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On July 6, 1998, on the popular morning talk show HaKol Diburim (“It’s all Talk”) hosted by Shelly Yechemovitch, who does not hide her very leftist positions, the following conversation took place with journalist Guy Kotev, who covers Hebron for Kol Yisrael radio.
Yechemovitch: We have just received a phone call from Moshe ben Zimra of Hebron who says that the Jewish Community of Hebron had nothing to do with the recent violence.
Kotev: That is correct.
Yechemovitch: He added that the community condemns all violence but says that unfortunately Hebron’s Jews are violently attacked daily by Arab thugs who ambush them and hurl huge rocks at them on the roads. Is this true?
Kotev: Yes, it is true. There are many many acts by Palestinians against the settlers. Any Palestinian you ask in the alleys of Hebron will tell you that the settlers don’t belong here and that ‘we will continue to act and are presently acting to prevent the setters from continuing to live in Hebron. We want them to leave.’ And these words and thoughts are translated into deeds. Palestinian youth throw rocks and riot in the alleys, throw rocks and bottles at houses in the Jewish community and at security forces. And of course they damage settler vehicles on the roads and when they are parked at night and do just about anything they are able to in order to cause the settlers problems and to prevent them from living normal lives in Hebron. This is true.
The settler’s complaints also relate to us, the media. They say that when rocks are thrown at them and when they are attacked and when their cars are attacked, we, the journalists, don’t report it. And here, when three kids riding on horses in Hebron, causing a little confusion and the resulting damage is seemingly minimal, the whole episode opens the hourly news on Kol Yisrael radio. This is true. Our understanding relates a little differently when a Palestinian damages Israeli property in Hebron. We relate to this differently because this is the way it seems, and it is very difficult to explain but this seems to be more newsworthy. The settler’s complaint is true.
