Jack Engelhard, who wrote the international bestseller Indecent Proposal, which later became a movie starring Robert Redford and Demi Moore, is taking CNN’s Wolf Blitzer to task. More like ripping him a new a–hole for his Israel-Hamas coverage.
“Despicable! Outrageous! Do I have to dig back into my Thesaurus, Wolf Blitzer, to find more adjectives for your coverage over the past four weeks?” Engelhard wrote in Arutz Sheva, an Israeli news site where he has a regular column. “You took sides. … You disgraced yourself, disgraced everything that’s ever been taught in the schools of journalism.”
He goes on. “If soldiers are apt to be court-martialed, so too journalists for deceptive. Yes, I hold you criminally negligent for manipulating emotions to favor terrorism.”
At the heart of Engelhard’s angst is what he sees is Wolf’s focus on Gaza suffering. He also points to an interview he watched Wolf conduct with Marwan Barghouti, a Palestinian political leader convicted for murder by an Israeli court. “You two need to get a room,” snaps Englehard in his column.
The author further claims Wolf took a blind eye when Israel was getting attacked by Hamas: “Where were you when Hamas rockets were falling on Israel?”
He claims CNN’s ratings forced him to stick with Gaza and two-sided coverage.
Engelhard’s website describes him as, ahem, a “journalist” who writes about politics and culture with a “light touch.”
The Mirror sought comment from Blitzer as well as a CNN publicist.
A CNN publicist wrote to The Mirror, “Wolf has been covering all perspectives, and his reporting speaks for itself.”