Journalist Richard Behar — who has written for Fortune and TIME and worked on assignments for CNN and BBC — did some more digging into the first interview with Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier who was freed from Palestinian captivity last week. Just after being released, Shalit was interviewed by Shahira Amin, Egypt’s most famous TV journalist — herself lauded for quitting her job as the Mubarak regime began to crumble. The Israeli government was furious over the interview, which occurred as Shalit was being transferred from Gaza to Israel. Behar, incensed, fired off an email to Amin writing, “I have never been more repulsed by an ‘exclusive’ TV-news interview. Today, in Forbes, Behar follows up:
Three days ago, she responded at great length in an email, most of which she subsequently published in an open letter in the Jerusalem Post. In her email to me, Amin defends her decision to conduct the interview with Shalit – in part because she says the interview was conducted “AFTER [her caps] he had been released by Hamas and had a medical checkup by the Red Cross.”
AdvertisementBut here’s the problem: Red Cross spokesman Hicham Hassan wrote me today that “ICRC representatives met Mr. Shalit briefly after his transfer to the Egyptian authorities. However, he was not met by an IRC doctor as this has [sic] not been solicited.”