Israeli officials hit out Thursday at CNN founder and AOL Time Warner Vice Chairman, Ted Turner, for accusing Israel of practising state terrorism, in comments made earlier this week.
”If Mr Turner had said that in Israel, I would have made a move to have him declared a persona non grata here,” Communications Minister, Reuven Rivlin, told public radio.
Rivlin, a member of the conservative Likud party, was responding to Turner’s Tuesday interview in The Guardian, a British newspaper, where he accused both Israel and the Palestinians of being ”involved in terrorism”.
Rivlin said the YES satellite television channel, which is found in many Israeli homes, would also allot a slot to another 24-hour news channel and CNN’s main competitor, Fox TV of the United States.
Parliamentary deputy, Avraham Hirschson, also from the Likud party, called for a boycott of CNN programmes in Israel, saying the channel’s broadcasts displayed ”a systematically hostile attitude which sympathised with terrorist organisations.
”Even today, as we are burying 25 of our civilians (killed in two suicide attacks in Jerusalem), Turner is comparing our policy of self-defence to the terrorism of Palestinian suicide bombers,” he said.
Turner, who later expressed regret over his remarks, refused to speak on the matter.
For its part, CNN issued a statement Wednesday in which it distanced itself from Turner.
”Ted Turner has no operational or editorial oversight of CNN.
”Mr Turner’s comments are his own and definitely do not reflect the views of CNN in any way,” the network said.
Turner sold CNN to Time Warner, which was subsequently acquired by AOL.
In Tuesday’s interview, Turner said the Palestinians were fighting with human suicide bombers against Israel’s military machine, which was one of the most powerful in the world.
”The Palestinians have nothing. So who are the terrorists? I would make a case that both sides are involved in terrorism,” he said.
CNN has been a punching-bag for both sides in the 21-month intifada. It has frequently been accused of bias by Israelis, while some Palestinians have derided it as the ”Zionist News Network”. -Sapa-AFP