Thumbs Down to Gillian Findlay

THUMBS DOWN to ABC News’ Jerusalem correspondent Gillian Findlay for biased, hostile reporting that belittles Israel’s entirely legitimate security concerns. In a report on “World News Sunday” (September 5, 1999), Findlay told of simultaneous terrorist bombings in Tiberius and Haifa that wounded a number of Israelis. She said: “In the past, attacks like these were often used by Israel as a pretext for freezing peace agreements.”

Findlay was equally obtuse in coverage of Israel’s deporting fringe Christian cults suspected of planning millennial violence. She reported on “World News This Morning” (October 29, 1999): “They were run out of the country the same way they were arrested, in the middle of the night with little warning.” She neglects to note that the deportees had been living illegally in Israel for several years, had refused to follow requirements for legal residency and had encouraged others to do the same. Nor does she mention that among the deportees was a leader of a Branch Davidian sect, the same group whose erstwhile head, David Koresh, also lived in Jerusalem before the confrontation with U.S. officials in Waco, Texas that killed him and many others.

Gillian Findlay’s malice toward Israel and her skewed reports are likely encouraged by ABC’s Peter Jennings, known for his unique brand of anti-Israel spleen and shoddy reporting. Small wonder the network’s ratings have taken a dive!

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