ABC Four Corners on Israel: Evil and deeply untrue

[Mosby]

WE are living in a time of infamous lies against the state of Israel and the Jewish people. We are witnessing, even in Australia, a recrudescence of some of the oldest types of anti-Semitism. One of the worst recent examples of anti-Israel propaganda that led directly to anti-Semitic outbursts was the Four Corners episode Stone Cold Justice, purporting to be about treatment of Palestinian children in the West Bank.

...the Four Corners program was a disgrace, a crude piece of anti-Israel propaganda that revived some of the oldest anti-Semitic tropes. In the year 2014, are we really going to allege again, on the basis of the flimsiest non-evidence you could imagine, that Jewish soldiers systematically physically crucify innocent children? Is there a school of anti-Semitism 101 operating out there? Do you not think that before you would air an allegation like that, if you had any real sense of editorial responsibility, you would be 100 per cent sure that it was true; you would track down the people alleged to have done it and get their testimony?

http://israelissueswa.blogspot.com.au/2014/02/abc-four-corners-on-israel-evil-and.html

[King_David]

1. Red Hot Injustice

Jamie Hyams and Ahron Shapiro



The ABC program Four Corners, together with the Australian newspaper's Middle East correspondent John Lyons, produced a story, "Stone Cold Justice" about the alleged Israeli treatment of Palestinian minors it arrests in the West Bank. The basic thesis of this story is that Israel has a new policy of arresting Palestinian children in the West Bank in the middle of the night and then torturing them to create a culture of fear, and to gather information to use against Palestinian non-violent resistance. This is categorically untrue.

To make such a serious allegation - that a country is abusing the criminal justice system for sinister motives - a responsible current affairs programme should have compelling proof. All Four Corners offers in this regard is footage of one interrogation, which merely demonstrates that a suspect was asked questions about possible other offenders, and claims by three strong critics of Israel.

Overall, the reporting in this story was often selective and lacking context and at times simply wrong, as this response will demonstrate in detail. Basic journalistic practices, such as getting both sides of the story, or providing opportunities to rebut allegations of misbehavior were often ignored.

After a brief introduction from Kerry O'Brien, itself problematic, the story was narrated by Lyons, although, in an interview that was part of the extensive promotion of the program throughout the ABC and Australian, Lyons stated that the Four Corners team ultimately decided what was included and, perhaps more relevantly, what was excluded from the program.

http://www.aijac.org.au/news/article/red-hot-injustice

[King_David]

2. Four Corners producer gets it wrong again on antisemitic comments

Daniel Meyerowitz-Katz

On Saturday, the Weekend Australian ran an op-ed by Julie Nathan from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry. Nathan's piece concerned vicious anti-Jewish bigotry which has appeared on the Facebook page of ABC's Four Corners in the discussions surrounding the 'Stone Cold Justice' episode by the Australian's Middle East Correspondent John Lyons.

In that episode, Lyons focussed on the treatment of Palestinian minors in the West Bank by the Israeli criminal justice system. As a piece of journalism, the documentary was quite problematic; but separate to the many issues regarding its content (for AIJAC's breakdown see here and here), a whole set of questions were raised by the antisemitism it sparked on the Four Corners Facebook page -- including some additional ones relating to the ABC's credibility and accountability.

In her article, Nathan detailed a number of comments on the page which were overtly and indisputably antisemitic -- referring not to Israeli policies or even Israelis, but to "Jews" --and clearly in breach of the ABC's editorial policies. As Nathan pointed out:

Some of the comments were deleted or edited by ABC moderators. However, many anti-Semitic comments have remained online for more than a week, spewing forth the gamut of traditional anti-Semitic themes.

http://www.aijac.org.au/news/article/four-corners-producer-gets-it-wrong-again-on-ant

[azurnoir]

3. Here is a link to the episode of four corners that is the subject of the OP

also the other issues covered by this program should be noted too-it gives some perspective


http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2014/02/10/3939266.htm

[Scootaloo]

4. This is interesting...

A week or two after the Four Corners program went to air, I attended a Catholic mass in a suburban church. The priest was preaching about forgiveness. Most examples he chose were taken from the news. One, he took from the Middle East. It concerned a heroic Palestinian whose family had been killed by Israel, but who still had the moral grandeur to forgive the Israelis. The priest said nothing else about the Middle East. So of all the malevolence and genuine evil in the Middle East, the only example the apiarist thought worth mentioning was a generic Israeli crime.
With 2000 years of Christian anti-Semitism behind him, the priest had no hesitation in presenting Israel as the killer of innocent families and the only question in the Middle East being one of the moral greatness of the Palestinians in forgiving the Israelis.

It's interesting to criticize a program for anecdotal evidence, and then to bolster it with anecdotal evidence of your own. And of course, the fact that this case was mentioned at all, is the "product of 2000 years of christian antisemitism" rather than maybe "the priest saw it on the news a night or two ago." Not even an attempt to explain why it's supposedly antisemitic... just that a Catholic priest said it, therefor it just is.

this nonsense it continued here:

and Christian clerics routinely portray Israel as the murderous oppressor of the Middle East

Except that's not even what's described in the anecdote, and even if it were, one Catholic priest does not represent "Christian clerics" and one mention does not translate into "regularly."

To be a Christian is to be an antisemite, apparently.

As for the "crucifixion," one of the Palestinians interviewed says he was chained to a wooden frame with his arms up and beaten. A whipping post, in other words. This is a pretty fucking different thing from being crucified. The program also makes a point that it is a claim by this young man, and does not say "this is absolutely what happened."

What we have here is a pretty stock case of some bigots and fanatics - remember, Christians are antisemites just because they're Christian - being outraged about any reporting about Israeli "law enforcement" in the occupation... Four Corners hasn't unearthed anything new that hasn't been well-discussed in this forum already - hell, it even gives the Israeli side and points out how dangerous stone-throwing is.