Once again, CBS has proved that it is the lone “big three” network that attempts to be a real news network. Friday’s CBS Evening News w/ Scott Pelley actually reported on the rise of anti-Semitism in Germany primarily caused by Muslims immigrating into the country.
Anchor Scott Pelley highlighted how “tonight, armed guards have been posted at synagogues throughout Germany for the start of Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement. Mark Phillips reports anti-Semitism is once again on the rise in Europe, especially in Germany.”
As the segment continued, reporter Mark Phillips pointed out how “the tensions have been building in Germany since demonstrations against last summer's Gaza War exposed a clear anti-Jewish sentiment. Chants were heard that echoed from Germany's darkest times. “Jew, Jew, cowardly pig,” they say.”
The CBS reporter went on to note how “much of the more incendiary street rhetoric has come from German Muslims, many recent immigrants” before turning to a professor from Berlin’s technical university who acknowledged that much of Germany's anti-Semitism “come[s] from the middle of society, and many of them are highly educated.”
As the segment concluded, Phillips informed his audience that while anti-Semitism may be on the rise throughout all of Europe, Germany has been one of the worst offenders as of late:
The memories of Jewish persecution of the November 1938 Kristallnacht when Jewish institutions were destroyed, are burned into German memory. And Frankfurt's main synagogue, badly damaged that night, is now under armed guard. Anti-Israeli protests that become anti-Semitic demonstrations may be taking place all across Europe but nowhere are the echoes more sinister than here in Germany.
Kudos to CBS for reporting on the rise of anti-Semitism that has swept across Europe in recent months. Unsurprisingly, CBS highlighting how the rise of Muslim immigrants in Germany has sparked anti-Jewish sentiments is rare for the “big three” networks but an important story nonetheless.
See relevant transcript below.
CBS Evening News w/ Scott Pelley
October 3, 2014
SCOTT PELLEY: Tonight, armed guards have been posted at synagogues throughout Germany for the start of Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement. Mark Phillips reports anti-Semitism is once again on the rise in Europe, especially in Germany.
MARK PHILLIPS: The tensions have been building in Germany since demonstrations against last summer's Gaza War exposed a clear anti-Jewish sentiment. Chants were heard that echoed from Germany's darkest times. “Jew, Jew, cowardly pig,” they say.
DIETER GRAUMANN [sic]: We haven't had this dimension at all before. When you imagine that in German streets you hear people chanting, the roaring mob chanting Jews to be gassed, to be slaughtered, to be burned.
PHILLIPS: Dieter Graumann is president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany. Do you see it as well as having spiked because of the passions that were stirred up by the events in Gaza?
GRAUMANN: Well, it's cited as a reason for that, but I don't think it's a reason. It's a pretext. It's an occasion to let it out.
PHILLIPS: Much of the more incendiary street rhetoric has come from German Muslims, many recent immigrants. But Monika Schwartz-Friesel[sic] of Berlin's technical university has studied thousands of anti-Semitic e-mails sent to German Jewish institutions and made a disturbing discovery.
MONIKA SCHWARTZ-FRIESEL[sic]: We saw that more than 60% of the writers who clearly invoke anti-Semitic stereotypes come from the middle of society, and many of them are highly educated.
PHILLIPS: The memories of Jewish persecution of the November 1938 Kristallnacht when Jewish institutions were destroyed, are burned into German memory. And Frankfurt's main synagogue, badly damaged that night, is now under armed guard. Anti-Israeli protests that become anti-Semitic demonstrations may be taking place all across Europe but nowhere are the echoes more sinister than here in Germany. This may not be 1938 but once again, the Jewish community here says it feels like it's under siege. Are people here now living in fear?
GRAUMANN: They are worried, and many-- many Jews here ask the question has our Jewish population a future in Germany? I haven't heard that question for many, many years.
PHILLIPS: Now, though, the question is being asked again. Mark Phillips, CBS News, Frankfurt.
