CLOSE-UP

the thought that something was
wrong with mankind."
But it was in his comments at cer-
tain key points of the crisis that
critics say Mr. Jennings showed his
true colors. The effect of these words
on some viewers during the highly
traumatic 22 hours cannot be
underestimated, especially since
now, 19 years later, many of his
detractors say this was the seminal
event that persuaded them that Mr.
Jennings was pro-Arab. Yet, none of
the critics could recall the newsman's
exact phrasings. Through the fog of
their memories of something they
watched on TV late at night almost
two decades ago, all they could
assume was that Mr. Jennings had
somehow "excused" the Palestin-
ians' terrorism.
The verbal "smoking gun" oc-
curred around 3 a.m. Munich time
on Sept. 6. By then, the hostages and
their captors had flown by helicopter
to the Munich airport. At that point,
their fate was uncertain.
At the beginning of a "wrap-up"
with Mr. Jennings and ABC col-
leagues Jim McKay, Lou Cioffi and
Chris Schnable, Mr. Jennings ques-
tioned Palestinians' commitment to
die for their cause.
Then, Mr. Jennings said, "It's
often hard to convince people that
Arabs are not fighters and don't like
to fight."
Both of these echoed a comment he
had made after the 1 p.m. deadline
had slipped by the previous after-
noon: "There is in the Palestinian
people a strange streak which has
never made them successful in being
outright killers."
When recently asked to explain
these observations, even Mr. Jenn-
ings responded that it "sounds
weird."

Contributing to their strangeness
is that during the three years
preceding the Munich Olympics, the
Palestine Liberation Organization
and the Popular Front for the Lib-
eration of Palestine had waged an
ever-escalating campaign of terror
against Israel. Incidents included 11
Israelis killed by a bomb in
Jerusalem and 55 injured, 12 Israeli
children killed during an ambush of
their school bus, and at least 19
Israelis killed and another 15 in-
jured in nine airline hijackings bet-
ween 1968 and 1970.
Outside the Middle East, bombs
killed employees in Israeli em-
bassies and El Al offices in
Paraguay, The Hague, Bonn and
London and the Israeli air attache

was shot dead outside his home in
Washington.
Recently attempting to unravel
what he meant 19 years ago, Mr.
Jennings assumed that he was try-
ing to avoid collectively portraying
Palestinians and Arabs as killers
and terrorists.
"This happens all the time," he
said, "whether I'm talking about Pa-
lestinians or Israelis or Afghans or
Tanzanians. I resent the way whole
groups of people are characterized
by the actions of a few, particularly
by the irresponsible, violent, even
maniacal actions of a few.
"At that point, the tendency was
to see all Arabs as all Arabs. Not as
Iraqis. Or as Syrians. Or as Jorda-
nians. Or as Palestinians. Or as
Saudis or Kuwaitis. The point I may
have been trying to make was that
the kind of violence exhibited by cer-
tain Palestinians did not necessarily
reflect the character of the Palestin-
ian people.
"To assume that was to engage in
stupid, ignorant bigotry."
Despite the doubts that Mr. Jenn-
ings' comments in 1972 created in
some minds about his journalistic in-
tegrity, in the immediate aftermath
of the tragedy, no major TV reviewer
was critical of his reporting. In the
Washington Post, John Carmody
stated that if ABC's coverage of the
Munich tragedy "is to be faulted, it
is for the failure (on Sept. 5) to put in
a news pro like Peter Jennings to "One does what one can to be objective and be sure that the many sides are told."
handle the anchorman spot."
And on Sept. 7, 1982, in his sole work. ABC placed somewhere in the like a military commander who was
reference to Mr. Jennnings and the
middle.
returning, one presumed, to struggle
broadcasts from Munich, the New
"All I can think of," Mr. Jennings for another day."
York Times' TV critic, John J. said of these pro-Arafat claims, "is
O'Conner, noted "a quietly moving that Tom Brokaw and myself and
essay on the war-dead memorial at everybody under the sun were try- War Flak
Dachau" that the newsman had ing to interview Arafat before he left
ssertions that Mr. Jennings
done several days before Building 31 town. I finally gave up. I sat around
was pro-Arab lessened
became a synonym for terror.
the empty pool at the Commodore
slightly when he took over
Hotel in Beirut getting plastered
the
helm of "World News
one night, and a guy leaned over,
The Arafat Factor
put his hand on my shoulder and Tonight" eight years ago, possibly
said, 'Excuse me, the chairman because he was more desk-bound than
he prefers. But the anchor's com-
wants
to see you.'
he anchor's critics also point
"I went upstairs, got into a shower ments during the build-up to the Gulf
to his coverage of Israel's
and
poured coffee down my throat War — and during the war itself —
1982 invasion of Lebanon,
rekindled his critics' fury.
before
seeing Arafat.
when, some say he was "too
"My
cameraman,"
said
the
an-
Last December, for instance, while
close" to PLO chief Yassir Arafat.
This purported affinity, they say, chor, "Charlie Pinkney from speaking before the National Press
Club in Washington, Mr. Jennings
earned him the last network in- Chicago, was so moved by Arafat —
terview with Arafat before he left he was, after all, trying to handle a said, "It bears keeping very much in
massive defeat with great dignity — mind, as journalists, that the two
Beirut. -
that he kissed him when the inter- most vigorous intifadas, the two
The B'nai B'rith's Anti-Defamation view was over.
most vigorous resistances, that in
League commissioned a report in late
"This was clearly a difficult time the West Bank and Gaza under
1982 analyzing network coverage of for Arafat," remembered Mr. Jenn- Israeli occupation and that in
the war in Lebanon. NBC was deem- ings. "The PLO had virtually cre- Kuwait, arp not seen on television."
ed most biased against Israel. CBS ated a country within a country in
"At the time," explained the an-
was considered the most accurate net- Lebanon. But he behaved very much chor in his office at ABC, "we were

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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