Dan Rather's camera crew strip-searched in Israel
A producer for Dan Rather, pictured above, claims in a letter that the journalist's crew was harassed and humiliated by Israeli security forces while on assignment in that country. / AP Photo/Peter Kramer, file
JERUSALEM - A crew for Dan Rather was harassed and humiliated by Israeli security officials, a producer for his show has said, accusing them of forcing the staffers to drop their pants for a strip search before seeing a Cabinet minister.
The allegations, made in a letter to Israeli officials that was obtained by The Associated Press, add to growing complaints about how Israeli security officials treat foreign media.
Andrew Glazer, an Emmy-award winning producer at Dan Rather Reports, wrote that the legendary anchorman came to do a story about improving Israeli-Palestinian relations pitched by Israel's Foreign Ministry.
Glazer said problems mounted after they arrived. He said they were held up for hours at security checks. Israeli soldiers barred the crew's veteran Palestinian cameramen — a Jerusalem resident — from accompanying Rather to a West Bank neighborhood. And then came a strip search before an interview with Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor.
"Mr. Rather said that in his career, he had never seen a crew forced to strip prior to an interview — including the one he conducted with Saddam Hussein," Glazer wrote.
Reached in New York, Glazer acknowledged sending a letter to several people in the Israeli government, but he would not discuss its contents or say when the events took place.
Glazer said in the Jan. 25 letter that the team held advance consultations with government and military officials and had a good experience with Palestinian security officials.
Israel's relationship with the foreign media is often testy, with some Israeli officials accusing journalists of sympathizing with the Palestinians and disregarding Israel's legitimate security concerns.
Journalists' recurring problems with chaotic and intrusive security, at Israel's international airport and entering government offices, have strained relations even further.
The new director of Israel's Government Press Office, Oren Helman, has vowed to usher in a new era of cordial relations with the hundreds of foreign journalists based in Israel. His pledges have not filtered down to the security agents who inspect journalists before entering official events with top officials.
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Certainly Israel needs to protect itself. But what constitutes "itself" in regards to Israel? Does this include the multitude Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which are illegal under international law?
Israel is not merely occupying the West Bank for security reasons. They are seizing Palestinian territory, forcibly moving Palestinians out of their own land, and moving in their own people.
Israel declares that it needs to protect itself, but at the same time it takes even more repressive measures against Palestinians, which only results in more Palestinian anger and therefore more attacks. The Israels then use the terrorist attacks as an excuse to increase the repressive measures and build more settlements.
It cannot be denied that the Israel ultimately intends to annex the West Bank and make it part of Israel. This cannot be tolerated, regardless of what terrorist acts are carried out against Israel.
Take a look at how Israeli settlements have carved up the West Bank like Swiss cheese: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/Westbankjan06.jpg
The fact is that an American journalist was singled out for harassment by an official government intent, simply because he was likely to report on the matter in a way that the government didn't like.
This is an outrage whether you like the particular journalist that was harassed or not.
ISRAELI SOLDIERS HAVE TO BE LUCKY EVERY TIME...A TERRORIST, ONLY ONCE.