CBS News Reporter Aims At Jerusalem's City Of David

CBS television network anchor Lesley Stahl is up in arms over Jerusalem’s Silwan neighborhood – known to Jews as Shiloach, and home to the City of David archaeological excavations. The reporter from the long-running Sunday evening “60 Minutes” program narrated a segment this week on the City of David, produced by Shachar Bar-On.

 During the segment, Stahl worked hard to cast aspersions on the validity of the archaeological findings in the City of David excavations and the unity of the city, and to delegitimize the presence of Jewish families in the area. The Jewish families are in houses bought by Jews, many of them Yemenites, before the creation of the State of Israel.

Describing a recent rock attack which ended badly when two of the young Arab rock throwers were hit by the car they had targeted as it swerved to avoid running over another young attacker, Stahl noted incidents in Silwan had “become violent.” Her comments, subtly editorialized, were carefully slanted to guide the viewer towards a Palestinian Authority viewpoint.

Stahl also claimed there was no proof that the City of David archaeological excavations were really connected to the Biblical King David. “But for all the talk of King David, one thing is glaringly missing here at the City of David,” she told the City of David Foundation’s director of development, Doron Spielman. “There’s actually no evidence of David, right?”

She also bluntly charged Israel with using the archaeological excavations as a political tool to indoctrinate IDF troops. The journalist referred to the “scores and scores of soldiers coming through” the underground tunnel through which King David sneaked into Jerusalem to conquer the city.

“There’s an implicit message that because David conquered the city for the Jews back then, Jerusalem belongs to the Jews today,” she observed.

Spielman explained that such tours are part of the soldiers’ “cultural day” in order to help them understand what they are fighting for. “When we bring them here, they understand that they’re not just fighting for today – they actually represent the return of the Jewish people to Israel after thousands of years.”

Stahl shot back: “So archaeology is being used as a political tool… I mean, I hate to use the word, but indoctrination, almost.”

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