Joining the ranks of those disappointed with what they saw of two National Public Radio (NPR) executives caught in an undercover sting disparaging aspects of American culture, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Tuesday called on Ron Schiller, one of the now former executives, to apologize for the comments he made about the Jews controlling the media.
In the video Schiller is seen nodding in agreement to the anti-Semitic statements the two men on the tape (posing as representatives of a Muslim Brotherhood front group) say.
“Jews do kind of control the media or, I mean, certainly the Zionists and the people who have the interests in swaying media coverage toward a favorable direction of Israel,” the man posing as Ibrahim Kassam said as Schiller concurred.
When one of the men on the tape joked about how pro-Palestine NPR’s coverage is, the station executives laugh in agreement.
“The Palestinian viewpoint — since NPR is one of the few places that has the courage to really present it — there is kind of a joke, we used to call it National Palestine Radio,” said Kassam while Schiller laughs and the second executive featured in the tape, NPR’s director of institutional giving Betsy Liley, replies, “That’s good, I like that.”
Schiller goes on to boast that while the Zionists have heavy influence over newspapers, he has not found too much Jewish influence at NPR.
In a statement to The Daily Caller from the ADL, the group expressed its offense at Schiller’s reactions and remarks.
“No matter the circumstances, raising false stereotypes about Jewish control of the media is dangerous and inappropriate. Mr. Schiller’s remarks were offensive and he should acknowledge his mistake and apologize.”
On Monday, Morton Klein, president of the oldest pro-Israel group in the country, the Zionist Organization of America, called on his fellow Jews to stop giving money to NPR.
“It is really frightening when the then-head of NPR agrees with this type of anti-Semitic nonsense — especially when this is a publicly funded organization and gets a large amount of funds from the Jews,” Klein told The Daily Caller. “We really need to get this out to Jews that they have to complain about this to their congressmen, cut public funding, and the Jews should stop giving.”