A Jewish South African reporter has been 'banned' by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) from providing news coverage from the Middle East, after her managing director said did he did not want a "white Jewish girl" covering the region, the reporter told Ynetnews.
"I was a reporter and newsreader, and Snuki Zikalala was head of TV and radio news, so he was my line manager. He was not that great to work with," Paula Slier, the reporter, told Ynetnews.
In 2004, Slier went to Ramallah to cover Arafat's illness. While in the West Bank, Slier said she was informed that the SABC had "received a directive: 'No more reports from Paula.'" "I tried to find out why they were not using my work anymore, and I was told by a senior manager in SABC, which obviously I can't name, that Zikalala said they don't want a white Jewish girl reporting from Ramallah, though the implication was from the whole of the Middle East," Slier said.
After it emerged that SABC's blacklist included a range of sources, including some critical of the South African government, SABC launched an investigation of itself. "When the investigation came out, Zikalala told the inquiry: 'From the movement I come from, we support the PLO.'
And then he went on to call what was happening in the Middle East a 'Jewish war,' and then he said: We know Paula, we know the position which she holds," Slier said, quoting from the investigation.
The full investigation was published by South African newspaper the Globe and Mail, though SABC had initially tried to get a court order to ban the newspaper from publishing the full report. "The thing is, in South Africa, I've been heavily criticized by the Jewish community for being pro-Palestinian. So he makes the inference that because I'm Jewish, I would automatically support what would be happening in Israel," Slier added.
"In the inquiry, Zikalala said we need a reporter who is impartial," Slier said, adding: "This is problematic, the guy is head of TV and Radio News." Michael Kransdorff and Steven Magid, authors of the Jewish South African blog It's Almost Supernatural , have been closely monitoring the story. They told Ynetnews that the blacklisting of Slier proved widespread suspicions held by the Jewish community of bias at the SABC. "The Jewish community and my blog in particular have for a long time criticized the SABC and considered them biased against Israel. This story confirms our suspicions," said Magid.
Speaking to Ynetnews, SABC Spokesperson Kayzer Kganyago said the comments attributed to Zikalala in the SABC's internal report have not been verified. "The report was not made public, we cannot comment about things in the report, because it was not a judicial inquiry. It was a fact-finding commission. Therefore the things said in the commission were not tested."
For Arafat’s PLO movement to have traction in the Middle East and beyond; the PLO needed to control the language and the dialogue of the struggle. Palestinian has now to refer to specific group of Arabs without specific ties to any of the Arab regimes in the ME, but there was a time when one referred to a Palestinian it meant Jew and Jew only. Furthermore, it was considered a great insult to an Arab even in the mid-60’s to refer to Arab man or woman as a Palestinian.
The second need was to erase historical Jewish ties to the land in order to wipe out the merest suggestion that Jews could be anything but usurpers in the land rather than returning sons. There could not be two legitimate claims for the land. In pursuit of that goal, it lead Arafat et al to some remarkable statements such as the man Christians refer to as Jesus was not a Jew but Palestinian Arab Muslim prophet. Go figure.
The smearing of Israel as an apartheid racist state was and is still vital to the Palestinian movements to de-legitimize the Jews as a nation, which is why the support of radical South African anti-apartheid groups was perceived as crucial and to be courted at all cost. The fruits of this poisoned tree are aptly illustrated by the attitude of the managing director of the South African Broadcasting corporation in the above article. What the supporters of Israeli, as the “Apartheid State” want you to remain ignorant of;is that neither Jews or Israelis do not come in one skin colour.
Staff Sergeant Malko (Moshe) Ambao
and Reserves Staff Sergeant Yesamu Yalau, Golani Brigade.
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