Friday, May 22, 2009

Nidal Rafa

Remember this story?

[at] a debate for journalists in Jerusalem between two members of the Israeli Knesset: Danny Ayalon (Israel’s former ambassador to Washington) and Jamal Zahlaka, a Knesset member for Balad...

...one journalist, sitting in the row in front of me, was far from courteous and I have today posted on YouTube a video of her extraordinary tirade against Danny Ayalon, in which she harangues and berates him, uses expletives and calls him “fascist, fascist.”

The journalist in question is Nidal Rafa, who for some years has been one of CNN’s senior producers in Jerusalem, during which time she has been as partisan as she continues to be now.

...Rafa is an Israeli Arab, born in the Haifa area, and is well-known around town not only as a CNN producer but also as an extremely vocal critic of Israel...

On other occasions in 2007 and 2008, while employed by CNN, she has publicly called for Israel to cease to exist as a Jewish state. Several years ago, in an article on how Western reporters interview Palestinians about their views on terrorism, Israel’s leading liberal paper Ha’aretz noted that “Nidal Rafa [then working for another American TV network] decides what to translate [from Arabic for the American correspondent] and what to leave untranslated.”

“The person who finally decided what the news channel would broadcast from Bartaa was Nidal Rafa,” observed Ha’aretz.

In the past, Rafa has also worked on programs for the BBC and NPR.


Well, I worked at the Knesset at the same she did when she first was MK Azmi Bishara's aide and then she was responsible for clippings from the Arab-language periodicals. I even debated her for a CNN TV program. Three years ago, I had a picture taken with her at the July 4th US Jerusalem Consulate-General party (and it's around somewhere).

A bit vicious.

Anyway, just so you recognize next time, here she is:

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