Another Israeli propagandist takes advantage of "useful idiot” Bryan Crump (Mar. 30, 2011)

“Useful Idiot” Bryan Crump asleep at the wheel—again.
Radio New Zealand National, Tuesday 29 March 2011, 8.40 p.m.

Three weeks ago, many National Radio listeners were shocked by host
Bryan Crump’s credulity as a Fatah propagandist called Lana Shaheen
cynically lied to him for twenty uninterrupted minutes about life in
Gaza. In a virtuoso display of fatuousness, Crump swallowed
everything, not even demurring when Shaheen recycled the U.S.-Israeli-
Fatah black propaganda line that the Hamas government “seized power”
by a “coup”. It seemed then that was as bad as it could possibly get.
Surely?

SURELY?

If you hate seeing “wretchedness o’ercharged”, in the shape of a weak
and ill-informed New Zealand journalist failing to do his job, you are
advised to turn away now. The rest of you, who presumably give a damn
about journalistic standards, should READ ON….

Crump’s guest tonight from the Middle East is not Lana Shaheen.
Alarmingly, however, it’s someone even worse—the extreme right-wing
British-born LIAT COLLINS, from the Jerusalem Post.

Now, anyone who knows anything about Israel knows that there is only
one respected, rigorous, liberal daily newspaper in Israel. That paper
is Haaretz. But someone who knows little or nothing about Israel, or
about Jerusalem, might be fooled into thinking that a newspaper called
the "Jerusalem Post" was a reliable and authoritative source of
information. In fact it’s not. The Jerusalem Post is about as
respected as the Murdoch-owned Sun, or the Moonie-owned Washington
Times. It’s about as authoritative as a Garth George Herald column or
a 60-second Paul Holmes “daily comment” on NewstalkZB.

Liat Collins is notorious as a True Believer, a fanatical defender and
worshipper of the Israeli state. So we shouldn’t be surprised by her
cynical distortion of the facts of life in Jerusalem, or her bilious
tirade against the prospect of democracy in the neighboring Arab
countries. What will have perplexed, even infuriated, many listeners
was the inability of Bryan Crump to challenge even one of her
statements, or to ask a single intelligent question.

Crump, whose first statement in the interview was to announce that he
knows “so little” about Jerusalem, was of course fair game for this
doctrinal warrior…

CRUMP: There can’t be many cities that I hear so much about, and yet I
know so little. What’s it like?

LIAT COLLINS: Ehhhhmmm, it’s, it’s, ehhhhhmmmm… it’s like, ehhhhmmmm,
if New York is a state of mind, Jerusalem is a feeling.

CRUMP: Jerusalem is famous for its hills. Are they bare? Or are they
now covered in houses?

LIAT COLLINS: Oh, they’re green. It’s very Mediterranean. There are
olive trees everywhere.

CRUMP: You left London and you came to Israel in 1982. Why?

LIAT COLLINS: It’s the only place, really, that I feel comfortable as
a Jew. It is the Jewish homeland. Ehhhhhmmm, that mightn’t be
politically correct, but, ehhhhhmmmm, it’s the only place in the world
where if someone calls you a Zionist, it’s a compliment!

CRUMP: What’s it like in Jerusalem?

LIAT COLLINS: Ohhhh, it’s, it’s, it’s, ohhhh, there’s noise, and
commotion, and it’s a bit unruly. Israelis are very in-your-face. We
don’t separate public from private!

CRUMP: Is there a lot of segregation? I mean, with Jews, and
Christians, and Arabs?

LIAT COLLINS: Well, people do keep to themselves. Even amongst the
Jews, there’s Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods.

CRUMP: What we hear a lot of in the news from Jerusalem is VIOLENCE.
Bomb attacks. Is that something you grow used to?

LIAT COLLINS: There was a bomb attack last Wednesday. I remember there
were bombings around the year 2000. It was just horrendous. It was
like Russian Roulette. Ehmmmmm. It’s like an instinct. It’s THERE. You
become very fatalistic. But the spirit of Jerusalem carries on. We had
the first international marathon in Jerusalem the other day. Thousands
of people from abroad!

CRUMP: Friday night in Jerusalem. What’s it LIKE there? I guess you
can talk about the VIOLENCE. I, I, I guess the potential for violence
is always there, just given human nature, without going into the
politics. But Jerusalem stands for the IDEAL, doesn’t it! It stands
for human potential, doesn’t it! Like the Blake poem—that sort of
thing.

LIAT COLLINS: There is a, a, a, a feeling you get nowhere else. I’m
just so PRIVILEGED and so BLESSED to live here!

CRUMP: Uuuummmmm. I wonder what people in Israel think about the
recent protests and moves toward democracy in the Middle East?

LIAT COLLINS: Ummmmmm, there’s a lot of concern. Ummmmmm, we have a
major missile problem going on in the south at the moment, you know?
Sponsored by Iranian terror, you know? Ummmm, there’s a phrase “global
jihad”, ehhhhmmmmm, Israel is like a canary in the mine, ehhhhhmmmm, I
mean, democracy is GREAT, but ehhhhhmmmm, it can be abused, you know?
Ehmmmmmm.

CRUMP: Liat Collins from the Jerusalem Post, nice to talk to you!
She’ll be back in three weeks!