“Chomsky, why didn't they report it?”

Q: It’s seems to me that you left out of your analysis the element of violence, psychological and physical, against Israel, against Jews. And it seems to me also that the history that Professor Dershowitz described, a lot of that is dictated by what happened: the terrorism, the wars against Jews, especially considering the immediate history, right before the establishment of the state of Israel, the Holocaust, and everything that has happened since. So, I’d like you to address the psychological effect, the physical effect, of war and terrorism on Israel.

Noam Chomsky: That’s half of a very important question. The other half of it is what’s the effect of war and terrorism on the Palestinians? We’re not supposed to talk about that question here, but if you look at them both, you’ll find what Benny Morris described is in fact correct. The balance of terror and violence is overwhelmingly against the Palestinians, not surprisingly, given the balance of forces. And that’s even true right to the present. I mean, for decades, Israel was able to run the West Bank virtually with no forces, as Morris and others point out, because the population was so passive, while they were being humiliated, beaten, tortured, land stolen and so on, just as I quoted. Finally, there was a reaction. And it’s interesting to see the U.S. reaction to it. In the first month of the Intifada, this one, October of 2000, 74 Palestinians were killed, 4 Israelis were killed, this is all in the occupied territories. Now the Israeli army, according to its own records, fired a million bullets in the first day, which disgusted the generals when they learned about it. Israel, the first few days of the Intifada, was using U.S. helicopters, they don’t make ‘em. U.S. helicopters to attack civilian complexes, apartment houses and so on, killing and wounding dozens of people, and the U.S. did respond to that. Clinton responded by sending the biggest shipment of military helicopters in a decade to Israel. The press responded too by not publishing it. I should add refusing to publish it. This was repeatedly brought to their attention. Well, while the ratio was 20 to 1, which is pretty much the way it’s been for a long time, there was no concern here. Then over the next 2 -3 years, the ratio reduced to closer to 3 to 1, and then came enormous concern about the 1, not the three. And this goes back for a long time. What I quoted from Morris is accurate.

Alan Dershowitz: The idea that there is this vast conspiracy between the American media and both democrats like Clinton and republicans like Bush, to hide the truth from the American public just does not bear reality. Israel is an open society. Any newspaper can come and cover it. Why would not the newspapers cover these stories but for one reason: they are figments of Chomsky’s imagination. And they just never happened. I want to talk about another figment of his imagination. Chomsky constantly quotes Benny Morris as if Benny Morris supports his position. What happened is, Benny Morris was asked whether or not I accurately quote him in my book, The Case for Peace. And, Benny Morris responded as follows: he still holds the views that I attributed to him, that I am right about his views, and that someone could read Morris’ books, this is a quote from Morris, “and arrive at exactly the same conclusions.” And yet, Professor Chomsky, by selectively quoting, and by picking tidbits out of context, knowing that you’re not going to check up on him, tells you essentially that what you believe in the American media, whether it be the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, or the New York Times, is not true. In order to get the true meaning of the world, you have to move to planet Chomsky, where the news reflects his perspective on reality. Well, I urge you to move to the real world, read the real news, don’t read the selective Israeli journalists that he talks about. Listen to Dennis Ross. Dennis Ross actually helped to draw the maps. He was there when…when I asked Dennis Ross today about these maps, and what apparently Chomsky would say in response, Ross said ask Professor Chomsky one thing: Were you there? Dennis Ross was there. He knows what maps were presented to the Palestinians, and what they rejected.

NC: The head of the Shimon Peres Peace Center, Ron Pundak, who’s the leading scholar on this, and doesn’t cut it off….

AD: Whoever you quote is the leading scholar. How do we know that?

NC: …right before he’s refuted, the way Dennis Ross did, presents, he was involved in negotiations since before Oslo, right through Camp David, up to the present, had a long historical account of it, and you can read it if you can read Hebrew, some of it’s in English. The one, all this smoke that was blown had to do with one fact that I mentioned, one. And you can check it and please do. In the first month of the Intifada, I’m now using Israeli sources, 74 Palestinians were killed, 4 Jews, in the occupied territories, the first few days. This is reported in the press here, Boston Globe, Israel was using U.S. helicopters to attack apartment complexes. Clinton reacted with the biggest deal in a decade. Check it out. It’s in the public record, not questioned by anyone, to send military helicopters to Israel. There has been a database search of the U.S. It was reported in Europe. It was reported by Amnesty International. It’s reported in Jane’s Defence Weekly, the main military magazine in the world. There was a database search of the U.S. press and they found nothing. I know of explicit cases, and I’ll be glad to tell them to you, where the press was approached and asked just to report the facts.

AD: Why Didn’t…Chomsky, why didn’t they report it? Are they bad reporters? What’s their motive? Explain why the Times or the Post wouldn’t report this great story from planet Chomsky?

NC: It’s from Jane’s Defence Weekly, from the international press, and so on. You have to ask them why they didn’t report it. I’ll give you my opinion, and in fact I’ve written about it.

“Israel and Palestine After Disengagement: Where Do We Go From Here?” A Debate with Alan Dershowitz and Noam Chomsky. John F. Kennedy School of Government. Harvard University. 11/29/05.