Many of the events, articles and broadcasts that have had you writing in relate to ongoing and unfolding events. As a result, some familiar debates have been sparked. That said, some of our listeners/readers seem happy to revisit the same topics but from different angles. Feedback highlights some of those who offer another perspective to topics such as: Gaza, Israel and the impact of religion.
According to the feature article:
"For most of her life she thought she'd join the army and become a hero for her country. After all, her father is a former deputy head of Mossad and still considered one of the most powerful men of the Israeli security establishment. Her older sister and most of her friends all did their military service without question.
But the second Lebanon war began to change Omer's mind. She visited Hebron, and started going regularly to the West Bank and saw how Palestinians lived, how they were treated."
In the debate, there is almost exclusively praise for her, evident through words like "hero" and "courage". But one listener's/reader's comments also remind us of the impact that airing stories like Goldman's can have on challenging people's views. HFS from Egypt wrote:
"Persons like Omer are badly needed reminders that not every Jew or Israeli supports the idea of collective vengeance and takes pleasure in seeing the Israeli army atrocities in Palestine. This helps to modify the well-justified feelings of bitterness by us the Arabs and other Muslims over the world, so that only the ones responsible for these crimes should be selected and summoned for trial sooner or later no matter how immune they think they are."
People like HFS are brave to consider perspectives that challenge traditional assumptions and move towards a middle ground in the often polarised debates.
A polarised debate
Sadly, as has happened since the beginning of the (recent) Israeli/Gaza conflict, much of the debate, both publicly and on our forums, has indeed been polarised and often emotionally charged.
Equally sadly, many of our recent features which have attempted to analyse the conflict through the eyes of the people of Gaza have attracted hostile responses. Both people making comments and sometimes the producer/author themselves have received criticism.
While we uphold your right to disagree with anything we broadcast or publish, hostile and inaccurate comments do need to be corrected.
The article continues:
"Decades of conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, and amongst Palestinians themselves, have taken a terrible toll on the psyche of the 1.5 million people living in the Gaza Strip, one of the most densely populated areas in the world. It's estimated that 70 percent of Gazans suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder, and that was even before Israel attacked the coastal territory late last year."
Much of the debate goes back and forth and round and round, depending, it appears, on the stance of the respondent: for or against Palestine, or for or against Israel [full debate can be seen on the website]. One respondent, however, took a different, unpleasant and (mostly) inaccurate, view. Thomas from the USA wrote:
"This article was published already a couple month ago as "the sobbing story of the sawing machines" title by the same resident author. They will never publish reports on gouged eyed Gazans because that is un-cool for the Israel bashers."
Eric Beauchemin responds:
"Thomas, the story of the Saleh family was mentioned briefly in another article entitled "Walls vs. Bridges": but this is a new article.
While it may appear to you that we only feature the fate of Gazans, we have also carried reports on the situation of Israelis, including those living in the border region. Best regards."
Feedback would also like to point out that Mr Beauchemin is not a resident of Gaza.
Religion
The article explains:
"Rightwing populist Dutch MP Geert Wilders has enlisted one of the Netherlands' top lawyers to fight his prosecution over inciting hatred and discrimination. The lawyer, Bram Moszkowicz, has confirmed he is taking the case to the country's Supreme Court, requesting an immediate end to the proceedings. He is calling for the Court to quash the prosecution order "in the interest of the law". The Supreme Court ('Hoge Raad') is the country's highest judicial body."
There is, and has been, mostly support for freedom of speech and Mr Wilders, so the opposing view comes this time from Q [no country cited], who wrote:
"Are the Dutch so eager to give free propaganda and votes to this paranoiac fascist? Why bother prosecuting him when it is easier and way more civilised to point out the stupidities he speaks? Either they really want him to get votes or they forgot what freedom of speech means, or (and I think it is the one) they just forgot how to speak back..."
In yet another story continuing on the emotionally charged theme of religion, the current affairs article "Pope's decision is "disastrous", says Dutch bishop" by Rob Kievit, reports:
"Roman Catholic Bishop Ad van Luyn of Rotterdam has said that Pope Benedict's decision to rehabilitate renegade British Bishop Richard Williamson is "disastrous". Speaking on public television, Bishop Van Luyn said that Williamson's denial of the Holocaust and its gas chambers are "shocking, totally ahistoric, and at odds with the second Vatican Council [the 1962-65 church reform]."
Not too surprisingly, there were some who supported the Pope's decision, some who disagreed with him, some who supported Professor Jean-Pierre Wils comments that the denial of the holocaust is anti-Semitic, and some who disagreed.
However, Vatikani Figyelo [no country cited] chose to inform the debaters further:
"Actually, as we read the relevant news, it results evident that the holocaust-denier Williamson hasn't become a church authority... The Pope only lifted a punishment from him (in which he previously incurred because of his disobedience to the pope), but did not charge him with any official role in the catholic church. So there isn't any endorsement from the church to Williamson's views."
Thanks for that, and for the reminder that sometimes you have to take a couple of steps back to see things more clearly.
Tags: feedback, Gaza, Israel, religion