October 31, 2009
By eileen fleming
The News Media should be interviewing Dr. Mustafa Barghouti & Anna Baltzer, Jon's job is to entertain us, but once again, he lead the mainstream media to where many of US already are.
Jon also performed under duress from 'friends' who put him under pressure to censor the highly anticipated appearances of Dr. Barghouti and Baltzer.
::::::::
On
10/28/09, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart did what the mainstream media
has failed to report about-the rapidly growing global nonviolent
solidarity movement of resisters to the occupation of Palestine, by
hosting a Palestinian politician and American Jewish scholar and
activist author.
The News Media should be interviewing Dr.
Mustafa Barghouti & Anna Baltzer, Jon's job is to entertain us, but
once again, he lead the mainstream media to where many of US already
are.
Jon also performed under duress from 'friends' who put
him under pressure to censor the highly anticipated appearances of Dr.
Barghouti and Baltzer. As of this writing on October 31, 2009, The
Daily Show forum conversation regarding the BB show has attracted
21,059 reads to its first page and over 500 messages.
One of mine says: The morning after Anna Baltzer wrote:
Dear friends,
Last night Dr. Barghouti and I were on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart talking about Palestine.
The
show was overwhelmed with angry emails and phone calls prior to the
appearance, and up until the last minute it seemed like they might
cancel. During the taping the show had its only heckler in 11 years.
The entire staff were very nervous and may come to regret the
monumental decision (and not make it again) as they will surely be
inundated now that the show has aired.
That is why it is CRUCIAL that the show receive letters of support from anyone who appreciated the interview.
PLEASE
take a moment to give a quick thank you to the Daily Show. I'm sure
they will likely be affected by numbers rather than length, so it's OK
to make it short, but spread the word to others! Be sure to put "Thank
you" in the subject, and maybe Dr. Barghouti & my names.
Fill out the form here:
http://www.comedycentral.com/help/questionsCC.jhtml
Make sure to choose The Daily Show with Jon Stewart as your topic.
Many of you who watched the show on TV noticed that everything of real substance that I said was edited out.
The
major issues cut out were (1) the US role in aiding Israel, (2) the
lack of adequate coverage in mainstream US media, and (3) the
Palestinian-led movement for Boycott / Divestment / Sanctions (BDS) to
nonviolently pressure Israel to comply with international law"
Regardless
of the cuts, this was a huge step for the movement (and Dr. Barghouti's
left-in parts were excellent, in my opinion). If you agree, do make
your letters positive, even if you decide to mention the disappointing
discrepancy between the full interview and what was aired"I believe the
interview wouldn't have happened 3 years ago. Times are changing. Keep
on keepin' on...Anna
An audience member at the taping of the show wrote:
Jon
Stewart made it clear to the audience that he was UNDER TONS OF
PRESSURE. Lots of his pro-Israeli friends [called] up and were trying
to force the cancellation of the show.
But
Jon stood tall and allowed the show to be taped; HOWEVER he did ANNA
ZERO JUSTICE BY REMOVING ALMOST 95% of her comments from the nationally
televised broadcast...
Why did he remove them?
Simple, BECAUSE SHE WAS A JEW CRITICISING ISRAEL WITH SOLID FACTS!
"This
is a 60 year old conflict and the proof is in REAL HISTORY, not some
TORAH. Also the Heckler was an ISRAELI, who made it clear, the ISRAELIS
WANT TO KEEP THE PALESTINIANS SILENT IN AMERICA. WHY??? BECAUSE THEY
FEAR THEIR LARGE WELFARE CHECK FROM THE UNITED STATES MIGHT SOON
DISASPPEAR.
I
mean the Jews suffered the holocaust for 4 years; the PALESTINIANS HAVE
BEEN UNDER COLONIALIZATION FOR MORE THAN 60 YEARS!-Shalom 10-30-2009
04:09 PM
Another forum commenter noted:
Jon
Stewart has sent Rob Riggle to China, and Jason Jones to Iran. Sure, it
was intended to be done with a light touch, but it was also to show
that there wasn't too much different between our "enemies" and
ourselves. I didn't see this kind of virulent Jon-hate when he showed
Iranians to be pleasantly lovely people. The leadership, on the other
hand, he's napalmed when they deserved it - and this goes for Yasir
Arafat, as well as "Bibi".
Jon
Stewart and his staff aren't "biased" toward anything but people in
positions of power using said power to shut others up. And that
includes both sides of the Palestinian and Israeli conflict.
To
show how totally under the rug this kind of topic is - look at the
Huffington Post right now. They always are happy to feature the Daily
Show - But what's their main Jon Stewart story? How he mocked Fox News
and the White House.
It's
as if *this* entire interview never took place. If you do a search on
google news for this show - you get only SEVEN articles even
mentioning, and NONE of them are 'mainstream' press. By comparison, Jon
Stewart's interview with Cramer has its own Wikipedia entry. ABC News
webpage has a story on Jon Gosslins "Mantrums" and "Meet the Wiccan
Next Door".
Yet a story that is frying this message board has got hardly *anything* notice-wise in the "real" world.
I
know this is a comedy show, but really - the fact is he's willing to
put his reputation and his show "on the line" to talk about a subject
that he doesn't *have* to talk about - and there's nothing but
resounding silence in the media.
I
can only assume that no one else in the media has the balls to touch
it, because the question will naturally come up "Well, why is a
comedian talking about this - why isn't your news network interviewing
these people?"
And that's a question the news media isn't too keen on having to answer."-M
Message 480 reads:
I
have known Anna for a number of years and I have had the great honor of
meeting Dr. Barghouti and introducing him at an event. They are both
gracious and politically astute.
Personally,
I was pleased that Anna let Dr. Barghouti have the floor. After all,
Barghouti represents Palestinian civil society. They are the
oppressed. Anna is a very privileged person who was there as an ally.
It was ultimately more important to hear from Barghouti.
While
I cannot speak for her, I would be very surprised to learn from Anna
that she felt she was somehow being silenced or "upstaged" by
Barghouti. She is much smarter than that, and I would suggest that
people calm down and appreciate that they were given an opportunity to
hear from a true leader of Palestinian civil society.
This
said, I encourage people to 1) visit Anna's web site
(http://www.annainthemiddleeast.com), 2) buy and study her book, 3) contact
her and arrange to have her speak at your church, mosque, synagogue, or
community group. She has several great, thought-provoking
presentations and is dedicated to working for a just peace between
Israelis and Palestinians. By the way, her DVD is also terrific, and
you can organize a little living-room forum and show it to your friends
and neighbors. She gives you the tools to join the struggle for a just
peace. I hope you will. Both the Israelis and Palestinians need all
of us to join in. [1]
In
solidarity with all that, and I add we need a media who will stop
spouting falsehoods, such as what caused Jon's misunderstanding about
Iran's supposed intentions towards Israel.
In 2006, Virginia Tilley, Professor of political science wrote:
"In
his October 2005 speech, Mr. Ahmadinejad never used the word 'map' or
the term 'wiped off.' According to Farsi-language experts like Juan
Cole and even right-wing services like MEMRI, what he actually said was
'this regime that is occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of
time.'
"In
this speech to an annual anti-Zionist conference, Mr. Ahmadinejad was
being prophetic, not threatening. He was citing Imam Khomeini, who said
this line in the 1980s-a period when Israel was actually selling arms
to Iran, so apparently it was not viewed as so ghastly then.
"Mr.
Ahmadinejad had just reminded his audience that the Shah's regime, the
Soviet Union, and Saddam Hussein had all seemed enormously powerful and
immovable, yet the first two had vanished almost beyond recall and the
third now languished in prison.
"So, too, the "occupying regime" in Jerusalem would someday be gone. His message was, in essence: "This too shall pass."
Iran
has also not launched an aggressive war in modern history -unlike the
US and Israel-and its leaders adhere to the doctrine of "no first
strike."
We need a media who will give us some truth-such as in this third part of a Bill Moyers-Goldstone interview:
Judge Goldstone on Bill Moyers 3
We
need a media who will allow the voices of Israeli conscientious
objectors known as Shministim; Hebrew for "twelfth-graders" and they
are "Jews and Arabs from all parts of the country"[who] toil against
the occupation and oppression policies of the Israeli government in the
occupied territories, and in the territory of the land of Israel, and
therefore refuse to take part in actions related to such policies,
which are carried out"by the Israeli Defence Force." [2]
Shministim
are also a community of activists whose conscientious objection to
refusing to serve in the Forces that enforce the military occupation of
Palestine stems from volunteer experiences, values, love and respect
for their society and every human being, and they aim to better their
country for all its inhabitants.
We
need a media who will learn from American Israeli professor Jeff
Halper, Founder and Coordinator of Israeli Committee Against House
Demolitions, that "Israel is a not a democracy but is an Ethnocracy,
meaning a country run and controlled by a national group with some
democratic elements but set up with Jews in control and structured to
keep them in control."
We
need a media who will report about Israel's WMD program and the failure
of the US government to support the best interests of we the people by
failing to hold Israel accountable to the same criteria we demand of
other states and nations.
In 2005, Mordechai Vanunu told me:
"When
Johnson became president, he made an agreement with Israel that two
senators would come every year to inspect. Before the senators would
visit, the Israelis would build a wall to block the underground
elevators and stairways. From 1963 to '69, the senators came, but they
never knew about the wall that hid the rest of the Dimona from them.
Nixon stopped the inspections and agreed to ignore the situation. As a
result, Israel increased production. In 1986, there were over two
hundred bombs. Today, they may have enough plutonium for ten bombs a
year."
But we have a media that
failed to even report on a freedom of speech trial in Jerusalem, and
now it is too late for them to interview Mordechai Vanunu.
Vanunu
quit talking to foreign supporters and media on July 6, 2009, when he
"made the decision"to refrain from making any statements on the nuclear
issue and other sensitive subjects about which he had knowledge" and
Vanunu's lawyer added, "Until now he wouldn't commit to refrain from
speaking of [Israel's nuclear program], but now he is." [3]
We
need a media who can connect the dots from 1948 to 1967 to 1986 to now
and catch the spirit of Edward R. Murrow: "To be persuasive, we must be
believable; to be believable, we must be credible; to be credible, we
must be truthful."
We
need a media that will inform the public that the modern conflict
between Palestine and Israel, is not about religious differences, but
all about land, human rights and international law.
Until then, we have the Internet and Jon.
Please send him a thanks:
http://www.comedycentral.com/help/questionsCC.jhtml
Choose The Daily Show with Jon Stewart as your topic and THANKS in Subject line.
See the un-cut interview on the Daily Show homepage or
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-october-28-2009/exclusive---anna-baltzer---mustafa-barghouti-extended-interview-pt--1
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-october-28-2009/exclusive---anna-baltzer---mustafa-barghouti-extended-interview-pt--2
Footnotes: http://forum.thedailyshow.com/tds/board/message?board.id=1118&thread.id=4344
http://www.shministim.com/our-letter/
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1246443734213&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
eileen fleming,
Senior Correspondent and Founder of WeAreWideAwake.org
A Feature Correspondent for Arabisto.com
Author of "Keep Hope Alive" and "Memoirs of a Nice Irish American 'Girl's' Life in Occupied Territory"
Producer "30 Minutes with Vanunu" and "13 Minutes with Vanunu"
Authors Bio:Eileen Fleming,is a Citizen of CONSCIENCE for US House of Representatives 2012
Founder of WeAreWideAwake.org
Staff Member of Salem-news.com, A Feature Correspondent for Arabisto.com
Producer "30 Minutes with Vanunu" and "13 Minutes with Vanunu"
Author of "Keep Hope Alive" and "Memoirs of a Nice Irish American 'Girl's' Life in Occupied Territory" and "BEYOND NUCLEAR: Mordechai Vanunu's FREEDOM of SPEECH Trial and My Life as a Muckraker: 2005-2010"
http://www.youtube.com/user/eileenfleming