Ron Jacobsohn Discusses the Channel 9 Holocaust Controversy

Israeli Russian speaking television network, Channel 9, has shocked its viewers when they asked them to participate in a poll where they were asked the question: do you think the Jews in Europe were at fault in what happened in the holocaust? The media backlash was not far to follow and it has yet to be determined if channel 9’s little media stunt will help or hurt it eventually in the ratings.

Ron Jacobsohn, JN1 Correspondent:
Israeli Russian speaking television network, Channel 9, has shocked its viewers when they asked them to participate in a poll where they were asked the question: do you think the Jews in Europe were at fault in what happened in the holocaust? The media backlash was not far to follow, so we wanted to find out what the idea behind such a controversial poll could be.

Leonid Kanfer, the editor-in-chief of Channel 9 News, is a fairly new addition to the channel moving from his previous job at REN TV (РЕН ТВ) in Moscow. Kanfer claims he could not work anymore for an industry, which has forgotten what free press feels like. The poll he instigated for Channel 9 was a reaction to the poll published recently by Russian TV channel, Dozhd (ʓождь), which got the station almost shut down by the government for dealing with a touchy subject about Russia and World War Two.

Leonid Kanfer, Head Editor Channel 9 News:
When we had asked the question we understood beforehand that we’re positioning ourselves on slippery ground, where there are things that are holy for many Israelis, Jews. With that, we also knew for a fact that here in Israel we won’t be closed down, nobody will kick us off air and if there will be sanctions of some kind, they will be decided in a court of law, one that the population has trust in. And we understood that in the worse case scenario, we will be faced with people’s reactions, those of them who felt offended. But posing the question, we ourselves did not give an answer to it. If we would have addressed the same question to ourselves, the journalists of Channel 9 would unanimously answer that no, of course not. The Jews, in no way, in no shape or form are not to blame for the holocaust, in direct or indirect form and that would be the answer of all our journalists. Consciously, we were asking it the wrong way, consciously posing it in a provocative fashion, in order to simply to demonstrate that Israel is a democratic country, and even for this kind of questions, not politically correct, nobody will be closing down a channel.

Gonen Ginat, the political editor of the country’s number one daily newspaper, Israel Hayom, admits that even though Channel 9 wanted to make an important point about democracy in Israel, using the Holocaust to do it, feels very inappropriate.

Gonen Ginat, Political Editor, Israel Hayom:
I guess you have hear about the IG Noble Prize, each year at the same time as the ceremony of Nobel Prizes, there is a prize for the most silliest survey that have been conducted in the world, I guess this survey will give a serious competition to win the prize this year. One should be too rude to think that you can make such an evil joke about the Holocaust. They have really gone too far.

World-renowned Israeli Holocaust researcher, Professor Moshe Zimmerman, of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem is willing to look at the bigger picture behind the Channel 9 poll.

Prof. Moshe Zimmerman, Hebrew University Jerusalem:
I think the question is a very intriguing one: I want to know how far Israeli’s believe in what anti-Semites say about the causes of the Holocaust? If you are interested to know how people think, you have to ask questions, even if they are provocative. The question in itself is not a statement; the statement is in the answer. I am thinking about anti-Semites in Germany, for instance, even if anti-Semites in Germany of today hear about a kind of reaction in Israel, the don’t have additional ammunition for their war against the Jews. 9% of the Jews in Israel, who believe that the Jews are also responsible to what happened, do not add anything to their campaign.

Ron Jacobsohn, JN1 Correspondent:
It has yet to be determined if channel 9’s little media stunt will help or hurt it eventually in the ratings. For JN1 I am Ron Jacobsohn at the Channel 9 studios in Tel-Aviv.

About Ron Jacobsohn

World renowned, award winning, correspondent, Ron Jacobsohn, brings from his very entertaining world to Ron's World.

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