{I am updating so go to the end where I am adding material if you've been here previously}
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But, of course, it was a hatchet job.
Here are portions of the text from the transcript of Bob Simon's April 22 '60 Minutes' piece, "Christians of the Holy Land", Harry Radliffe, producer, - with my comments in square bracackts in italics (and the video clip is here):-
The lead-in sets the tone:
(CBS News) The exodus from the Holy Land of Palestinian Christians could eventually leave holy cities like Jerusalem and Bethlehem without a local Christian population, Bob Simon reports. Why are they leaving? For some, life in the middle of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has become too difficult.
[wait, what 'exodus'? what 'Holy Land'? are Christians leaving...Israel? or what? and, by the way, aren't Jews a people who have holy cities? should that not figure in? do Muslims have holy cities? So, where is this "Holy Land"? Is it only "Occupied Palestine"? Jordan is not part of the "Holy Land"? They'd be disappointed as their tourism (see below) depends on that characterization. Simons never develops for the listerner/viewer the reality, in all its proportions and complexity. he 'smoothes over' all the politics, the history - flattening it out so thye viewere is putty in his hands]
Christianity may have been born in the Middle East, but Arab Christians have never had it easy there, especially not today. In Iraq and Egypt, scores of churches have been attacked, hundreds murdered. In Syria, revolution seriously threatens Christian communities. The one place where Christians are not suffering from violence is the Holy Land [but they are, at the hands of fundamentalist Islamists who punish them as part of their fight with Israel in Gaza, and all throughout the Palestinian Authority but as you'll see later on, Simons allows that to slip away, too]: but Palestinian Christians have been leaving in large numbers for years. So many, the Christian population there is down to less than two percent, and the prospect of holy sites, like Jerusalem and Bethlehem, without local Christians is looming as a real possibility.
[Sounds ominous, does it not? And who is at fault?]
This is what the Holy Land looks like today. Bethlehem, where Jesus was born. [Jesus was born in "Bethlehem of Judea" - that is, Judea, not "Palestine"]. Nazareth, where he grew up. Jerusalem, where he died and where Christians believe he was resurrected. Nazareth is inside the state of Israel. Bethlehem is on the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The Christian section of Jerusalem is also under Israeli control. [actually, the neighborhood is termed the "Christian Quarter' but Christians live all throughout]
Bob Simon: When you first came here in 1964 [when Jordan occupied the area], what was the percentage of Christians in the old city?
Theophilos: There were around 30,000 of-- Christians living in the Old City.
Bob Simon: And now how many are there?
Theophilos: Very few.
So few, some 11,000 Christians out of a population of almost 800,000 -- just one and a half percent. [wait, but what was the previous percentage?]
Religious leaders are afraid Jerusalem could become a museum, a spiritual theme park, a great place for tourists and pilgrims, but not for the Arab Christians whose roots date back to the church's very beginnings. [but were there Arabs in Jerusalem when Christianity began?]
Mitri Raheb: Christianity started here. The only thing that Palestine [don't forget: "Palestine" is a post-135 CE geopolitical concept; don't allow Simons to mix you up with today's "Palestine".] was able to export so successfully was Christianity.
Mitri Raheb is a Palestinian, a Christian and a Lutheran minister from Bethlehem. He runs schools, cultural centers and health clinics. [and Israel considers him ma 'racist' and an 'anti-Semite']
Mitri Raheb: Christianity has actually on the back a stamp saying, "Made in Palestine." [it does? by whom? is that correct? no, it isn't. it's a propaganda ploy]
Palestinian Christians, once a powerful minority, are becoming the invisible people, squeezed between a growing Muslim majority and burgeoning Israeli settlements [we in the Jewish communitiesd in Yesha have nothing to do and surely are not squeezing Christians]. Israel has occupied the West Bank for 45 years.
[and the figures are: in Israel,it was reported in December 2011 that Christians constitute roughly 2 percent of the country’s citizens, or 153,000 people out of the 7.5 million population, according to figures released by the Central Bureau of Statistics. According to the figures, 80.4% of the Christians in Israel are Arabs and the rest are immigrants who arrived under the Law of Return, since they had Jewish relatives. The majority of those in the second category of Christians arrived during the large waves of aliya from the former Soviet Union. Nazareth has the largest Christian community with some 22,000 people; Haifa follows with 14,000, Jerusalem with 11,000 and Shfaram has 9,200 Christian residents. The CBS statistics also show the makeup of Christian families in Israel. The average family has two children, slightly fewer than the 2.2 for Jewish families and the 3 for Muslim citizens. so maybe Christians also have their own demographic problem? Moreover: Israel is the only Middle East nation where the Christian population has grown in the last half century (from 34,000 in 1948 to 140,000 today), in large measure because of the freedom to practice their religion. And It was during Jordan's control of the Old City from 1948 until 1967 that Christian rights were infringed and Israeli Christians were barred from their holy places. The Christian population declined by nearly half, from 25,000 to 12,646. Since then, the population has slowly been growing. Some Christians have been among those inconvenienced by Israel's construction of the security fence, but they have not been harmed because of their religious beliefs. They simply live in areas where the fence is being built. The proportion of Christians in the Palestinian territories has dropped from 15 percent of the Arab population in 1950 to less than 1 percent today. Three-fourths of all Bethlehem Christians now live abroad, and the majority of the city’s population is Muslim. The Christian population declined 29 percent in the West Bank and 20 percent in the Gaza Strip from 1997 to 2002. By contrast, in the period 1995–2003, Israel’s Arab Christian population grew 14.1 percent (CAMERA, December 24, 2004).]
Israel built the wall over the last 10 years, which completely separates Israel from the occupied West Bank. The wall was built to stop Palestinian terrorists from getting into Israel. And it's worked. Terrorism has gone down 90 percent. At the same time, the wall completely surrounds Bethlehem, turning the "little town" where Christ was born into what its residents call "an open air prison." [you do not see those quotation marks on the screen, do you?]
...The Anastas family lives on the third floor. This is the view from the kitchen, from the master bedroom and bathroom. The children's room has a good view of this Israeli guard tower. The family runs a souvenir shop on the ground floor, sells Christian artifacts on what used to be the busiest commercial street in town. Now, it's a dead end...Claire Anastas: I tell them, we have to stay. We need to stay and struggle and fight. This is our cross. [too bad Simons doesn't clarify exactly which wall he is referring to: the security barrier of the wall Israel has to erect after Arabs firebombed and shot at peaceful religious pilgrims trying to safely reach Rachel's Tomb]
...Michael Oren, who used to be Israel's director of Interreligious Affairs, is Israel's ambassador to the United States...according to Ambassador Oren, they're thriving. The reason Christians are leaving the West Bank, he says, is Islamic extremism. [why doesn't Simons interview Christians who, as I know, have a different opinion that the Christians he has allowed to appear? btw, I think Oren made a poor showing and he could - or did he and it was edited out - supllied better information]]...I think that the major problem in the West Bank as in elsewhere in the Middle East is that the Christian communities are living under duress.
Bob Simon: And this duress is coming from Muslims, not from the Israel occupation?
Ambassador Michael Oren: I believe that the major duress is coming from that. [that's it, Mr. Ambassador?]
[And what is this doing in the transcript? A producer's note of excitement for his anti-Israel angle?]
[Zahi Khouri: Great selling point. Easy to sell to the American public.]
Zahi Khouri: I'll tell you I don't know of anybody and I probably have 12,000 customers here. I've never heard that someone is leaving because of Islamic persecution. [he's lying]
[and Bob adds here: In 2009, this group of Christian activists did something unprecedented. They published a document called Kairos, the original 1985 one was against South African apartheid, criticizing Islamic extremism and advocating non-violent resistance to the Israeli occupation which they called a sin against God. That "document" was roundly criticized by many Christians and Jews.]
Ari Shavit: Israel is not persecuting Christians as Christians. The Christians in the Holy Land suffer from Israeli policies that are a result of the overall tragic situation. And this, of course, has consequences for everybody. [they don't suffer from Islamists?]
Bob Simon: For Israel, there could be serious economic consequences. According to Israeli government figures, tourism is a multi billion dollar business there. Most tourists are Christian. Many of them are American. That's one reason why Israelis are very sensitive about their image in the United States. [Jews are such money-grubbers. heavens that Israel should simply be concerned about things like truth, facts, lack of bias, etc.] And that could be why Ambassador Oren phoned Jeff Fager, the head of CBS News and executive producer of 60 Minutes, while we were still reporting the story, long before tonight's broadcast. He said he had information our story was quote: "a hatchet job."
Michael Oren: It seemed to me outrageous. Completely incomprehensible that at a time when these communities, Christian communities throughout the Middle East are being oppressed and massacred, when churches are being burnt, when one of the great stories in history is unfolding? I think it's-- I think it's-- I think you got me a little bit mystified.
Bob Simon: And it was a reason to call the president of-- chairman of CBS News? ...Nothing's been confirmed by the interview, Mr. Ambassador, because you don't know what's going to be put on air.
Michael Oren: Okay. I don't. True. [but he's no dummy. when has Simon or "60 Minutes" ever done a fair piece on Israel?]
Bob Simon: Mr. Ambassador, I've been doing this a long time. And I've received lots of reactions from just about everyone I've done stories about. But I've never gotten a reaction before from a story that hasn't been broadcast yet.
Michael Oren: Well, there's a first time for everything, Bob.
Bob Simons: Pilgrims have been coming here since 1106 AD [why only from then?] to wash themselves in the holy fire, to celebrate the founding miracle of Christianity. They will certainly continue to do so. But how many will be coming from the neighborhood? That's not a religious question anymore. It's political. [and one in the court of the Arab Muslims. Israel permits religious freedom and Christian residency]
