Taking Offence with Petra
I listen to your excellent program every Sunday,
but yesterday I was deeply offended by the piece
on Petra. The journalist who reported it was
obviously aiming at an Israeli audience and left
the entirely mistaken impression that Petra was
only reachable by crossing the Allenby Bridge from
Israel. Jordan does have an airport in Amman that
American travelers can reach from JFK and avoid
the humiliation and inconvenience of Israeli
security checks. Please be more careful in the
future in editing this kind of journalism that
conveys misleading information when aimed at an
audience other than that for which it was
originally intended.
If Ms. Reiss was playing the
subtle Israeli game of scaring people into
feeling they have to pass through Israel to reach
Petra, thereby leaving some of their tourist
dollars in Israel as well as in Jordan, then the
piece is even more offensive and you should be
ashamed of yourselves for playing this game. Her
approach to the piece was quite racist in treating
Jordan as some kind of strange, exotic land once
she left Israel. To most Americans, which, please
remember, is your main audience, Israel would be
equally exotic with so many people carrying guns
everywhere. One does not see guns everywhere in
Jordan. Please in future be more careful and more
respectful of other people's cultures.
--LeRoy
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