Yossi Lempkowicz
A great number of members of the Jewish community in France have expressed their deep concern regarding the broadcast on Thursday evening by French public-television Channel France 2 of a report on Gaza that contains a clear anti-Israeli bias.
Crif, the umbrella representative body of French Jewish institutions, said it has received a great number of calls and emails of complaint.
The documentary, titled “Gaza, Crippled Youth,” will be broadcast as part of the weekly magazine “Envoyé Special.” The trailer of the documentary shows images of disabled adolescents following protests organized by Hamas to force the border with Israel, to which the Israel Defense Forces had to react.
Crif President Francis Kalifat has met several times with Delphine Ernotte, president of France Televisions, to alert her on the strong emotion expressed by the community.
She reportedly assured him that the documentary was “in conformity with the rules of ethics.”
“The public service must not convey the hatred of Israel whose dramatic consequences on French Jews are known,” said Kalifat.
Crif said it was worried about the impact that such a program will have on the wave of anti-Semitism that France is witnessing since several months. “Israel’s hatred is indeed the new expression of violent anti-Semitism, and it is on this basis that Crif is extremely vigilant about tonight’s report,” the organization said.
Israel’s Ambassador in France, Aliza Bin-Noun, also wrote to Delphine Ernotte, calling her to cancel the broadcast of the report on Gaza.
Stressing that the France 2 report presents an “unbalanced point of view and a negative image of Israel,” the ambassador is concerned that this content may “incite hatred against Israel and may have a direct impact, including physical, on the French Jews.”
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Once again media bias against Isreal is displayed. By showing disabled adolescents those responsible for this documentary are attempting to “ pull on the heart strings “ of unsuspecting ordinary French people; who may or may not have feelings toward Isreal. I feel for disabled youth, as I am a person that works with the disabled. However, using them for political motives is wrong. Why not show the disabled youth in Isreal? The documentary could show how Isreal allows its disabled youth to be a part of the IDF and thus helps them to feel like they are contributing members of society too.
This French documentary should be showing the hundreds of violent protesters on the boarder throwing rocks, lighting tires on fire and sending incendiary balloons! Show the people of France what Isreal is dealing; continual upheaval and dangerous violence at the Gaza border.
Antisemitism has always existed in France, but now it is definitely at its zeaneth. This kind of documentary on Gaza will only fan the flams of hatred, not help innocent people trapped in Gaza. Isreal sends over humanitarian aid and allows wounded Palastininisns to receive treatment in their state of the art medical facilities. Why not include this in the documentary? The answer is simple , to make Isreal look like the evil aggressor . Instead of showing a small nation that makes mistakes, but on the whole is good and is trying to defend itself from a continual onslaught of media bias and terrorism.
The real question is: Is it factually incorrect?