Jerusalem – An Israeli news anchor came under fire after on-air comments in which she said that soldiers who serve in the West Bank return as “animals.”
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Oshrat Kotler, an anchor and journalist on Israel’s Channel 13 broadcast channel made the comments at the end of a report about five Israel Defense Forces soldiers accused of beating of two detained Palestinians while they were handcuffed and blindfolded.
“We send the children to the army, to the territories and get back animals. That is the result of the occupation,” she said following the report.
Later in the broadcast, Kotler clarified her remarks, saying: “I would like to stress: my children, and their friends, they’re all combat soldiers in the territories. My criticism was directed only at those soldiers led by our control over the Palestinians to hurt innocent people.” She said she is “in favor of leniency toward the indicted soldiers, because we sent them into this impossible situation.”
Channel 13 news later said in a statement: “Oshrat Kotler is a journalist with strong opinions and she expresses them from time to time, like other journalists on our staff who hold other opinions. Oshrat expressed her personal opinion only.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned Kotler’s remark. “I am proud of IDF soldiers. They are protecting us and we are carrying out the supreme humanitarian and moral mission of defending our people and protecting our country against those who want to slaughter us. The journalist’s words deserve all condemnation,” he said.
Peace Now responded in a statement that “It is permissible and even desirable to look into the mirror from time to time and honestly admit to the damage [caused by] the occupation.
The parents of the soldiers also responded in a joint statement, saying Kotler’s comments were “unfortunate and ugly” and “have no place in Israeli discourse, certainly not by a news anchor who should present facts and not her warped world view.”
Yamsar can you ask your boss soros, how much he paid her?
If you deal with animals you go down and can not maintain your superiority.
the people who present news are not always selected because they have brains, but they are chosen because they look good in front of the camera.
It is when they open up their mouths, that we hear they lack brains…..
Journalism went down the toilet long time ago. OpEds aren’t journalism. Journalists have to keep their opinions to themselves and report on facts. Not to twist the facts to fit their opinion or narrative like the daily happenings on all news networks. The truth is that the media moguls know they can control the masses by what information they disseminate. Journalism barely had a chance. It’s all propaganda.
the other thing that gets me: in America, almost all news anchors are now women. and when they say, let’s go to afganistan for the latest, lo and behold a woman is standing there, as she dodges bullets. sorry, we grew up on walter Cronkite etc, and somehow can not look up to women as news role models.
that’s just me… or is it? interesting to see results to this monologue
p.s. I love women 🙂
I agree with her and you should too. They do come back as animals.