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CBS News Magazine 60 Minutes Receives Concerns From Muslim Americans
by Jamshed Bokhari
WASHINGTON (IslamOnline) – E-mails between Muslims bombarded the Internet Wednesday and Thursday concerning a Sunday television broadcast of a story planned for CBS’s news magazine 60 Minutes dealing, in part, with the death of 12-year-old Mohammed al-Durra in the Occupied Territories.
At the center of Muslim concerns is an Israeli Defense Force (IDF) investigation into Mohammed’s death and the airing of a videotaped “re-enactment” of the incident in Netzarim.
On Monday, the Israeli daily Ha'aretz reported that the IDF had staged re-creations of the killing to investigate its cause.
Of main concern to Muslims wad the fear that the 60 Minutes piece would reflect the IDF's interpretation of the tragedy.
The re-enactment, initiated and investigated by two Israeli civilians with no expertise in crucial investigative sciences required for such an inquiry, portends to shift blame away from the IDF for Mohammed’s death to the Palestinians.
In it, conclusions are drawn that Mohammed’s death was a staged event by Palestinian authorities, that the Israelis were “set up” to shoot Mohammed, and that it was a public relations scam “gone wrong”.
Allegations are also made that the France 2 television crew that filmed Mohammed’s death were told in advance to be there by Palestinians hoping to gain a propaganda crew.
As a result, 60 Minutes was inundated by calls from Muslims on both Wednesday and Thursday questioning the legitimacy of the planned broadcast.
Individuals from IslamOnline phoned the news magazine on Wednesday as concerned Muslims, and not as journalists, and were told that the re-enactment footage was to be a small part in a larger story dealing with the causes of violence in the Middle East, and was informed at that time that 60 Minutes had already received numerous inquiries from concerned individuals regarding the planned broadcast.
IslamOnline was unable to contact 60 Minutes Thursday due to a constant busy signal.
American Muslims for Jerusalem (AMJ), a Washington-based Muslim organization, received several inquiries from members prompting them to issue a reaction through their mailing list.
In it, AMJ states that they contacted 60 Minutes as well and would hold off judgment on the affair until after the broadcast of the show.
Talking with IslamOnline, AMJ Director of Communications Fahhim Abdulhadi said, “There was a 60 Minutes camera crew present at the reenactment, they were the only ones there to film it, but there were so many problems with the reenactment, that frankly, anybody who decided to broadcast it would be committing professional suicide.”
“You have two Israeli civilians who urged the recreation, both of whom are very questionable individuals, and then there are a whole lot of irregularities in the recreation itself,” Abdulhadi commented.
Apparently, after 60 Minutes interviewed the two civilians who made the “re-enactment”, revealing some irregularities in the investigation including incorrect distances when compared with the original location, the lack of ballistic experts, and deceptive methods used in obtaining France 2’s footage of the event, the IDF ordered them off the investigation.
MK Ophir Pines-Paz, a member of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, who sits on the body’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee was quoted by Ha’aretz as saying, “One gets the impression that instead of genuinely confronting this incident, the IDF has chosen to stage a fictitious re-enactment and cover up the incident by means of an inquiry with foregone conclusions and the sole purpose of which is to clear the IDF of responsibility for al Dura’s death.”
60 Minutes is broadcast on the CBS network early Sunday evenings and is planning to run a story on the violence in the Middle East, in which the re-enactment will be addressed.
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