinian television incites genocide of Jews, mandating that killing as a religious obligation. Just some of the clips Israeli group Palestinian Media Watch record from Palestinian air. Its director claims in terms of attitudes, little has changed since the 1930s and 40s.”
Itamar Marcus: “The way people are being taught to look at Jews has many of the components of the way the Nazis told their people to look at Jews. ‘Jews have an inherently evil nature,’ was said by both. ‘Jews are a threat to world peace,’ was said by both. ‘And therefore Jews have to be killed,’ was said by both.”
Narrator: “Claims I took to the head of the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation. I showed him clips Natan Sharansky had used to base his opinions on.”
PBC head: “First of all it’s a big lie, I would say. I don’t believe that we are inciting. I think that the Israelis are exaggerating. The sole incitement is occupation.”
Narrator: “Many of the examples, Ayyash claims, are beyond his control. Opinions, even ones perceived as Antisemitic on a live chat show, he says, are impossible to vet. And his job is not to create opinions, merely to reflect what is happening on the ground.”
PBC head: “There was war and occupation, they resist by words, by fire, by theatre, by everything, ok? As if you are telling me ‘Please smile when you have a bullet in your head.”
Ayyash did not acknowledge Antisemitism in any of the clips, claiming it was impossible to judge when snippets have been taken out of context.
Diametrically opposed as their opinions may be, both Sharansky and Ayyash admit there has been a subtle change in Palestinian television in the short time Mahmoud Abbas has been leader. More song and dance, according to Ayyash, less cause for the destruction of Israel according to Sharansky.
Paula Hancox, CNN News, Jerusalem.
Sharansky: “The message is the same – Jews are the parasites of this world. The more Jews you kill, the more happy we’ll be – Palestinians, Arab people and all the mankind.”
PA TV preacher: “The Jews will fight you and you will subjugate them. Until the Jew will hide behind the rock and tree, and the rock and tree will say: ‘Oh Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.”
Narrator: “Sharansky claims clips like this shown on Palestinian television incites genocide of Jews, mandating that killing as a religious obligation. Just some of the clips Israeli group Palestinian Media Watch record from Palestinian air. Its director claims in terms of attitudes, little has changed since the 1930s and 40s.”
Itamar Marcus: “The way people are being taught to look at Jews has many of the components of the way the Nazis told their people to look at Jews. ‘Jews have an inherently evil nature,’ was said by both. ‘Jews are a threat to world peace,’ was said by both. ‘And therefore Jews have to be killed,’ was said by both.”
Narrator: “Claims I took to the head of the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation. I showed him clips Natan Sharansky had used to base his opinions on.”
PBC head: “First of all it’s a big lie, I would say. I don’t believe that we are inciting. I think that the Israelis are exaggerating. The sole incitement is occupation.”
Narrator: “Many of the examples, Ayyash claims, are beyond his control. Opinions, even ones perceived as Antisemitic on a live chat show, he says, are impossible to vet. And his job is not to create opinions, merely to reflect what is happening on the ground.”
PBC head: “There was war and occupation, they resist by words, by fire, by theatre, by everything, ok? As if you are telling me ‘Please smile when you have a bullet in your head.”
Ayyash did not acknowledge Antisemitism in any of the clips, claiming it was impossible to judge when snippets have been taken out of context.
Diametrically opposed as their opinions may be, both Sharansky and Ayyash admit there has been a subtle change in Palestinian television in the short time Mahmoud Abbas has been leader. More song and dance, according to Ayyash, less cause for the destruction of Israel according to Sharansky.
Paula Hancox, CNN News, Jerusalem.