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The grant raised concerns for the potential of abuse by organizations to act against Israel via BDS and international law tribunals. The US State Department has offered a grant of up to $987,654 for projects that include reporting human rights violations by Israel, raising concern about the potential for abuse by organizations seeking boycotts, sanctions and international law tribunals against Israel. The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) announced "an open competition for projects that strengthen accountability and human rights in Israel and the West Bank and Gaza" last month, thought to be the first of its kind...

Update: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened to cancel talks set for Tuesday with German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel over the visiting diplomat’s plan to also meet rights groups critical of Israel’s government. Gabriel confirmed on Tuesday afternoon that Netanyahu had canceled the talks, scheduled for the same day, at the last minute. An Israeli official speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP that the cancellation was made after Gabriel declined to call off meetings with Israeli rights groups Breaking The Silence and B’Tselem. Breaking The Silence seeks to document alleged Israeli military abuses in the Palestinian territories, while...

An anti-Israel activist who served as an expert witness on behalf of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in a recent terrorism trial was hosted for a meeting with senior White House officials, according to visitor logs released by the Obama administration and media reports.Michael Sfard, an anti-Israel activist who has reportedly been paid by the PLO to serve as an expert witness in terrorism trials against it, met in December 2014 with a senior White House National Security Council (NSC) member for a meeting about the Middle East, according to the logs and reports.Sfard, a lawyer, serves as the legal...

Channel 2 news broadcast highly incriminating video evidence Thursday evening filmed with hidden cameras by nationalist group Ad Kan, which shows ultra-leftist group Breaking the Silence engaged in what appears like espionage activity against the IDF. ‘Breaking the Silence has crossed another red line,” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said after the report was aired. “The investigative security forces are looking into the matter.” The videos were gathered by Ad Kan’s undercover agents who infiltrated Breaking the Silence over a three-year period. They show Breaking the Silence activists questioning ex-IDF soldiers – who are, in fact, Ad Kan agents – about...

More details emerged Tuesday morning regarding a secret recording of a meeting between ex-diplomat Alon Liel and about five central activists in Breaking the Silence, a group that besmirches the IDF abroad. The meeting took place in the Tel Aviv offices of Breaking the Silence – which receives funding from the New Israel Fund, among other sources – on December 17, 2015, and was recorded by a "secret agent" from nationalist group Ad Kan. According to Yifat Erlich of Yediot Aharonot, who saw the entire recording, Nadav Weiman, Breaking the Silence's coordinator of activists, started the conversation by explaining that...

Obama’s Israel Support Means Standing with Boycotters and Terror SupportersPosted By Ronn Torossian On April 17, 2015 @ 12:15 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | No Comments The media crows about Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appealing to Americans across all political lines about the danger of the Iran deal – a deal which Israelis across the political spectrum maintain is a mistake.  Apparently, democracy matters – except when it comes to Israel.Along these lines, just released data from White House visitor logs [1] unveils the fact that Israel’s Ambassador, Ron Dermer is persona non grata at the White House.   That...

PBS whitewashes anti-dad biasLast November, I wrote about the controversy about the Public Broadcasting Service documentary, Breaking the Silence: Children's Stories, which claimed that male batterers and child abusers frequently gain custody of their children in divorce cases after the mothers' claims of abuse are disbelieved by the courts. The film caused an outcry from fathers' rights groups. In response to these protests, PBS announced a 30-day review to determine whether the film met the editorial guidelines for fairness and accuracy.Unfortunately, it seems that the review amounted to little more than a whitewash.On December 21, PBS issued a statement acknowledging...

Ombudsman Slams Documentary, Despite PBS Whitewash PRESS RELEASE January 9, 2006 Contact: Mark B. Rosenthal, 781-956-1034, mbr@arlsoft.com WASHINGTON – Ombudsman Ken Bode has charged PBS with violating its own editorial standards in airing the program, Breaking the Silence. In his January 4 report, Bode concluded, “I found the program to be so totally unbalanced as to fall outside the boundaries of PBS editorial standards on fairness and balance.” [http://www.cpb.org/ombudsmen/060104bode.html] In a previous statement, Bode, who works as ombudsman for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, criticized producer Dominique Lasseur for not interviewing any fathers for the program: “Simply put, that amounts...

... It was precisely the lack of balance and fairness that caused so many viewers to contact PBS and CPB. That was also the main thrust of my report. Lasseur now says that was intentional. Simply put, that amounts to a plea of guilty to violating the fairness and balance standards of PBS. ... I agree with everything Getler says, to a point. He allows that PBS editorial guidelines for fairness and objectivity were "bumped up against and maybe breached," but does not assert they were clearly breached. I think it is worse than that. There was no alternative point...

In October, PBS released a scandalous documentary about domestic violence titled “Breaking the Silence”. Despite studied science on the issue, the producers of the show intentionally censored all information contrary to their partisan mission, which we know now was to go to extraordinary lengths portraying fathers as batterers who take custody of children as the final act of abuse.

CPTV Show Earns A Rebuke PBS Ombudsman Criticizes Child-Support Documentary December 14, 2005 By ROGER CATLIN, Courant TV Critic The new ombudsman for PBS wasn't going to start his work until later this month. But criticism of a nationally distributed documentary, co-produced by Connecticut Public Television this fall, got him started early. "Breaking the Silence: Children's Stories," which aired in October, "was a flawed presentation," Michael Getler concluded in his first report as Public Broadcasting Service ombudsman Dec. 2. He hadn't intended to write his first report until Dec. 20 but he wanted to respond "while the events are still...

I’ve never heard of a Public Broadcasting Service documentary being slammed by two ombudsmen in the space of one week. But that’s exactly what happened to PBS’ ill-fated program, Breaking the Silence. The program, billed as an exposé of divorce courts, said that custody of abused children is often awarded to the abusing parent. Government reports reveal that mothers are more likely than dads to abuse and neglect their children [http://faq.acf.hhs.gov/cgi-bin/acfrightnow.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=70], and that mothers in fact are awarded child custody about 85% of the time – so the documentary producers did have a point. But the ombudsmen peered behind the...

PBSgate November 30, 2005 by Gordon E. Finley, Ph.D. In airing Breaking the Silence: Children's Stories, PBS tragically has chosen to play the Dan Rather role in tonight's performance of "How to Lose the Public Trust." The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) web site states that "in selecting programs and other content for its services, PBS seeks the highest quality available. Selection decisions require professional judgments about many different aspects of content quality, including but not limited to excellence, creativity, artistry, accuracy, balance, fairness, timeliness, innovation, boldness, thoroughness, credibility, and technical virtuosity." Over the years, PBS has aired many wonderful programs,...

"Breaking the Silence: Children's Stories" November 29, 2005 Ken A. Bode, Ombudsman Corporation for Public Broadcasting The PBS program, Breaking the Silence: Children's Stories, a documentary about the treatment of abused children in divorce courts, aired on October 20 and produced a large number of submissions to our CPB Ombudsmen's web site. The documentary was produced by Catherine Tatge and Dominique Lasseur, with support of a grant from the Mary Kay Ash Foundation, and sponsored for the PBS schedule by Connecticut Public Television. Lasseur/Tatge are veteran producers for PBS programs including a number of segments for the weekly news show...

"Breaking the Silence: Children's Stories" November 29, 2005Ken A. Bode The PBS program, Breaking the Silence: Children's Stories, a documentary about the treatment of abused children in divorce courts, aired on October 20 and produced a large number of submissions to our CPB Ombudsmen's web site.The documentary was produced by Catherine Tatge and Dominique Lasseur, with support of a grant from the Mary Kay Ash Foundation, and sponsored for the PBS schedule by Connecticut Public Television. Lasseur/Tatge are veteran producers for PBS programs including a number of segments for the weekly news show "NOW with Bill Moyers."Prior to the...

BREAKING NEWS: Corporation for Public Broadcasting Slams PBS's Breaking the Silence November 30, 2005 Some of you have contacted me concerning donations to our PBS campaign. It is certainly true that this campaign has been costly both in terms of money and time. If you'd like to donate to support our efforts, click here. Thanks to those of you who have already donated. To learn more about our campaign, click here. To learn more about the way Breaking the Silence portrays a known child abuser as a heroic mom, click here. Corporation for Public Broadcasting Report: 'No Hint of Balance...

Wednesday, November 30, 2005 Corporation for Public Broadcasting Report: 'No Hint of Balance in Breaking the Silence' CPB notes: it had no role in reviewing research, production or content; CPB ombudsmen involved only post-broadcast. MND NEWSWIRE - The Corporation for Public Broadcasting released a report Tuesday which endorsed the central charges made by fatherhood advocates protesting PBS's film Breaking the Silence: Children's Stories. CPB Ombudsman Ken A. Bode declared that there is "no hint of balance in Breaking the Silence." Bode noted: "The father's point of view is ignored as are new strategies for lessening the damage to children in...

A documentary's negative picture of fathers Child custody battles are always wrenching, particularly when there are allegations of abuse. For years fathers' rights groups have complained that men face a pervasive bias in family courts, while many feminists have countercharged that the real bias is against women. The latest round of this debate is being waged over a documentary, Breaking the Silence: Children's Stories, which has been airing on Public Broadcasting Service affiliates in the past month.The film's point is simple: Children in America are routinely ripped from their mothers and given to fathers who are batterers or molesters. The...

The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is being accused of portraying a known child abuser as a heroic mom. That has one national radio host comparing the situation to the "Rathergate" scandal at CBS News. The controversial PBS film Breaking the Silence: Children's Stories features mothers who have purportedly lost custody of their children in divorce to physically abusive husbands. However, it has been revealed that one of the moms featured in the film has a rap sheet for child abuse. Los Angeles-based newspaper columnist Glenn Sacks has uncovered documents showing PBS chose to ignore the fact that, in 1998, a...

Propaganda pieces normally contain an indisputable kernel of truth, which is then artfully embellished with innuendo, distortions, and half-truths. By that standard, the upcoming PBS program, Breaking the Silence: Children’s Stories, doesn’t even qualify as good fiction. The program is so larded with Leftist fantasies and sweeping stereotypes you begin to wonder if producers Dominique Lasseur and Catherine Tatge thought they were doing a special for Sesame Street. A nice bedtime story wouldn’t be so bad, except this tale targets fathers and families. Breaking the Silence leads off with this whopper: “One-third of mothers lose custody to abusive husbands.” That...