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40
FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 1992
Arab-Americans
Mad At CBS
I
ARTHUR J. MAGIDA
Special to The Jewish News
S
hould CBS fire news
anchor Dan Rather,
board member Henry
Kissinger and its chief Mid-
dle East consultant, Fouad
Ajami?
That's exactly what Albert
Mokhiber, president of the
Arab-American Anti-
Discrimination Committee
(ADC) has asked CBS to con-
sider.
Mr. Mokhiber says that
comments each man made at
a June 3 fund-raiser in New
York for the Jerusalem
Foundation reflected a
"repugnant form of anti-
Arab racism" that raises
questions about the net-
work's impartiality when
covering the Middle East.
Among the statements
that alarmed both the ADC
and the press watchdog
group, Fairness and Ac-
curacy in Reporting (FAIR):
• "I've never really want-
ed elections in any Arab or
Muslim country" — Mr.
Ajami.
• "Many of us celebrate 25
years after the city
(Jerusalem) was united
under Israeli rule." — Mr.
Rather.
• "You can't really believe
anything an Arab says." —
Mr. Kissinger.
In their syndicated
column, Jeff Cohen, FAIR's
executive director, and
Norman Solomon said,
"Imagine if a former secre-
tary of state had publicly
declared, 'You really can't
believe anything a Jew
says.' Or, 'You can't really
believe anything a black
says.' It's hard to believe the
CBS news anchor would
have let such a statement
pass without challenge .. .
Perhaps the explanation has
to do with the attitudes that
prevail at his workplace. To
watch the CBS Evening
News is to see the Middle
East through the eyes of
Israel . . ."
Suzanne McFarland, an
aide to Mr. Kissinger, said
the former secretary of state
called the charges "a
malicious misrepresentation
which I won't dignify with
an answer."
Mr. Kissinger was re-
portedly upset that the two
groups had not considered
the context of his comments.
Before he made his remark
about Arab credibility, he
had said that "one problem"
of journalists is reporting
I
Henry Kissinger:
"Misrepresented"?
41
"literally what is being told
to them and what they see,
which is quite proper. But in
dealing with Arabs, . . . you
have to understand how to
deal with intangibles . . ."
And after his comment
that offended the ADC, Mr.
Kissinger recalled that
throughout a meeting with
King Faisl, the Saudi said
the American's peace efforts
would fail. Once the "note
taker closed his book which •11
was going to be sent to the
PLO in Beirut," said Mr.
Kissinger, "he took me to •-■
It's hard to believe
the CBS news
anchor would let
such a statement
pass without
challenge .. .
the door and said, in Eng-
lish, 'I pray to the Lord
Almighty for the success of
your noble efforts on your
proven abilities.' "
"In other words," said Mr.
Kissinger, "pay no attention
to what I've just said, .. .
and don't make me say
anything that's written
down in notes."
Mr. Ajami, an American
citizen born in Lebanon, said
the attack on him is only "a
smoke screen" for some
Arab-Americans' "real"
gripe with him: Just the fact
that he had attended the
fund-raiser, and not espe-
cially what he had said
there.
Re noted that a June 16
column in the London
Arabic newspaper, Al-Hayat,
had called him a "traitor"
and a "collaborator" without
414
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