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The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil,    but because of the people who don't do anything about it

Occupation magazine - Commentary Home page  back Print  Send To friend Keshev calls for action against media personality Avri Gilad Keshev calls for action against media personality Avri Gilad By: Daniel Breslau Occupation Magazine 3 August 2010 Keshev, The Center for the Protection of Democracy in Israel, has issued a formal complaint to Galei Tzahal, the main Israeli Army radio station over racist Islamophobic comments made by well-known media personality Avri Gilad on the topic of the construction of a mosque near Ground Zero in New York. In a letter to Yitzhak Tunik, the station’s director, Keshev Executive Director Izhar Be’er related the following: I would like to draw your attention to our complaint concerning a discussion that was held on the program “The Last Word,” on August 1, 2010, during which there was a conversation between the two hosts, Jackie Levy and Avri Gilad on the subject of the placement of a mosque next to Ground Zero in New Your (where the World Trade Center had stood). In the course of the conversation, Avri Gilad attacked the idea of building the mosque, using racist and stereotyped statements toward members of the Muslim faith. Among other things, he said: The culture of lies is the stock in trade [of the Muslim World] … They [the Americans] are willing to get poked in the eye and then say “I can still see with one eye.” I mean, to accept the Muslims’ words when they say that building the mosque at ground zero is a monument to the victims [of the 9/11 attacks]. It’s like Hariri [the Prime Minister of Lebanon], saying I see the lie, I hear the lie, but there’s nothing I can do about it, I’m weak, my legs are spread, I don’t have the will to fight this war, I don’t care if my children will be overrun, I don’t care if my children will be raped, I don’t care if my daughters will undergo female circumcision because right now I’m not going to fight this little war over Ground Zero…” Gilad’s statements express racist and gross stereotypes toward the Muslim faith. Is this religion with over 1.4 billion members characterized by child rape and female circumcision? Can you imagine a discussion on Galei Zahal in which announcers declared that the Jews of the world are essentially moneylenders? Be’er’s letter mentions that the journalist’s code of ethics in Israel forbids “incitement or encouragement of racism or discrimination on the basis of race, origin, skin color, ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender, profession, sexual preference, physical or mental illness or disability, political belief or outlook, socioeconomic class…” The letter calls for the station to condemn Gilad’s statements and to take disciplinary action against him. Links to the latest articles in this section The US and nuclear programs in the Middle East How can Israel, Palestine return to a two-state solution? A matter of concrete debate