Lesley Stahl1
I was very pleased that “60 Minutes” used its lead piece last night, an interview by Lesley Stahl of former Mossad chief Meir Dagan, to try and stop war on Iran. Dagan is against it.
But I was disgusted by the talk about “Arabs.” Just read the transcript below. Beheading Arabs, eating Arabs for breakfast, the Arab world. Would any American network speak about black people in such repulsive terms? Stahl says, “Former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon used to say Dagan’s expertise was, quote, ‘separating an Arab from his head.'” Sorry but the quotation marks don’t justify quoting racism.
And then there are what Stahl describes as “exquisitely” executed assassinations of Israel’s enemies. She tries to get Dagan to talk about it with a coy smile on her face. Oh, I know: Israel lives in a very tough neighborhood. But how do Arabs feel, listening to such talk? (I can’t help pointing out, Lesley Stahl and Dagan are Jewish, and I’m betting the producer, Shachar Bar-On, also is. So, an argument against war from an Israeli is deemed to be more powerful than such an argument from Paul Pillar or Stephen Walt. Boy, this sure feels like an entre-nous Jewish conversation, with a lot of traditional racism.)
Stahl: Former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon used to say Dagan’s expertise was, quote, “separating an Arab from his head.”
Dagan: I never ever killed nobody or we were engaged in killing somebody who was unarmed.
Stahl: Here are some of the things that have been said and written about you. “Hard charging.” “Stop at nothing.” Somebody who, quote, “eats Arabs for breakfast.”
Dagan: I am not responsible for what you are describing.
Stahl: But have you killed a lot of people?
Dagan: Unfortunately, I was involved in some engagement that people were killed.
Stahl: Any with your bare hands?
Dagan: Never. I know the stories. It’s simply not true. Look, there is no pleasure in killing. There’s no joy in killing people.
[Stahl voice-over] Sitting in his apartment, we were surprised that the walls were covered with pictures that he himself had painted.
Stahl: I see a lot of humanity in your paintings and I see paintings of Arabs.
Dagan: I know it would sound anti-Semitic if I said some of my best friends are Arabs, but I truly, really admire some of the qualities of Arabs…
[Stahl voiceover] And then, one by one, Iranian nuclear scientists started disappearing and getting killed, blown up by shadowy men on motorcycles. But no matter how hard we tried, whenever we asked about any of this, he stonewalled.
Dagan: I’m not going to discuss anything about this issue.
Stahl: Okay, but that’s pretty well known.
Dagan: Nice try.
Stahl: Nice try! That must kill you not to take credit for it. I mean, even in the Arab world, do you know what they call you? They call you Superman!
Dagan: I don’t have my costume.
Stahl: In Superman’s time, Mossad was credited with a string of daring, exquisitely executed, covert missions and assassinations from Damascus to Sudan.
I had the same visceral reaction. She was like a horny teen girl in front of her idol, drooling with amazement as she spoke of his violence against Arabs, smiling joyfully as she quoted one racist quote after another. Even calling him Superman with a wry smile.
Disgusting. And Mr. Dagan had been briefed well. They barely touched upon the fact that a strike would never end a nuclear programme, only delay it. He confirmed that’s the case. But they never went into it.
Leslie’s racism was disgusting.
Subtract anti-Jewishness from anti-Semitism and you are left with racist anti-Semitism in both our print and broadcast media emitted 24/7 against native Middle Eastern Arabs and Iranians to remind us that Israel is a country of whites under attack by non-whites. There is too little note that many of those spewing this anti-Semitic racism in our media are Jewish, not a few of whom would characterize themselves as liberals. Is the right/willingness to spew such racism considered to be a kind of entitlement owed to one time victims of anti-Semitism? Sheldon Adelson is an easy example but what about the New Yorker, NPR, NYRB, etc., who work so hard not to report on ethnic cleansing and occupation as the problem and chose, rather, to be its enablers?
Thank God you’re bringing this interview up! I was disgusted and boiling mad watching that trashy, bigoted piece of journalism. I didn’t know she was part of the clan; why am I not surprised?
Those comments she made with that grin on her face were appalling! Calling that butcher, who’s responsible for so many deaths, Superman, was disgraceful and SICK. The giddy tone of the interview was DEPRAVED, to say the least.
If she made comments like that about her own tribe she’d be FIRED!
Its amazing. Stahl, the supposed enlightened journalist, is spouting sophomoric chauvinism and faux tough-guy lingo like some sort of character out of Dr Stangelove (“How many Ruskies did e get today?”) , while Dagan comes across as rational.
“Dagan: I know it would sound anti-Semitic if I said some of my best friends are Arabs, but I truly, really admire some of the qualities of Arabs…”
anti-Semitic to call Semites some of your best friends?
Stealing land, falafels and identity. Do Jewish and/ or Israeli people not use dictionaries? Or do they just want to perpetuate certain lies that are convenient to their power and victimization narratives?