“CBS Morning” anchor Tony Dokoupil slammed author and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates in a tense interview Monday over whether he believes Israel has a “right to exist.”
Coates appeared on the show to preview his new book, The Message, a collection of new essays by the best-selling author about his travels around the world.
“In the longest section of the book, Coates travels to Palestine, where he explores how easily we can be misled by nationalist narratives, and the relationship between the stories we tell and the realities of life on the ground. “We see with devastating clarity the tragedy that lies in the collision between…'' reads the book's summary.
Mr. Dokoupil confronted Mr. Coates about this part of the book, telling him bluntly that it looked like something you'd find in an “extremist's backpack.”
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Author and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates was criticized by CBS anchor Tony Dokoupil for his views on Israel's right to exist in an interview on Monday. (CBS News/Screenshot)
“I have to say, when I read this book, if I were to remove your name from this book, take away your awards and accolades, take the cover off the book, and the publisher is gone, what would that section be like? I imagined it would be gone. It would be out of place in an extremist's backpack,” Dokoupil said.
“So I found myself wondering: Why would Ta-Nehisi Coates, a very talented and smart man, whom I have known for a long time and have read his work for a long time, do this? Why do you leave out so much? Why do you leave out that Israel exists?'' Why does Israel survive the First Intifada and the Second Intifada when it is surrounded by countries that want to eradicate it? Why not write about the second intifada, the cafe bombings, the bus bombings, the little kids being blown up? Is it because you don't believe that Israel has a right to exist under any circumstances? ” the CBS anchor continued.
Coates defended the book, saying his views sought to give a voice to Palestinians, who are underrepresented in American media.
“I think it's the kind of perspective you just outlined, and there's no shortage of that perspective in American media,” Coates responded.
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CBS Morning's Ta-Nehisi Coates defends his new book, “The Message.'' (CBS News/Screenshot)
“I have asked many times in interviews whether there is a single network, a mainstream organization, in America where Palestinian American bureau chiefs and correspondents actually have a voice that tells that part of the world. I've been a reporter for 20 years, and these are people who are sympathetic to Israel and believe they have no problem speaking out about Israel's right to exist. What I saw, what I saw in the West Bank, what I saw in Haifa, Israel. Those were the stories I had never heard. “It was a story that was happening,” he continued.
Coates also said the 260-page book was not intended to be “a treatise on the entire conflict between Palestinians and Israelis.”
Mr. Dokoupil continued to press the far-left author, claiming that his book would leave readers with questions about why Israel exists.
“But if you read this book, you'll probably wonder why the country of Israel even exists. Is it such a horrible place, where horrible acts are committed every day? So I ask this question: I think the central and important question is: Does Israel have a right to exist? If your answer is no, then why do Palestinians have a right to exist? I think this will occur. Why do 20 different Islamic countries have the right to exist? Dokoupil asked.
Mr. Coates rejected the question, saying that states were established by force, not by right, and that Israel already existed.
Dokoupil said the author's book is a “delegitimization” of the creation of the state of Israel and “looks like an attempt to bring down that entire edifice.”
“What specifically upsets you about the existence of a Jewish state, a safe haven for Jews rather than some other state?” he asked Coates.
On the eve of the new Jewish month of Shevat, thousands of people arrived at the Western Wall Square in Jerusalem's Old City for mass prayers calling for peace for the state of Israel, peace for the security forces, and the release of its soldiers. Hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Jerusalem, January 10, 2024. (Yoav Dudkevich/TPS)
“There's nothing about the Jewish state that makes me uncomfortable,” Coates countered. “I am offended by the idea that nations everywhere are built on nationalism.”
“Are Muslims included?” Dokoupil asked.
“We don't want a state that defines citizenship based on the ethnicity of any group,” Coats said. He described how he personally witnessed Israel's “two-tier system,” where Palestinians have less freedom and access to resources in the “occupied territories” than Israelis.
“I work with a person who guides me. He is a Palestinian whose father, grandfather and grandmother were born in this town, and I am able to walk more freely than him. “He can't get into a car on certain roads. He can't get water in the same way as an Israeli citizen less than a mile away from him,” Coates said. Ta.
The two continued to spar, even as Mr. Dokoupil suggested that Mr. Coates had a one-sided view of the conflict.
“But why is that?” Anchor pressed. “Why is there no agency for the Palestinians in this book? They exist simply as Israeli victims in your story, as if peace is not proposed at any point. , as if they were not involved in this,'' he said. he asked.
Coates appealed to his ancestry and America's history of racism to defend his unique views on the Gaza conflict.
“I have a very, very, very moral compass about this. Again, maybe it's because of my ancestors. Is apartheid right or is it wrong? It's really, really simple. Either what I saw is right or I'm wrong,” he explained.
“I am against a state that discriminates against people because of their ethnicity. I am against it. There is nothing Palestinians can do to make it okay for me. It’s not based on gender, people,” he continued.
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Coates' new book was released on Tuesday, the same day Iran fired dozens of missiles at Israel.
According to Fox news agency, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has said that recent missile attacks were linked to last weekend's Israeli airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, Lebanon, and Hamas leader Ismail Ismail in Tehran in July. – Said it was in retaliation for Haniya's murder. News Chief Foreign Correspondent Trey Yingst.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) warns citizens to shelter in place and follow instructions from Home Front forces as the Jewish state's Iron Dome anti-missile defense system works to intercept incoming rockets. did.
Fox News' Stephen Sorace and Liz Friden contributed to this article.
