CNN's God's Warriors - Abusing the Facts!

From:
Rabbi Marvin Hier
Founder and Dean, Simon Wiesenthal Center

CNN'S GOD'S WARRIORS AT WAR WITH THE FACTS

A day prior to the airing of Christiane Amanpour's six-hour CNN documentary entitled God's Warriors, I was one of four clergymen to be a guest on Larry King Live to discuss the issue of fundamentalism in today's world. The interview on Larry King was pre-recorded in mid-July and none of the participants had seen the six-hour documentary because it was still being edited. Now that I have seen it, I sent the following critique to the producers of God's Warriors.

1. MORAL EQUIVALENCY - There is no moral equivalency between some 200 Israeli fanatics prone to violence and tens of thousands of Palestinian terrorists whose acts are endorsed by the elected government and a significant portion of the population. The failure of the documentary to clearly make that distinction skews the facts and conveys the false impression allowing people all over the world to conclude that there IS a moral equivalency between the number of Palestinian terrorists and Jewish terrorists - this is a complete distortion. More importantly, the largest terrorist group responsible for much of the unrest in the Middle East, Hamas, got a free pass from CNN in God's Warriors and is not even mentioned in the documentary's segment on Islam.

2. JEWISH LOBBY - CNN spends much time describing the strength of the "Jewish Lobby" in Washington. But what do supporters of Israel active on the Hill have to do with a documentary focusing on the power of religion? Indeed, many of those defending Israel on Capital Hill are, in fact, secular Jews. Furthermore, if you are going to talk about powerful lobbies, why not give equal time to the enormous power of the Arab Oil lobby?

3. SECURITY FENCE (Hamas Wall) - The consultants of the documentary make a point of showing the security fence that now separates the Palestinians from the Israelis. Palestinians interviewed explain the hardships they face and call the fence an "apartheid" wall. Nowhere is there a mention of the wide consensus of support for the security fence amongst all Israelis, left and right, including Israel's Supreme Court, which has sanctioned the fence because, without it, the suicide bombings would continue unabated, something NO society can tolerate. Indeed, the terrorist groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad are the real architects and designers of that fence.

4. FIGHTING TERRORISM - God's Warrior's makes mention of the fact that the few Jewish terrorists described in the film were all arrested by the Israeli government and sent to jail for their crimes. Yet, they ignore the fact that Palestinian officials have never convicted Palestinian terrorists. Had they done so, there would be no need for a security fence.

5. SIX DAY WAR - The documentary spends a lot of time on the Six Day War and emphasizes how Israel decided to attack the Old City during the War, which changed the status quo forever. But God's Warriors fails to explain how or why the Six Day War started. It hides from its audience the fact that Egypt blocked the Straits of Tiran (an international waterway), an act of war under international law, denying all shipping to Israel and that the Arab States, including Jordan, which controlled the Old City, brought their armies to the border. Had they not taken those actions, the Six Day War would have been averted. By ignoring all that and instead focusing on Israel's attack on the Old City, God's Warriors guides its audience to the conclusion that the purpose of the War was Israel's intention to grab the Old City of Jerusalem.

www.wiesenthal.com

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Hier
• Wiesenthal
• God
• Warrior
• Terrorism

[youngcounty1]

Israel is the biggest threat in the middle east. Hamas has not always been in power but Israel has been taking land for years. You believe this is your land because some book tells you this. What a new age Holacaust!

[Brassaii100]

watch/911 Missing Links 1/12

[Elmaln]

Rofl at this video, where to begin.

[LeonhardEuler1]

If this guy wants to know the real problem with peace in the middle east (as well as much of the world) he needs to read something like "The End of Faith" by Harris.

[party489]

Religions are just cancer for the human mind. It can be cured with common sense and facts the infected just have to shown the way and reasons why organized religion is false.

[Ulrna]

@Mohamedfalseprophet And there you go..

Pluralising the conflict to religious proportions, and showing the kind of mentality representative for your opinion...

What more can anyone ask for..

[Greginda11]

@Aphradonis

how can one be a non bible believer when while still be a Christian follower? The Teachings of Christ are in the bible so to not hold any merit to it means you could say anything while claiming it is under Christ with no bibical support (that is what the curasaders did), Jesus said turn the other cheek, they took their swords and started stabbing people BIG DIFFERENCE. I only used Buddha as a example. Removing the biblce from christianity makes no sense.

[Aphradonis]

@Greginda11 One can be a Christian by simply following Christ, i.e., a non-biblical Christian. Why else would the phrase "Bible-believing Christian" exist? Also, Buddha himself told his followers not to believe him if what he said didn't make sense to them.

[Greginda11]

I agree with the Revrend on this one. Having a "christian" that doesn't believe the bible is like having a muslim that doesn't follow the Quran or an atheist that does believe the Quran or the Bible. Having some one represent any faith that doesn't have respect for the history and books of that faith is pointless. Having a buddhists that doesn't follow buddha makes no sense same goes for christianity and the bible. This isn't about opinion its about proper representation.

[InterfaceDream]

the biggest inaccuracy on this planet is Zionist.