I did not watch "60 minutes" program about Gaza and here is an open letter

An open letter to 60 Minutes

From the outset of your January 12 story, Biden policy on Israel-Gaza sparks warnings, dissent, resignations, it was clear that it would lack balance and would be critical of both the US and Israel, while disregarding key truths. When journalist Cecilia Vega made a cursory mention of the Oct. 7 attack, referring to Hamas as militants instead of terrorists, she overlooked the fact that both the United States and the European Union have designated Hamas as a terrorist group.

The basis of your piece was to show the death and destruction in Gaza and cast blame on the US for supplying munitions to Israel. In fact, the problem lies not in the US’ financial backing of Israel, but its long-time funding of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) that enabled Hamas to acquire missiles and build the elaborate terror tunnels used to attack Israel.

Your report relied primarily on two sources, Josh Paul and Hala Rharrit, however, you failed to mention that they have ties to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). Although on the face of it, CAIR might sound like a bridge-building organization, it is worth noting that the leader of CAIR unabashedly said that he was happy to see the Oct. 7 massacre on Israeli civilians. In fact, on many occasions CAIR has been called out for its antisemitism.

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In one of the most egregious parts of your report, Josh Paul lamented that soon after the massacre, Israel did not take the opportunity to make peace with Hamas. In his view, if terrorists breach the border of your country, behead, burn, mutilate, torture, rape, and kidnap thousands of your citizens, the reasonable action is to try to reach an agreement with them shortly after, and trust them to keep their word.

Because a picture is worth a thousand words, you ended with a photo of a young Palestinian girl dressed as a princess, and you reported that she was killed in an Israeli airstrike. Whereas pictures of murdered Israeli children abound, 60 Minutes neglected to show any photos of the victims of the Oct. 7 brutality, thereby eliciting sympathy only for the Palestinians. In just one example of pictures that were widely shared online there is a smiling Israeli family: mother, father, and three young children eating ice cream, all five now gone because Hamas set them on fire. To depict the hardships the Palestinians face without depicting the barbarity that started the war is irresponsible reporting.

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https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/an-open-letter-to-60-minutes/

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Marjorie lives in Providence, RI. She graduated from Brandeis University with a degree in Computer Science, and is a Senior Database Specialist in a large, international technology company. She is a frequent writer on antisemitism and Israel.