'60 Minutes' Report on Israeli Air Force Feels Like Propaganda

I just saw the "60 Minutes" piece on the Israeli Air Force and I'm stunned. The piece had the feel of pure propaganda. It was all about the mighty air force, with acrobatics, macho pilots, cool missiles and cockpit footage of the bombing of the Osirak reactor back in '81. Bob Simon, the correspondent, and his interviewees, repeated standard Israeli self-justification: Israel is a tiny country in a tough neighborhood, Israel's first losing war will be its last war (wrong; Lebanon '06), the fight against Iran is also the world's fight.

Particularly galling: Simon reported on the "targeted assassination" program in the Occupied Territories without interviewing any Palestinians. Merely gave lip service to the fact that these strikes kill huge numbers of innocents. Simon briefly suggested that Israel was fostering a cycle of violence, but allowed an Israeli officer to answer the charges. No Arabs need apply to be American media sources. And if you are going to give so much airtime to ideological statements about Iran's aims, why no reference to Israel's nuclear program, let alone to American realists who say that Iran wants to arm itself as a deterrent against hostile rivals in a tough neighborhood?

But Simon, who I believe is Jewish, saved his most outrageous stunt for the finale: airing an officer's photograph of Auschwitz, and allowing the officer to go on about how the world ignored Hitler too. This is irresponsible journalism. The Hitler analogy was used again and again with Saddam, and what did that gain us?

P.S. Jack Ross states that Israel lost wars in '56, '73, and '82 before '06. I dunno. It's arguable.

Comments

[LeaNder]

The Hitler analogies make me sick and very, very angry.

[Ed]

You think that's bad, watch this video: How Jewish Zionist Mike Wallace and the ‘60 Minutes’ team framed Iran--and won an Emmy for it:

http://members.boardhost.com/libtoday/msg/1215641610.html

[Jim Haygood]

.

"Simon, who I believe is Jewish, saved his most outrageous stunt for the finale: airing an officer's photograph of Auschwitz."

The real nub of the matter, as it were: Holocaust guilt still being cynically exploited 60-odd years later, to extract exorbitant privilege for Israel, shielded by an ersatz "moral free pass."

When Palestinian victimhood finally gets equal billing with Jewish victimhood, the zionist narrative may be not merely neutralized, but superseded. Not only Israel, but also its bullying pals the US/UK (pronounced "you suck") may find themselves undone.

I'm less interested in the puerile propaganda of the U.S. lapdog media than in its purposes. Usually puff pieces like the "60 Minutes" advertorial serve to burnish the image of the military as good guys, before the "good guys" incinerate some more women and children. "60 Minutes" should do a REAL news story for a change: "When Good Democracies Turn Feral."

[Tracy]

You nailed it on the head this time. My husband and I watched this and said the same thing. In fact, I was half expecting to see an ad from the Israel Ministry of Tourism at the end of the segment: maybe a nice flyover of the Golan heights, the "Israeli Texas", followed by a happy family noshing on a delicious "Jewish hotdog."

[James North]

Bob Simon has in the past done some reasonably balanced reports on Israel; I remember one on the separation wall that did not entirely take the Israeli side. I wonder if this report is not meant as a sop to Israel and its supporters? But if the lobby weren't so powerful, he wouldn't have to kowtow like this.

[kevin]

It's the same as that terrible film by Adam Sandler "Don't Mess With The Zohan" -- American liberals get uncomfortable with the occupation... checkpoints, the wall, it's all just a bit too much. But they LOVE to love the Israeli military.

[stevieb]

I happened to be channel surfing on Sunday when I came upon the 60 minutes propaganda piece.

The funny thing was just after the interviewer began talking about target killings, and immediately after he commented to the IAF troop "you don't look like a killer" the show was cut off - completely in the middle of the interview and was replaced with a long running commercial.

Call me paranoid - but this was up here in Canada and the channel was Global television - owned by the infamous Aspers'.....

[agog]

In a nutshell, this is the MSM problem. 60 Minutes viewers believe it is serious journalism and their geo/political views are formed accordingly. It is received as hard-hitting, objective reporting and those who buy it become usefully ignorant.

Stevieb, as for the malign, stealth influence of the Aspers’ CanWest media empire in Canada, I fear your suspicions have grounds.

I am curious, though, about the CBC. Do they present a somewhat more neutral position along the lines of the BBC?