Miko Peled responds to interview
Miko Peled
I have given this some thought and here is what I think about the interview:
Patrick and Chuck were clearly ill prepared to speak on the topic of Israel/Palestine. One would hope that two seasoned interviewers would show respect to their guest and learn about the subject matter so that some common ground for the conversation could be established. But this was not the case. Instead the interview and particularly the questions asked by Chuck, were given a hostile and patronizing tone, clearly in an attempt to hide the lack of knowledge on the subject matter. One example that persistently came up is the issue of the population within Israel/Palestine. Without knowing how many people live in the country one cannot form an opinion, and as is often done by people who try to mask their ignorance with demagoguery, the claim was made that this is not important, that my data was not real but invented, and I believe Chuck closed the issue by saying: “I don’t care.”
The issue of Israel and Palestine is far too important and there is no room for amateurs to dabble with it as though they were experts. Real innocent lives are at stake. Real opportunities can be seized or missed based on one’s intentions. I cannot speak for their intentions, but clearly the interview has shown both hosts to be amateurs.
But that was not the end of it. Once the interview was over and I was of the “air” Patrick and Chuck went on to talk about me, at one point calling me a traitor and at another a naive visionary. Once again the weakness of the interviewers was exposed when instead of admitting they were ill prepared, indeed out of their depth, they went on to slander my name, claim that I receive money from the “enemies of Israel” a nebulous term if ever there was one, and that my father must be turning in his grave for hearing what I have to say. Yet not a single note of intelligent conversation on the issue of Israel/ Palestine was uttered.
In closing, it is shameful to treat this issue with such disrespect and it is worse to treat a guest with such disrespect. The claims of treachery and blood money ought to have been made to to me directly. One may hope that something positive does come out of this experience, though I cannot see what it might be.
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As I explained to Miko, I prepared for the interview by reading his book, which was the topic of he interview. I came to the microphone with notes, questions and a copy of the book replete with post-its. My purpose in interviewing any guest, including him, is to draw out what they know, not talk about what I know. The guest is the asset and the person bringing new knowledge and opinion and I try to give my audience an opportunity to hear what the guest has to say, rather than demonstrate how much I know. I am sorry if Miko thought that letting him talk seemed like I was unprepared.
Letting him talk? He was interrupted repeatedly. Your “interview” is just another piece of evidence that Americans believe all the myths foisted on us everywhere we turn. Whoever recommended Joan Peters’ book to counter Miko Peled played a nasty trick to make you look idiotic. They succeeded!
Dear Patrick and Chuck,
I have listened to your interview with Miko Peled several times now and must confess that many of his criticisms of your preparation and understanding of the issue of Israel/Palestine are on the money. Miko is an Israeli by birth, an IDF veteran, and a long-time activist on this topic, and is well-respected internationally for his knowledge on these issues. Chuck, your repeated suggestions that Mr. Peled read Joan Peters’ book are, frankly, not something anyone familiar with Israeli history can take seriously. Peters and her book were discredited decades ago by knowledgeable historians and ‘From Time Immemorial’ has been cited by Prof. Avi Shlaim, author of the balanced Israel history ‘The Iron Wall’, as being little more than recycled Israeli propaganda. If you had suggested a title from a right-wing or centrist Israeli scholar, Benny Morris for example, then perhaps you could have gone out on a limb to attempt to educate Mr. Peled on a subject with which he is intimately familiar. That you would insist the Peters book form the point at which to facilitate dialogue only proved the assertion of your guest that you are at best a little misinformed on the subject of Israel/Palestine. The Peled interview was an opportunity missed for your show to profile an activist who has a real commitment to the lives and happiness of Jews, Palestinians, and everyone else in the region. I would suggest that you both either personally become more familiar with the topic, which is easy as reading two or three Israeli newspapers online, or have your researchers spend time on current events before engaging another guest of this stripe. The issues surrounding the region are not going away, and Miko Peled is not alone in his view that the best way forward is a single democratic state for all the citizens there. If you wish to argue differently you should first get a better general understanding of the subject of Israel/Palestine.
I am a Palestinian lady who has lived in the west for a long time and i know what ignorance means when you ask an American citizen whose country is engaged in a serious war with Iraq where Iraq is half of the people would answer near Mexico , sorry to start my piece of writing like this but we are used to the American media dealing with the Israeli/Palestinian issue with misconception and ignorance leading their people to not see their people to see the issue from the Israeli point of view only. we are an occupied land and this is the truth we are being attacked on daily bases killed and starved imprisoned for no good reason but because THEY WANT SO well shame on those interviewers and shame on those who watcj innocent people die and children murdered with called blood and sir Mr. Peled i want you to know that our hearts and the hearts of millions of silent innocent people pray for you and many like you for crying out loud for justice may our creator bless your heart and may he reward you well on your hard hard work and god bless you brave man because you are one of a kind my friend Lovee Sadi
This is a typical Palestinian tirade that mixes up facts with fiction, but more importantly than anything else, it illustrated the Palestinian refusal to acknowledge that they themselves bear the overwhelming majority of the responsibility for the situation they’re now complaining about. Typically also, the writer claims that the Palestinians are being attacked on a daily basis, when it is exactly the reverse that happens on a daily basis. From attempts to kill Israelis in the West Bank to the daily attempts to infiltrate suicide bombers in Israel (something that the media never reports), the Israelis have plenty of very good reasons to fire back when fired upon and to capture and imprisoned Palestinian terrorists who try to kill Israelis. When the Palestinians abandon the tactics of terrorism, they won’t have any more reason to complain about Israeli security of defense forces pouncing on them because the latter will have no reason to strike back any more. Contrary to what Ms. Sadi’s lies state, the Israelis have plenty of other things that they would much rather do than to make sure the Palestinians are not trying to kill them at every opportunity. But they have no choice.
You are calling Miko Peled a liar? A man who served in the IDF and fully understanding that incitement is their job — not “defense”, but harassment and humiliation of the Palestinians.
Here are the testimonies of many members of the IDF explaining their roles in abusing Palestinians.
http://www.discovertheterritories.com/#!testimony1/mainPage
Well, actually I was calling Sadi a liar, but yes, now that you mention it, Peled is also a first-class liar. If you endorse the Palestinian distorted version of history, you cannot help but become a liar, as unwittingly as it may be (this does not apply to Peled, of course: he knows he is lying, or if you want to give him the benefit of the doubt let’s just say that he believes in a parallel universe reality that has nothing to do with our reality.
Craig
Thank you for a very reasoned and intelligent reply. I would point out, as I did to Miko, that Chuck and I took different tacks in the interview and you should address us separately.
I actually learned a lot from reading Miko’s book and from interviewing him. This is not an issue that is a high priority with me nor one in which I follow closely, although I did read Miko’s book carefully and do keeps track of general news on the issue. One thing I learned, and said on the air, is that I better understand that the US media do not give us an accurate story of the Israeli-Palestine history and present and that we are bathed in a pro-Israeli information flow that is not always true and understates and sometimes ignores the abuse of Palistinians and their history. I reject the idea that there were no people living in the areas in 1948 when the Zionists arrived. They may not have called themselves Palestinians, but they were there and they lost their homes.
Again, thank you for a reasoned and intelligent comment. Chuck has posted his reply; feel free to address your comments to his posting also.
What do you think they were called if not Palestinians? There were Palestinian Jews, Palestinian Muslims, and Palestinian Christians. The World Zionist Organization used the name Palestine in all their materials: posters, fliers, letters of encouragement to Jews to emigrate from the 1890s forward. If there was no Palestine, why did the Zionist call it that?
The Jews called themselves Palestinians, and the Arabs called themselves Arabs living in British-mandated Palestine. There was no “Arab-Palestinian” consciousness nor identity as such until after the 1967 war. If there had been one before, how come these “Palestinians” did not claim and obtain their own country from Jordan (which illegally occupied the West Bank after the 1948 war of Arab aggression), and from Egypt (which equally illegally occupied Gaza, also in 1948)? Because they didn’t see themselves as distinct from their Arab brothers from Jordan and Egypt, that’s why. But as soon as they were occupied by Israel, all of a sudden they found that they had a separate identity (which was correct), and claimed that they had been there in that capacity since the Muslim invasion of the late 7th century (which is completely bogus).
Are you reading from Joan Peters’ book, Angel? Throw it away, it’s bogus!
Palestinians called themselves Palestinians and included all three: Jews, Christians and Muslims. And they co-existed until Zionism arrived.
Educate yourself:
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/zionist-story/
Wow… Obviously a very reliable source:
“The Zionist Story, an independent film by Ronen Berelovich, is the story of ethnic cleansing, colonialism and apartheid to produce a demographically Jewish State.”
In one sentence, we have three of the most popular and most erroneous slanders that empty-headed pro-Palestinians repeat like stupid parrots (which real parrots are not, no offense to them) without understanding what they are actually referring to. To wit: “ethnic cleansing” (together with the accusation of genocide, this one has got to be the most obvious proof of human stupidity since – oddly enough – the “ethnically cleansed” population fled on its own and the “genocided” one multiplied from 800,000 in 1948 to 4.5 million today), “colonialism” (how could Israel be a colonial power since it was itself the result of colonialism, like all its neigbors?), and “apartheid” (the biggest trope of all, repeated by people who have no idea what the real Apartheid was to South African blacks, many of whom today are offended that the Palestinians abusively appropriated their real suffering to complain about their own, largely bogus one. Dana, I suggest you find better sources if you want to regain some credibility. As of now, it is gone.
Angel – Regarding your claims that “many” black South Africans “are offended that the Palestinians abusively appropriated their real suffering to complain about their own,” can you provide a source for this please?
Patrick,
If it wasn’t clear from my comments the harshest criticisms were for your colleague Chuck Morse, who I think its safe to say wears his blue-and-white on his sleeve, an attitude I can respect as long as its expressed in a civil way. I think in fairness you did try to conduct a reasonable interview, and I can appreciate that emotions can run high when discussing this topic, but unfortunately whatever good work you were trying to do was largely negated by Mr. Morse’s obsession with picking a fight with Mr. Peled that your partner was woefully unprepared for. I appreciate your professionalism and hope that perhaps Mr. Morse is learning something from your example.
Craig, Angel, Poynto, Dana:
Thank you for your attention and the comments. This is indeed the most emotional topic we have covered on the show and I did not fully understand how deep the emotions run, but I do now.
First, let me say I appreciate the depth of your feelings and the trouble you all took to express them. I learn a lot from my audience, and what is life for if not for learning. I do not have a solution for the relationship between the Palestinian people and the Israeli people, nor their governments. I am not sure there is a solution; it may be one of those troubled spots on the earth that we, as Americans, will just live with.Unfortunately, this does nothing for the suffering of both peoples, and I understand that. I also understand that this is something of a cop out, but since I am not Secretary of State, I feel I can express my dismay and powerlessness without coping out.
As we say in our program description, we try to bring a level of civility to AM talk radio. Perhaps this is a topic where the feelings are so deep, the facts so disputed, the history so tortured, that civility is not always possible. I hope not. We will continue to discuss it.
Thank you all again for caring.
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