On Friday afternoon, MSNBC Live host Ali Velshi provided a forum to former PLO advisor Diana Buttu to push anti-Israel propaganda as she accused the Jewish state of engaging in "ethnic cleansing" against Palestinian Arabs whom she portrayed as simply engaging in peaceful protest since last week. It was not mentioned that the terrorist group Hamas has been using the protesters at the Gaza Strip border as cover to try to attack Israel.
Velshi introduced the three-and-a-half-minute segment at 3:45 p.m. ET by recalling that "Palestinians continue to push for the right to return to the land that they were forced to leave when Israel was founded nearly 70 years ago.," and, without noting the activities of Hamas fighters from the past week, recounted to viewers that "Israeli forces opened fire on protesters."
After introducing Buttu, he began by generally asking her to talk about "what's going on in the Gaza Strip." In spite of the fact that the Arab population of both Israel and the Gaza Strip have increased over the years, the former PLO advisor accused Israel of "ethnic cleansing" as she began: "Palestinian have taken to the streets, and they are now protesting the 70 years of denial of freedom, the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, and the siege that has been imposed on the Gaza Strip now for more than two decades."
She soon added: "They've already imprisoned everybody in the Gaza Strip, and now they're simply shooting at people as well."
In spite of her provocative accusations, Velshi's next question merely asked: "What is it that the residents of Gaza -- what does success look like for them?"
Buttu declared Palestinians simply want "freedom and the ability to return to their homes," and portrayed Palestinian Arabs as just acting out peacefully as she added: "Palestinians are taking matters into their own hands and demonstrating peacefully."
She then charged that "the Israelis are meeting any peaceful protest with very violent, very repressive means," and added: "All that we really want is the ability to go home, the ability to finally live in freedom."
Velshi then pushed back lightly as he brought up Hamas and posed: "Israel does argue back, though, that Hamas in its charter does not recognize Israel's right to exist, nor the right to sort of defend itself. Is Hamas part of the problem in this case?"
The only indications included in the segment that Hamas has been utilizing the protesters to attack Israel came a couple times when the words "Israel: Hamas using protests as a cover for attacks" was shown at the bottom of the screen, which could easily have been missed by viewers. The words were displayed about mid way through for 10 seconds, and again at the end of the segment for about 15 seconds.
The MSNBC host did not challenge his guest as she misleadingly recalled that Hamas had "amended" its charter -- even though it still does not indicate a willingness to recognize Israel. She continued to put all of the blame for the conflict on Israel.
Buttu is the first guest Velshi has had on his 3:00 p.m. MSNBC Live show since the anti-Israel protests and terrorist activities got under way last week, so no pro-Israel guests have yet been included to inform viewers of the Israeli point of view.
