Friday, August 24, 2007

Proactive Toward CNN-please join us!Sondra, who appeared on the CNN program about Jewish warriors,

Sondra, who appeared on the CNN program about Jewish warriors,
and was a disgusted as the rest of us with the results, wanted us
to see her letter to CNN producer Jen Christensen.
I saw your recent letter from a viewer of the CNN program. I was
featured prominently on that program and wrote the following the
letter to the producer who I had had the most contact with in the
preparation of the program. I am planning to write a more
detailed report when I return from my current speaking tour in
the US. I hope this is helpful to you.

Shalom,
Sondra Oster Baras
Director, Israel Office
Christian Friends of Israeli Communities

Dear Jen,

Well, I saw it last night. Your portrayal of me was fair. My
only comment was that I never said I had a calling from G-d to do
what I do. I don't have that kind of direct line, although many
of my Christian friends believe they do. What I said is that is
was my calling -- meant in a far more secular way . I also said
that it is something I believe G-d wants me to be doing.

However, all that is minor compared to what I believe is the
incredibly slanted presentation you made . There have been
exactly 4 Jewish terrorist incidents or attempted incidents and
you devoted half the program to them, discussing each one in
detail. The people who support these are a fringe minority and
roundly condemned by 98% of the settlement movement. People like
Chanan Porat and myself are the representative, and yet you gave
far more time to Yehuda Etzion and David HaIvri and the others
who support this position. If you gave similar time to every
single Arab terrorist attack, the show would go on for days if
not years. Is that fair?

There is a great difference between believing that what you are
doing is right and just according to your faith and taking that
faith to crusader proportions, which we absolutely won't do.

Also, the legality of the settlements issue was so incredibly
biased. Eugene Rostow, undersecretary of State wrote a seminal
article defending their legality in the 80's, as did the Israeli
Supreme Court -- yet not a mention was made of that perspective .
This is not just about the conflict between Torah law and
democracy and international law. International law itself can be
seen from two different perspectives and that is exactly how
Menachem Begin saw it. And, as a former attorney myself, that is
exactly how I see it. Why was that not discussed?

And since when is Gershon Gorenberg the international expert on
all of this? He comes from a clearly biased position, and yet he
was placed in the position of the reasoned intellectual on the
issue. As were the other "experts" and historians you quoted .
Why did you not quote a single legal or historical expert on the
other side? If you needed help finding some, I would have been
glad to help.

Jen, I am disappointed in you and the others. But I am not
surprised. Please pass this on to Andy and Jody and anyone else
involved. I just do not have their e-mail addresses with me -- I
am currently in LA. I plan on writing a detailed letter
evaluating and analyzing the program when I get back to the US
and will send it to you as well as to others. If you'd like to
discuss this in person, I am on my cellphone -- .

However, all that being said, I am glad I participated if only to
ensure that at least a small part of the program included sane
commentary. How said that this is how we need to see CNN.
_____________________________________________________
Friends,

Get CNN where it hurts them the worse! Now here's an idea worth thinking about. Hitting CNN in their pocketbook.

Dear Naomi

CNN is thrilled if people from Israel and Jewish Americans write nasty letters TO CNN
- they will share that with their Arab friends and lefty viewers, and
then they will write letters to stoke the fires.

As a former CNN radio corresondent in Israel, and as someone who
has accompnied numerous CNN crews on a per diem basis over the
past 20 years, I can attest to the fact that what bothers and
hurts CNN would be to hit them where it hurts the most - with
their advertisers. You may quote what I am saying to anyone.
Please ask those who viewed and taped the program to determine
who the advertisers are. I suggest that one advertiser be
targeted . That will drive them crazy at CNN more than anything
else. You can use and apply this methodology to almost any media
outlet hit then in the pocket book with their advertisers.

Brachot Rabot

DAVID BEDEIN

No comments: