PBS distortions and propaganda

Submitted by Ron Polland (United States), Dec 18, 2002 at 11:14

Sent to PBS:
I recently took a tour of some of the new entries on your website related to Jews, Christians, and Muslims (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/mideast/themes/religion/).

I found the following untruths and distortions which require correction (NOTE -- my comments appear in italics):

"Allah (A-lah'): Arabic word for God, the same God worshipped by Christians and Jews."

my comment: Allah is definitely NOT the same God Christians and Jews worship. The God of Judiasm and Christianity commands us to "love the stranger as ourselfs" not "kill him on sight" as Allah does.

"Palestine: An ancient name for the area between Syria, Egypt, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Jordan River; now approximately the same area as that covered by the state of Israel. The state of Palestine was proclaimed in 1988, but in exile, with the land in question under Israeli occupation."

my comment: Sheer distortion of the facts. Palestine is the name the Roman Emperor Hadrian gave to Israel after the destruction of Jerusalem and the last Jewish revolt as a way to erase all memory of Israel. The "state of Palestine" is the PLO creation that excludes Israel from the map. The "land in question" are "disputed territories (according to the UN)" that, in reality, really belong to Israel. There is no "Israeli occupation" of this land. There is, however, an ARAB OCCUPATION of Israeli land.

"While there was always a small community of Jews in historic Palestine, in 73 C.E. the Roman Empire dispersed the Jews after an insurrection against Roman authority. "

my comment: They talk as if the State of Israel never existed and if there were just a bunch of rag-tag Jews hanging around. They never mention that Jews have lived continuously on the land for three millenia.

"When Jews from all over the world came to settle in modern Israel, they found that various subcultures had developed in different areas with distinctive histories, languages, religious practices, customs, and cuisine."

my comment: "Modern Israel" was a desert and a wasteland before Jews began developing it. Only AFTER Jews had turned Israel into a viable place to live and to farm, did other "subcultures" migrate there -- most of whom were Arab workers. They are perpetuating the lie about inidigenous Arabs being there before Jews arrived.

But the biggest whitewash is how they describe the "spread" of Islam::

"Islam expanded into areas controlled by the Byzantine Empire (largely Greek-speaking and Orthodox Christian, but with a diverse population) and the Sassanian Empire (officially Zoroastrian and Persian-speaking, but also diverse). By the mid-eighth century, Islam had spread west into North Africa and Europe, and east into Central Asia. Over the centuries, Islam continued to grow in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.

As Islam expanded, the new Islamic societies adapted and synthesized many of the customs they encountered. As a result, Muslims in different areas of the world created for themselves a wide array of cultural traditions."

my comment: this is like saying the "bubonic plague expanded over Europe." Islam was (and continues to be) spread by bloody conquests, suppression of freedoms, and intimidiation.

And finally:

"Jews and Christians are specifically protected in the Quran as Peoples of the Book, reinforcing their spiritual connection to Islam by virtue of having been given revelations from God. The Islamic legal tradition has upheld the rights of Jews and Christians to maintain their beliefs and practices within their communities in Islamic lands, and this policy of tolerance has generally been upheld."

my comment: except for about 20 years of Muslim history, this has NEVER been the case. Jews and Christians were, at best, "dhimmis" second-class citizens discriminated against and forced to pay 50% in taxes, and at worst, tortured and killed as they conrtinue to be daily throughout the Muslim world.

Does "PBS" stand for Public Broadcasting System, or "Propaganda and BS?"

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