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Chas Freeman : ‘Killing Palestinians is popular in Israel around election time’
“The American media is enormously influential internationally… and in my opinion, this takes the small voice of Israel and magnifies the narrative and spreads it …”
EDITOR’S NOTE : RT’s Sophie Shevardnadze, interviews former US Assistant Secretary of Defense and former Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Charles (aka Chas) Freeman.
Beautiful lady; good journalist who asks the right kind of questions in the right context and manner.
Following are some of the key questions and responses:
In reference to Israel’s recent offensive, “Operation Pillar of Cloud,” Amb. Freeman was asked “Who do you think was the winner Israel or Hamas?”
He replied: “…in the arena of public opinion in the region, Israel lost heavily and Hamas won… it strengthened Hamas politically in the Arab world and the wider world…” “It was a victory for Hamas and a defeat for Israel” he emphasized. “The reason it failed is because the strategy was wrong… nobody likes to see advanced military aircraft bombing civilian population, which was what was happening.” “In this case there was no rocket fire from the Gaza strip into Israel or any consequence prior to Israel’s inauguration of the military raid that killed the Hamas leader first.”
Regarding the timing of the attack on Gaza he said: “The timing in this case was dictated by the Israeli elections.” “Killing Palestinians is popular in Israel around elections time.” “It is very popular in Israel to kill many Palestinians in Gaza… and Hamas is seen as a monster.”
He talks about how Israel typically controls the narrative. “The Israelis call this “hasbara” (Hebrew word for propaganda), he said, “and they do it very well.” (More on this in the Link below).
“The American media is enormously influential internationally… and in my opinion, this takes the small voice of Israel and magnifies the narrative and spreads it everywhere…”
When asked what exactly is the priority of the Israel Lobby in the U.S, how much of power does it wield over the U.S. Media ?
He replied: “I think it’s less the media than the Congress… The fuel of our Congress is campaign contributions…. The fuel for our media is advertising… Funds can be withheld or granted depending on what you say.”
He was asked a very interesting question: “Why is there no Arab Lobby, the Arab Sheiks can buy anything they want ?” For which he has many reasons!
He was asked if he won’t consider taking a position in the government in the future ?
He replied: “No…in part because at the moment our government is pretty dysfunctional… it’s not making any sensible decisions… because it seems to find it very hard to do that… in this circumstance, that one individual can make a real difference is not very great…”
Also see:
Ambassador Chas W. Freeman expounds on “Hasbara and the Control of Narrative as an Element of Strategy” here.
Read the full article here
Short URL: http://www.veteransnewsnow.com/?p=219533
Posted by Editor on Dec 14 2012, With 0 Reads, Filed under Americas, Asia, Bahrain, China, Editors' Picks, Egypt, Europe, Expert Opinions ME, Global, Iran, Israel, Middle East, Middle East Conflicts, News From the Region, Oceana, Oman, Palestine, Syria, United Kingdom, War, Yemen. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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Chas Freeman is wrong. I think he meant to say, “Killing Palestinians is MORE popular around election time.” But hey, we all make mistakes.
I do not know a lot about Chas Freeman other than that Jewish influence put paid to his career in the early days of Obama’s first Presidency. Standard practice, or so it seems to me, that even the president of the US can bow down to Israeli (indirect) pressure.
But since those days on the occasions that he has had an opportunity to speak on subjects, various, he seems rational and not in any vindictive towards the people, the Jewish lobby, who may have contributed to his end of career.
With the feckless nature of the current administration unsupported by an Israeli-controlled Congress and Senate it would be a step in the right direction to have someone of Freeman’s skills contribute to the more than likely lack of success of this second term, floundering around at Israel’s direction.
‘The US has lost its way’ will be the first chapter in the end of US empire, now well under way, morally, financially and as inevitable as the sun rising tomorrow. The Jewish influence being the last straw. The dog wagged by the evil israeli tail.