Israeli TV channel 1 TV interview with PMW's Itamar Marcus
Israel Broadcasting Authority, Channel 1, sent expanded news broadcast live from funeral of the five Israeli family members who were killed in the town of Itamar in March 2011, interspersed with interviews and other material.
Itamar Marcus, PMW founder and director, was invited to the studio as a commentator during the live broadcast of the funeral of the five murder victims from the town Itamar in March 2011.
Interviewer: “Good afternoon to Itamar Marcus, here in the studio – director of the Palestinian Media Watch research institute.”
Itamar Marcus: “Good afternoon.”
Interviewer: “When the Prime Minister talks about incitement – you actually work quite extensively with the Prime Minister’s office; is that correct?”
Itamar Marcus: “That is correct.”
Interviewer: “You actually direct them to the places where there’s incitement. Tell us a bit about what you discover.”
Itamar Marcus: “The problem of incitement exists not only in the Palestinian media and education. We actually see it everywhere in society – whether it’s in the culture, in dances, in songs, even in crossword puzzles; in all the systems that are under the control of the Palestinian Authority. There is encouragement of hatred, encouragement of violence, and the murderers of Israelis and Jews are presented as heroes and as role models for children.”
Interviewer: “What do you mean by, ‘encouraging violence’?”
Itamar Marcus: “For example, through video clips which are broadcast on PA TV. Just recently there were two vidoes about Dalal Mughrabi – the terrorist responsible for the Coastal Road massacre, in which 37 Israelis were killed. Two clips were broadcast which glorify her, laud her, praise her, and present her as a heroine of Palestinian society. This week [PMW publicized] too, as the Prime Minister mentioned, there was another football event, named after Wafa Idris – the first female suicide bomber.”
Interviewer: “And the call to carry out violent actions is conveyed, ultimately, through them?”
Itamar: “That’s part of the picture, but, the picture is much broader. A child sees that there’s a tournament named after Dalal Mughrabi – coming after tournaments named after dozens of terrorists. There was once a football tournament named after Abd Al-Basset Odeh, the suicide terrorist on the night of Passover [Seder] in Natanya, who murdered 30 - and all of this is under the patronage of the Palestinian Authority. So when a child sees that his leadership, his Ministry of Culture, his teachers at school, are all presenting murderers of Israelis and Jews as society’s heroes, he gets a message, he understands that that’s what is expected of him, too.”
Interviewer: “Ultimately, you say, we’re doing too little in the face of this incitement. Only when it comes to dramatic, catastrophic events, such as we encountered over this weekend, is the issue of incitement raised. But overall, the raising of the issue in the headlines is generally marginal.”
Itamar Marcus: “I agree with you. This week we reported on the Wafa Idris tournament three days prior to the event, we sent notification to the Israeli press, we sent it to the Prime Minister. We heard nothing in the news. Only after the terror attack [in Itamar] did we hear about it. Why didn’t they raise the alarm? Why didn’t they say, ‘You’re holding a tournament this week named after a suicide bomber’?”
Itamar Marcus, PMW founder and director, was invited to the studio as a commentator during the live broadcast of the funeral of the five murder victims from the town Itamar in March 2011.
Interviewer: “Good afternoon to Itamar Marcus, here in the studio – director of the Palestinian Media Watch research institute.”
Itamar Marcus: “Good afternoon.”
Interviewer: “When the Prime Minister talks about incitement – you actually work quite extensively with the Prime Minister’s office; is that correct?”
Itamar Marcus: “That is correct.”
Interviewer: “You actually direct them to the places where there’s incitement. Tell us a bit about what you discover.”
Itamar Marcus: “The problem of incitement exists not only in the Palestinian media and education. We actually see it everywhere in society – whether it’s in the culture, in dances, in songs, even in crossword puzzles; in all the systems that are under the control of the Palestinian Authority. There is encouragement of hatred, encouragement of violence, and the murderers of Israelis and Jews are presented as heroes and as role models for children.”
Interviewer: “What do you mean by, ‘encouraging violence’?”
Itamar Marcus: “For example, through video clips which are broadcast on PA TV. Just recently there were two vidoes about Dalal Mughrabi – the terrorist responsible for the Coastal Road massacre, in which 37 Israelis were killed. Two clips were broadcast which glorify her, laud her, praise her, and present her as a heroine of Palestinian society. This week [PMW publicized] too, as the Prime Minister mentioned, there was another football event, named after Wafa Idris – the first female suicide bomber.”
Interviewer: “And the call to carry out violent actions is conveyed, ultimately, through them?”
Itamar: “That’s part of the picture, but, the picture is much broader. A child sees that there’s a tournament named after Dalal Mughrabi – coming after tournaments named after dozens of terrorists. There was once a football tournament named after Abd Al-Basset Odeh, the suicide terrorist on the night of Passover [Seder] in Natanya, who murdered 30 - and all of this is under the patronage of the Palestinian Authority. So when a child sees that his leadership, his Ministry of Culture, his teachers at school, are all presenting murderers of Israelis and Jews as society’s heroes, he gets a message, he understands that that’s what is expected of him, too.”
Interviewer: “Ultimately, you say, we’re doing too little in the face of this incitement. Only when it comes to dramatic, catastrophic events, such as we encountered over this weekend, is the issue of incitement raised. But overall, the raising of the issue in the headlines is generally marginal.”
Itamar Marcus: “I agree with you. This week we reported on the Wafa Idris tournament three days prior to the event, we sent notification to the Israeli press, we sent it to the Prime Minister. We heard nothing in the news. Only after the terror attack [in Itamar] did we hear about it. Why didn’t they raise the alarm? Why didn’t they say, ‘You’re holding a tournament this week named after a suicide bomber’?”