Thanks to CBS for giving Palestinian Christians a voice
Anytime one does a story on Israel, there will surely be backlash…regardless of the position one takes. This is to be expected when it comes to any topic as sensitive as the current Middle East.
When you add in anything having to do with religion or ethnicity, the likelihood of generating hate mail increases exponentially.
But usually such backlash occurs after the story has been aired. However, when 60 Minutes aired a piece on Christians in the Holy Land they felt the negative pressure before the story even aired!
Watch the piece below and see for yourself…
[For more web extras, be sure to visit the video page HERE.]
CBS will likely catch much grief from the various Israel lobby groups * and charges of “anti-semitism” will surely be thrown around wrecklessly by those who see any criticism of the State of Israel as an attack on the Jewish people (despite the fact that the two are very different entities!). But I believe CBS is to be commended in this case for letting Palestinians themselves actually speak to the reality on the ground rather than letting the Israeli Ambassador determine the narrative viewers receive.
Too many times the Palestinian Christian voice is ignored completely or dismissed as irrelevant by apologists for current Israeli policy toward Palestinians…yet I would argue that as the most vulnerable of all peoples involved, theirs is one that should carry much weight among the Body of Christ around the world.
Thanks you for doing this story CBS.
JM
* I use the term “Israel lobby groups” rather than “Jewish lobby groups” precisely in order to distinguish concepts of political/state interests from ethnic/religious identity. For more on this, see the book in the link provided as well as this one by Craig Nielsen.
UPDATE: If you would like to join Jewish voices in thanking CBS for airing this piece despite the pressure from lobbyists you can do so at http://thankyou60minutes.org/
Categories: Blog, Eschatology, Political/Social issues