CyberAlert -- 04/16/2002 -- Peter's Palestinian Proclivity

Brent Baker

April 16, 2002 - 1:00am

Peter's Palestinian Proclivity; Palestinian Teens "Trapped" in U.S. Understand "Despair" of Suicide Bombers; "No Greater Honor" Than to Kill Jews; Alec Baldwin Denied Saying He'd Leave U.S., But

1) Peter Jennings portrayed a Palestinian terrorist as a man who was forced into it since he "was in favor of the peace process until, as he told an Israeli newspaper, the Israelis didn't withdraw from the territories and went on building Jewish settlements."

2) ABC's World News Tonight featured a story on the plight of two Palestinian teenage girls "trapped" in California. Judy Muller let the girls spout off about their grievances, such as how Israel wants them to live like "dogs." Seconds before one proclaimed how "we want to live in peace like other children in the world," Muller sympathetically relayed how on suicide bombings the same girl "understands the despair behind such actions."

3) On Monday night, NBC's Andrea Mitchell cut through Yasser Arafat's condemnation of suicide bombers to point out how Arafat's wife proclaimed that if she had a son that there would be 'no greater honor' than to have him murder Jews.

4) Two celebrities over the weekend denied ever uttering two provocatively un-patriotic sounding comments. Actor Alec Baldwin maintained that he never said he'd leave the country if George W. Bush became President and actor Danny Glover insisted that he had not charged that the U.S. "is a purveyor of violence" around the world. The record for both shows otherwise.

5) Letterman's "Top Ten Fun Things To Do In a Jet." Plus, the Late Show Web page has posted the winning picks in its "Top Ten Contest" for the "Top Ten Reasons Bryant Gumbel is Leaving The Early Show."

>>> Now online, the latest Notable Quotables, the MRC's bi-weekly compilation of the latest outrageous, sometimes humorous, quotes in the liberal media. Amongst the topic headings in the April 15 issue: "Touting a Terrorist's Denials..."; "...While Hiding Terrorists' Guilt"; "Anxious For Afghan Quagmire"; "Rationalizing Terrorist Murderers"; "Ashcroft's Terrifying Tactics"; "Paying Ransom = Imperialism"; "Cheering Anti-Free Speech Law"; "Ignorant & Unjust Texas Verdict"; "Happily Aiding Brock's Vendetta"; "Missing Bill's 'Unmatched Ability'" and "SUVs' Win Is Environment's Loss." To read all the quotes:
http://www.mediaresearch.org/notablequotables/2002/nq20020415.asp
[1] For the Adobe Acrobat PDF version:
http://www.mediaresearch.org/notablequotables/2002/pdf/Apr152001nq.pdf [2] <<<

ABC's Peter Jennings demonstrated once again on Tuesday night how he sees the Middle East through the eyes of a Palestinian. Compare how he described terrorist coordinator Marwan Barghouti, captured by the Israeli Defense Force, with how CBS's Dan Rather and NBC's Tom Brokaw set up their pieces on events of the day in Israel.

Jennings endorsed Palestinian spin about an "occupation" as he announced on the April 15 World News Tonight: "Today in Ramallah the Israelis arrested a Palestinian who's been central to the Palestinian uprising against the occupation. His name is Marwan Barghouti. He was in favor of the peace process until, as he told an Israeli newspaper, the Israelis didn't withdraw from the territories and went on building Jewish settlements."

Yes, a peace-loving man until he was forced to start planning terrorist attacks on civilians.

Dan Rather set up a CBS Evening News story: "In the Middle East today, Israeli forces arrested one of Yasser Arafat's top lieutenants and plan to try him as a terrorist. That provoked new anger from the Palestinians, even though as CBS's David Hawkins reports, Israel's Prime Minister said his tanks and troops will soon pull back from most, not all but most, Palestinian towns."

Over on the NBC Nightly News, Tom Brokaw noted: "The Israelis have captured a man they say is a key aide to Arafat and a major figure in the suicide attacks against Israeli targets. His name is Marwan Barghouti."

Palestinians "trapped" in the United States? ABC's World News Tonight on Monday featured a story on the plight of two Palestinian teenage girls "trapped" in California because they are now unable to return to their West Bank homes. Instead of looking at how much better off they are living in San Francisco, ABC News reporter Judy Muller, who has praised the far-left Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting for how it "stands alone in countering the myriad media critics on the far right," devoted the piece to letting the two girls spout off about their grievances, such as how Israel wants them to live like "dogs."

The two young women were in the U.S. to attend the Academy Awards were a film in which they were involved was up for an Oscar. It didn't win.

Muller sympathetically relayed how though one of them "insists she would never be a suicide bomber, she understands the despair behind such actions." But Muller didn't see any contradiction in then reporting that the "girls are using their time here to meet with American teenagers. Their message is simple." And the message of those who "understand" suicide murderers? One explained: "We want to live in peace like other children in the world."

Anchor Peter Jennings introduced the April 15 story: "Mr. Powell said today that he has been focusing in part on securing humanitarian relief for the people in need after the Israeli invasion. So many Palestinians have been trapped in their territories. We also noticed today that there were two young Palestinian women who ended up trapped here when they had gone to Hollywood."

Judy Muller began the subsequent story, as transcribed by MRC analyst Brad Wilmouth, over a wide shot of the audience at the Academy Awards:
"Somewhere in this audience at last month's Academy Awards were two Palestinian girls. They traveled to Hollywood in hopes that a documentary about the lives of seven Israeli and Palestinian children would win an Oscar. The film didn't win. And now the two friends, Sanabel Al-Faraja and Kayan Al-Saify, are stuck in San Francisco -- and in limbo. They want to return to their home, a refugee camp in the West Bank, but their parents say the Israeli offensive has turned their home into a war zone. That has them worried and angry."
Kayan Al-Saify, West Bank resident: "They want from us to be like the dogs, like the animals, but we are not like this. We are strong and brave."
Muller: "Sanabel was one of the children featured in the documentary. When it was made five years ago, she was ten. Her father, a journalist, was held for several years without charge at an Israeli prison. This week Sanabel, who is now 15, learned from her mother that her father has fled, fearful of being detained again."
Sanabel Al-Faraja: "She said for me don't come back to your home because that's dangerous for you."
Muller: "In the film, Sanabel was one of the few children who expressed hope that Israelis and Palestinians might one day live in peace."
Sanabel now: "But now my everything is changed. I don't have a home. My hope is lost."
Muller allowed her to rationalize murder: "The little girl who once danced with joy [video of her dancing] is now a sad young woman. While she insists she would never be a suicide bomber, she understands the despair behind such actions. The girls are using their time here to meet with American teenagers. Their message is simple:"
Sanabel to a group of teens: "As you see, I have hands, I have legs, I have a spirit just like you. And we want to live in peace like other children in the world."

Except when we're murdering civilians on behalf of a Palestinian state, which never existed, by blowing ourselves up.

Nonetheless, Muller concluded by letting us in on what we missed: "It was the message she was prepared to deliver if the film had won an Oscar. Now she delivers it to anyone who will listen. Judy Muller, ABC News, San Francisco."

On Monday night, of the broadcast networks, only NBC cut through Palestinian victimology and Yasser Arafat's condemnation of suicide bombers to point out how Arafat's wife proclaimed that if she had a son that there would be 'no greater honor' than to have him murder Jews.

Andrea Mitchell noted on the April 15 NBC Nightly News: "Saturday Arafat condemned all terrorist acts against civilians. But now there's this: His wife Suha, who lives in Paris with her young daughter, tells a London-based Saudi-owned newspaper that if she had a son there would, quote, 'be no greater honor' than to sacrifice him for the Palestinian cause."

What a sexist.

Two celebrities over the weekend denied ever uttering two provocatively un-patriotic sounding comments attributed to them. Actor Alec Baldwin told CNN's Judy Woodruff that he never said he'd leave the country if George W. Bush became President, insisting that "I have never seen one person produce one audio clip or one video clip or one piece of evidence that I ever made that statement," and actor Danny Glover assured FNC's Rita Cosby that he had not charged that the U.S. "is a purveyor of violence" in its war on terrorism.

In fact, back in September of 2000 FNC showed a clip of Baldwin parsing his words: "I think my exact comment was that if Bush won it would be a good time to leave the United States. I'm not necessarily going to leave the United States."

Last fall, a newspaper quoted Glover condemning the United States: "One of the main purveyors of violence in this world has been this country, whether it's been against Nicaragua, Vietnam or wherever." He also called on the U.S. to not kill Osama bin Laden.

Alec Baldwin told CNN's Judy Woodruff he never said he'd leave the U.S. if Bush won, but actually...

-- Alec Baldwin. Woodruff interviewed Baldwin in Orlando, Florida over the weekend where Baldwin spoke at the Florida Democratic Party's convention. He declared: "I am a hope-to-die, carry-me-out-in-a-box Democrat." Inside Politics on Monday featured excerpts from Woodruff's interview, including:

Woodruff: "You have not only been critical at points. You said some pretty tough things about George W. Bush. And the Republicans have made note of this. At one point, you were quoted as saying that you'd leave the country if George Bush were elected."
Baldwin countered: "Right. And I am glad you asked that question, because, you know, to this day, I have never seen one person produce one audio clip or one video clip or one piece of evidence that I ever made that statement, because I never made that statement, never."

Well, not so fast. While it is true that the story about him leaving the U.S. if Bush won came second hand from his wife in a story published in a German magazine, after it caused commotion in September of 2000 FNC's Brit Hume played this non-denial denial soundbite from Baldwin: "I think my exact comment was that if Bush won it would be a good time to leave the United States. I'm not necessarily going to leave the United States."
Off-camera female reporter: "You're not really going anywhere."
Baldwin: "I might go on a long vacation."

How soon until that overseas vacation will begin?

Hume added in his September 18, 2000 story: "Baldwin, you'll recall, suggested on late night TV during the Clinton impeachment that Henry Hyde and his family should be killed."

Indeed, on the December 11, 1998 Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Baldwin thought it was funny to stand and shout: "Stone Henry Hyde to death!" To read the full quote or to watch the outburst via RealPlayer, go to: http://www.mediaresearch.org/news/biasvideo_classics.html [3]

As reported in the September 19, 2000 CyberAlert, a September 17 AP dispatch from Munich announced: "Baldwins Will Leave if Bush Wins." The story read, in full:
"If George W. Bush wins the U.S. presidential election this November, he may not be the only one moving into a new house.
"Kim Basinger said her husband, actor and Democratic party activist Alec Baldwin, was serious when he said he would leave the United States if the Republican wins.
"'Alec is the biggest moralist that I know,' she was quoted as saying in Focus magazine, which hits newsstands Monday. 'He stands completely behind what he says.'
"Asked if she'd move with him, Basinger said: 'I can very well imagine that Alec makes good on his threat. And then I'd probably have to go too.'"

-- Danny Glover. On FNC's FoxWire at 10pm EDT on Sunday night, during an interview pegged to the actor's fundraising for AIDS research, Rita Cosby raised a controversial past comment with Glover, an exchange taken down by MRC analyst Patrick Gregory.

Cosby: "Now you've also been critical of some other U.S. policies, particularly our war against terror. You've said quote that 'the U.S. is a purveyor of violence.' What did you mean by that?"
Danny Glover: "I did not say that; I quoted Martin Luther King. Martin Luther King said in his speech 'a time to end the silence' in 1968 that he meant that, that he said that about the U.S., and I did quote Martin Luther King."
Cosby: "Did you think that the attacks on Afghanistan were justified?"
Glover demurred: "That's not the question that I really want to deal with at this particular point in time, because the issue of AIDS far outdistances the issue of what I feel about war in general. I'm principally against any kind of conflict...and for finding ways in which we can deal with the conflicts through ways which are, through negotiation and reconciliation."
Cosby: "Were you surprised though, because some people have come out recently and made some comments and been upset with some of the things you've said, saying we shouldn't have attacked Afghanistan, that Bin Laden shouldn't receive the death penalty, are you surprised?"
Glover: "Excuse me, you know one of the things that I talked about, I came there, I was invited to Princeton University to talk about the death penalty. I am a staunch opponent of the death penalty, and I have been more years than I've realized it, and I've stayed, I'm pretty consistent with my principle behind the issues around the death penalty, and that's what my speech was about. I in no way used that opportunity and have anytime used any venue that I've talked at to talk about the war in Afghanistan, at no time."

In fact, at least according to a November 16, 2001 Trentonian story, Glover argued that Osama bin Laden should not be killed:
"Movie star Danny Glover, known for his brutal gunplay in the Lethal Weapon movie series, last night called on the U.S. to spare the life of Osama bin Laden.
"As guest speaker at an anti-death penalty forum at Princeton University, Glover said America was the one to blame for bombing and terror around the world.
"'Yes -- Yes!' Glover said when asked if American forces should spare the Saudi terrorist's life.
"'When I say the death penalty is inhumane. I mean [it's inhumane] whether that person is in a bird cage [jail] or it's bin Laden.'"

The paper quoted Glover as declaring: "One of the main purveyors of violence in this world has been this country, whether it's been against Nicaragua, Vietnam or wherever."

For more from the Trentonian story, refer back to the November 19, 2001 CyberAlert: http://www.mrc.org/cyberalerts/2001/cyb20011119.asp#5 [4]

From the April 12 Late Show with David Letterman, as read by airmen at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey, the "Top Ten Fun Things To Do In a Jet." Late Show Web page: http://www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/ [5]

10. Going wicked fast and zooming around like crazy
(Staff Sergeant, Tony Niwore)

9. Taxiing up to Wendy's drive-thru window
(Captain, Jim Pederson)

8. Annoying your fellow pilots by leaving your turn signal on
(Lieutenant, Cindy Larsen)

7. Wanna impress people? Show up to your high school reunion in a C-141
(Technical Sergeant, Joe Baldwin)

6. We're not supposed to, but sometimes we go to the moon
(Lieutenant, John Lawton)

5. Land on an interstate, pull into service area and yell, "Fill 'er up!"
(Senior Airman, Doreen Saal)

4. Even though there is no such thing, telling the new guy to take us to hyperspace
(Technical Sergeant, Del Shaffar)

3. Playing Boggle -- Boggle's fun no matter where you are!
(Major, Jeff Eickmann)

2. Flying over the I.R.S. and dropping off my "taxes"
(Master Sergeant, Liz Mitchell)

1. Breakfast: Phoenix. Lunch: Brazil. Dinner: Paris.
(Technical Sergeant, Mike Pelton)

> The Late Show Web page on Monday posted the winning picks submitted in its "Top Ten Contest" for the "Top Ten Reasons Bryant Gumbel is Leaving The Early Show." To see the winners: http://www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/top_ten/contest/ [6]

In a future CyberAlert (I didn't want to overload on top tens today), I'll send the winning list as well as some of the submissions sent to me by CyberAlert readers.

> Scheduled to appear tonight, Tuesday, on NBC's Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Chris Matthews of CNBC/MSNBC/NBC. -- Brent Baker [7]

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