By Bruce S. Ticker
Bruce S. Ticker
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania –“Netanyahu is lying through his teeth.”
The same can be said for Annelle Sheline, who uttered those words, when she exploited a one-woman forum to revise Middle East history. C-Span’s Washington Journal call-in show supplied the stage on Monday last week for her intellectually dishonest rant.
What she revealed to viewers is fascinating.
Did you know that Holocaust guilt created the modern state of Israel? That Hamas is needed because no state of Palestine exists? That in 1947 the Arabs were not offered their own state as happened for the Jews?
Plus, she refers not only to “Palestine” but “historic Palestine.” How long will it take for the latter phrase to catch on?
Sheline spoke as a research fellow for the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Turns out she quit the Biden administration because it would not act to block weapons to Israel because of its heavy-handed response to the Oct. 7, 2023, slaughter of 1,200 Israelis.
She may not recognize that her resignation was a public service so we would not need to pay her government salary any longer.
Sheline alerted us that the Jews were handed Israel because of the Holocaust, a gift which meant that the Palestinians were denied their own state in 1947.
Granted, it can probably be said that the Holocaust made creation of Israel inevitable, but Jews struggled for more than half a century prior to World War II to rebuild Israel as their homeland.
The United Nations offered both Jews and Arabs an opportunity to share the land through a partition plan. The Jews accepted it and the Arabs responded by attacking Israel. Once hostilities ended, Arabs were left with the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, 22 percent of the land. We note that Sheline does not mention the Arabs’ military action.
A caller to the Washington Journal asked how Sheline felt about Hamas’ Oct. 7 invasion, and she responded, “Hamas committed heinous crimes.”
She swiftly pivoted to Israel’s so-called cruelty: “If a state of Palestine existed, there would be no need for Hamas in historic Palestine. It is because of Israel’s ongoing occupation.”
Hamas was in full bloom long before 2000, a frenzied, transformative year in the conflict when Israel proposed an independent state during a summit at Camp David hosted by President Clinton. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was unresponsive, departed the summit on July 24 and then initiated or facilitated a deadly uprising.
Political power in Israel moved from a center-left government to more conservative administrations which steadily became more resistant to the Palestinians, especially after Oct. 7. The current coalition headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is adamantly opposed to a two-state solution. That could change, but it would largely depend on the Palestinians and the status of Israeli politics.
It would help Palestinians if their advocates in America – like Annelle Sheline – confine themselves to legitimate concerns, and there is a sufficient number of legitimate concerns to be addressed.
She must explain the curious phrase “historic Palestine.” I am still trying to learn what “Palestine” is, much less “historic Palestine.” Unless she is talking about Palestine, Texas; Palestine, Illinois; or East Palestine, Ohio. They all have histories.
It is astonishing whenever I hear someone with a credible complaint extend beyond that point by distorting the overall situation. Sheline’s lies overwhelm her honest concerns, and so we must wonder how she expects anyone to take her seriously.
Far more bothersome is C-Span’s hosting her for an interview and call-in questions. It understates the case to say she misrepresented the situation.
I do not expect C-Span hosts to be experts on Middle East history, but they should fact-check interviewees on fundamental background. That includes both those who are pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel.
For example, it is established fact that the United Nations offered Jews and Arabs a partition plan to split the land, and the Arabs ignored it and launched a war against Israelis. Shouldn’t broadcast journalists at least know that much and call that to Sheline’s attention?
Unless C-Span and many other outlets address their treatment of this kind of interview, their viewers will go on to regard Israel’s creation as merely a device to assuage the world’s Holocaust guilt.
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Bruce S. Ticker is a Philadelphia-based columnist.