Historian/political writer Rick Perlstein writing in Rolling Stone explaining why media folks don’t speak out on the issue:
People are cowed at the thought of taking on the shrieking Israel absolutists, the ones who imagine themselves every day saving six million lives and their critics as hastening the slaughter.
From the Jewish Council for Public Affairs:
In Response to Flawed 60 Minutes Report on Israel, Thousands Join Letter Writing Campaign
Following an inaccurate report on the Palestinian Christian population, over 3,600 people have independently reached out to 60 Minutes through the Jewish Council for Public Affairs asking the television news magazine to correct the record. The report, “Christians of the Holy Land” which aired Sunday April 22nd, falsely claimed that the Palestinian Christian population had decreased and blamed the spurious change on Israeli policies….
…“This has really been a grassroots response from the community looking for honest discussion about Palestinian Christians and Israel,” said JCPA President Rabbi Steve Gutow. “We cannot have a productive and fair conversation if facts are misrepresented and the record is distorted.”
More from the email, to answer commenter Scott:
A report on the demographic data released by the JCPA last summer conclusively demonstrates that the population Palestinian Christian population has either remained the same or increased in West Bank over the last few decades…
JCPA Chair Dr. Conrad Giles: “60 Minutes took unchallenged the Kairos Palestine document, an anti-Israel manifesto that places 100% of the blame for the tragic Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Israel. We hope this broad call for a more responsible conversation on Israel does not go unnoticed.”
They’re claiming the Palestinian Christian population hasn’t decreased?
what i can’t figure out is what right american jews or american christians or american anyone have to speak out on behalf of another group of people half a world away. i mean, really, how many people in Christians for Israel actually know Palestinian Christians or an actual living, breathing palestinian christian? How many of the people who are writing in through the JCPA know a Palestinian, much less a Palestinian Christian? Why should CBS give their opinions any weight at all? What do these people know? How do they know it? The whole thing’s ludicrous if you think about it for more than two seconds. This all goes back to one of the most fundamental issues in the entire conflict, at least in the US, one of representation. Who has the right to speak for Palestinians in general and, in this case, for Palestinian Christians in particular? Are they not human beings who can express themselves and speak to their own experience and their own situation without being told that they are delusional and deceived by people thousands of miles away. It’s so ridiculous that it beggars belief.
I look forward to CBS mentioning all the letters that say the population record was fudged and the Christian population has actually not decreased — and explaining why they are both wrong and the writers deliberately misguided.
population has either remained the same or increased in West Bank over the last few decades
notice how the word percentage is not used.
“… shrieking Israel absolutists…”
best description, yet.