Thread by @lennybendavid

#SaebErekat played a big role in a presentation I made to the @CNN Board of Directors in Atlanta in 2002.
I had finished a month-long content analysis of CNN's coverage of the Palestinians' terror war against Israel's civilians and Israel's Operation Defensive Shield.
1/

2/ I went thru many pages of transcripts. CNN's ME/West Bank correspondents were horribly biased.
CNN's Atlanta crew was stellar, starting w @BillHemmer. He challenged #SaebErakat's fake news.
The Board was impressed that the Atlanta crew was also challenging CNN's reporters.

3/ Let's go to the transcripts. Hemmer & Erekat, Apr 14, 2002.
HEMMER: You brought up Jenin, & you used the word massacre there. Earlier this wk, you said 500 Palestinians were killed there. Do you still stand behind those numbers in the refugee camp?..."

4/ CNN transcript. Hemmer: "Where are you getting the evidence that shows 500 people were killed there? Israelis say the number of dead is less than 100, closer to 70. If their numbers are right & your initial numbers are wrong, will you come back here & retract what you said?"

5/ CNN transcript. #SaebErekat: "Absolutely. Absolutely, Bill, and I hope that the numbers will be nothing.
The number that we have been told to us thru out the West Bank incursions, 500... I'll be more than happy to come & say yes, we were mistaken. The numbers were wrong."

6/Erekat's claim of a Jenin massacre spread like a poisonous virus in the world. It was even the subject of a movie.

Erekat's "absolute" retraction never came. He took his lies with him to the grave.