US President Barack Obama (R) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L)
Israel Lobby critic James Morris joins Press TV in an interview to discuss Pastor Terry Jones' threat to "rethink" his decision to cancel the controversial Quran burning event on 9/11.
Press TV: Pastor Terry Jones is threatening to "rethink" his decision to cancel the Quran burning. First of all, who would benefit from such an act and what kind of backing do you think his initiative is receiving from various anti-Islam lobbies?
Morris: Well, the problem you have...with Reverend Jones, and I do not know him that well of course, he has just got a congregation of I think 50 people in Florida, so he is pretty irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, but the problem in America is [that] the pro-Israeli biased media focuses on anything that is anti-Islamic.
So, you have a situation where you have a strong Christian-Zionist community in America, which is very anti-Islam and I assume some of them would be supporting him as well. He is insignificant really, but he does pose a threat to American forces in the Middle East as General Petraeus has said. And also even today Senator John McCain, who is usually in the neocon camp, is saying it is a threat to our troops in theatre as well. So, it is just really tragic that he has had this kind of platform internationally in the media.
Press TV: Anti-Islam sentiments are disturbingly on the rise in the West. Do you consider them as isolated incidents or is this satisfying some sort of bigger political agenda in which citizens are in a continuous state of panic?
Morris: No, I think there is an agenda behind it. I think if you look at the recent letter that Congressman Ron Paul wrote ...he says it is being driven by the neo-conservatives, and they are trying to set the stage for a war with Iran and what better way to do that than demonize the Muslim population internationally. And to set up a Samuel Huntington type of Clash of Civilizations, and that is exactly what is being done here, through channels such as the Fox News Channel, I like to call it the Fox Neo-con News Channel, because you just get nothing but relentless propaganda from the neo-conservative side there. And they are trying to, like they did with Iraq successfully, push this into another war with Iran. And unless Americans stand up and realize this is what is happening, they are going to get away with it.
And I had actually seen Reverend Jones during his press conference recently -- I think it was yesterday, and he was saying that American foreign policy in the Middle East have to be amplified with regard to fighting the war on terror. Why doesn't Reverend Jones talk about the policies that actually got us tragically attacked on 9/11? Such as US support for Israel's brutal oppression of the Palestinian people.
I mean the American media is not even covering that at all. The only news report you can see on that was in the New Statesman recently by [New Statesman's Senior Editor] Mehdi Hasan on July 5 where there was General Petraeus' leaked e-mails about Israel, the American media will not touch that at all, but they are quite happy to go after Muslims to the hilt.
So, it is very concerning for anybody who is in support of peace, like myself, and many other Americans that put the interest of America first, before Israel.
Press TV: So, would you say that the mainstream media in the West has failed to employ the appropriate editorial discretion it is meant to?
Morris: Well, I mean you have got to look at who is in control of the American media, and who has the most influence in it. I mean I will take the example with my e-mail exchanges with General Petraeus. There was a situation where I had e-mail exchanges with General Petraeus, that showed he was in touch with the neoconservative Max Boot and that Max Booth was basically, apparently setting him up to run for president in the next election. And General Petraeus had courageously said that the Israel-Palestinian conflict was fuelling anti-American sentiments in the Arab-Muslim world and putting our troops in danger, not only in Afghanistan but in Iraq as well. Why doesn't that make American news media?
I mean...you can read it in the New Statesman, frankly, I am surprised Press TV hasn't covered this and Al Jazeera English. But you can go to the July 5 blog entry Mehdi Hasan who appears in Al Jazeera English regularly, and he discusses it. It is called General Petraeus' leaked e-mails about Israel. General Petraeus is warning Americans, it was a congressional hearing, that our support of Israel, American support of Israel's brutal oppression of the Palestinian people, not only got us attacked on 9/11, as page 147 of the 9/11 Commission Report said, but it is putting our troops at risk in theatre. Why is the American media not covering that? Because there is an obvious pro-Israel bias with that media that is also out to demonize Islam when it can.
RBK/HGH
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
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