CNN's "God's Jewish Warriors"

Tomorrow night, CNN will broadcast a two-hour show with Christiane Amanpour that CNN describes as the first part of a six-hour “television event”:  “God’s Jewish Warriors” (to be following on successive nights by “God’s Muslim Warriors” and “God’s Christian Warriors”).

Here is the “Production Note” for “God’s Jewish Warriors,” with emphasis added by JCI staffer Mr. Notso Subliminal:

This is the story of God’s Jewish Warriors, people who risk their lives – and their children's – to live in and claim what they believe is their religious birthright: East Jerusalem, with its holy Temple Mount, and the rocky hills of the West Bank, steeped in the history of patriarchs, prophets and biblical kings.

When God’s Jewish Warriors used guerilla political tactics to build a settlers movement after the 1967 Six Day War, their goal was to incorporate the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip into Israel.  After 40 years, they have created situations that are difficult – maybe impossible – to change as long as religious fervor on both sides of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict stands in the way of territorial compromise. 

God’s Jewish Warriors believe they are commanded to live on this biblical land and that doing so will hasten the coming of the Messiah.   At their most extreme, Jewish zealots are even willing to murder in God’s name to cripple land-for-peace negotiations.

Meanwhile, the United States’ staunch support of Israel inflames much of the Muslim world and puts America in the crosshairs of jihad. 

Through this episode of God’s Warriors, we cut to the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a knot tied so tightly by religious “fundamentalists” that it could strangle U.S. attempts to stabilize the explosive Middle East.

The "heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict"?  Since Arabs have rejected no less than four formal two-state solutions -- offered by the U.K. Peel Commission in 1937, the United Nations in 1947, Israel at Camp David in 2000, and the United States through the Clinton Parameters in 2000-01 -- and then responded to both the 2003 Roadmap and the 2005 Gaza withdrawal with increased terror, followed by the 2006 election of a terrorist-controlled government, it is a little disingenuous to blame the current situation on the settlers. 

The settlers were not there in 1937 and 1947; in the 2000-01 plans they would have been withdrawn almost completely; and they were in fact withdrawn completely from Gaza in 2005 with no effect other than the creation of Hamastan. 

Not only are the settlements not the problem; they are, as Hillel Halkin persuasively argued in 2002 in “Why the Settlements Should Stay,” part of the solution -- a test of Palestinian willingness to live with a Jewish minority in a new state protected with civil and political rights, in the same way an Arab minority lives in Israel.  If such a state is unacceptable to the Palestinians, it can only be because they have a much higher priority than a state, which might explain the absence of peace in 1937, 1947, 2000, 2003 and 2005 -- and get a lot closer to the "heart" of the conflict.

Comments

[Brother Mel]

Hello Rick,

Had CNN been around during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960's, imagine how they would have reported the bombing of the church in Birmingham in which three little black girls were killed. They would have reported:

"This is the story of God’s Baptist Warriors, people who risk their lives – and their children's – to live in and claim what they believe is their religious birthright: to walk freely up and down the streets of Birmingham, Alabama . . .

When God’s Baptist Warriors used guerilla legislative tactics to wrestle from the Congress the right to vote, their goal was to fully participate in every aspect of American life. They have created situations that are difficult – maybe impossible – to change as long as religious fervor on both sides of the Baptist - White Supremecist conflict stands in the way of territorial compromise.

God's Baptist warriors are willing to take up arms, use violence, and even kill in self defense to keep their brethren from being lynched, their women from being raped, their children from being humiliated, and their houses and churches from being firebombed.

Meanwhile, the United States’ staunch support of these Baptist warriors inflames much of the racist world and puts America in the crosshairs of the KKK."

But this is the state of affairs at CNN and in much of modern journalism. Their idea of balanced journalism is to present the innocent and the guilty, victims and attackers, truth and lies, as equally interchangeable and as simply a matter of perspective. This is absurd. No wonder their ratings keep falling.

Kind Regards,
Brother Mel

[Joe]

CNN is all about equality. One "jewish terrorist" is comparable to the tens of thousands of muslim terrorists. To be more accurate they should throw in the atheistic warriors so they could include Stalin, Lenin, and Mao. Together they represent most of the killing of the 20th century, along with"pagan warrior" Adolf Hitler.