“CBS Mornings” anchor Tony Dokoupil questioned the author and journalist ta-nehisi quotes In a tense interview on Monday he discussed whether he believed Israel had a “right to exist.”
Coates appeared on the show to preview his new book, “The Message,” a collection of new essays from the best-selling author about his travels to different parts of the world.
“In the book’s longest section, Coates travels to Palestine, where he sees with devastating clarity how easily we are misled by nationalist narratives, and the tragedy that is wreaking havoc on the stories we tell and life on the ground. lies in the collision between reality and reality,” the book summary says.
Dokoupil confronted Coates on this section of the book, and told him clearly that this was something you would find in a “backpack”. of an extremist,
Iran fired several missiles at Israel
In an interview Monday, author and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates was questioned by CBS anchor Tony Dokoupil about his views on Israel’s right to exist. (CBS News/Screenshot)
“I have to say, when I read the book, I think that if I removed your name from it, took away the awards, accolades, took the cover off the book, went to the publishing house, the content of that section would not be the same. Be out of place in the extremist’s bag,” Dokoupil said.
“So then I found myself wondering, why does Ta’Nehisi Coates, who I’ve known for a long time, read his work for a long time, a very talented, smart guy, leave so much behind? Why leave Israel? Given that it is surrounded by countries that want to destroy it, why leave out the fact that Israel is dealing with terrorist groups that want to destroy it? The first and second intifadas, the bus bombings. Why was the explosion, the small children, not explained in detail? Is it because you do not believe that Israel has a right to exist under any circumstances? the CBS anchor continued.
Coates defended the book, saying that he tried to give a voice to the Palestinian people, whose views have been underrepresented in the American media.
Coats replied, “I would say that there is no shortage of the perspective you just outlined in the American media.”
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Ta-Nehisi Coates defends his new book, “The Message,” on CBS Mornings. (CBS News/Screenshot)
“I’ve been asked repeatedly in my interviews whether there is a single network, mainstream organization in the US with a Palestinian-American bureau chief or correspondent that really has a voice to express that part of the world. I’ve been there for 20 years. I am a reporter from .Journalists are those who believe more empathetically about israel And there is no problem in making its voice heard for its right to exist. But what I saw in Palestine, what I saw in the West Bank, what I saw in Haifa in Israel, what I saw in the South Hebron Hills, those were stories that I didn’t hear. These were the stories that held my most attention,” he added.
Coates also said that the 260-page book was not meant to be “a treatise on the entire conflict between Palestinians and Israelis”.
Dokoupil continued to put pressure on the far-left author, claiming that his book would force readers to question why Israel existed at all.
“But if you read this book you will be left wondering why Israel exists? What a terrible place it is where terrible acts take place every day. So I think the question is central and important: Does Israel deserve to exist? And if your answer is no, then I guess the question is why do Palestinians have a right to exist? Why do 20 different Muslim countries have a right to exist?” Dokopil asked.
Coates rejected this question, saying that states are established by force, not rights, and that Israel already existed.
Dokoupil said the author’s book “delegitimizes” Israel’s foundation and “seems like an attempt to demolish its entire edifice.”
“What is it that particularly angers you about the existence of a Jewish state, which is a Jewish safe space, and none of the other states that exist there?” he asked Coates.
On the eve of the new Jewish month of Shevat, thousands of people gathered at the Western Wall Plaza in Jerusalem’s Old City to pray collectively for the peace of the State of Israel, the peace and release of security forces. People held hostage by Hamas in Gaza Strip. Jerusalem, 10 January 2024. (Yov Dudkevich/TPS)
Coats responded, “There is nothing about the Jewish state that offends me.” “I’m offended by the idea of states based on ethnicity, no matter where they are.”
“Muslims included?” Dokopil asked.
“I wouldn’t want a state where any group of people gave up their citizenship rights based on ethnicity,” Coates said. He described how he personally observed a “two-tier system” in Israel, where Palestinians had less freedom and access to resources in the “occupied territories” than Israelis.
“I’m working with the guy who’s guiding me, a Palestinian whose father, whose grandfather and grandmother were born in this city. And I have more freedom to walk than he does. He rides some streets Can’t. He can’t get water the same way Israeli citizens living less than a mile away can, Coates said.
The spat between the two continued as Dokoupil suggested that Coates presented a one-sided view of the conflict.
“But why is it so?” Pressed anchor. “Why is there no agency in this book for the Palestinians? They exist in your narrative only as victims of the Israelis, as if they were never offered peace, as if they have no stake in it – ” he said when asked.
Coats appealed to his ethnicity and America’s history with racism to defend his particular perspective on the conflict in Gaza.
“I have a very, very, very moral compass about this. Again, maybe it’s because of my lineage. Either apartheid is right or it’s wrong. It’s really very simple. Either way what I saw was right. Or it’s wrong,” he explained.
“I’m against a state that discriminates against people based on ethnicity. I’m against that. Palestinians can’t do anything that’s okay for me. My book is not based on over-moralizing the Palestinian people, ” he adds.
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Coates’ new book was released on Tuesday, the same day that Iran launched dozens of missiles against Israel.
According to Fox, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said its latest missile bombardment was in retaliation for the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, Lebanon, in an Israeli airstrike last weekend and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July. Is in. News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) warned civilians to shelter in place and follow Home Front Command instructions as the Jewish state’s Iron Dome anti-missile defense system works to intercept incoming rockets.
Fox News’ Stephen Soares and Liz Frieden contributed to this article.
