Diane Rehm's National Public Radio (NPR) interview program, which is aired by more than 160 public stations, is known to be unremittingly anti-Israel.
Rehm's May 21 program did not feature a panel espousing multiple perspectives or points of view, but rather the sole opinion of Fawaz Gerges, chair of the Middle Eastern Center at the London School of Economics.
Gerges has said that it is “very unfortunate” that Hamas, whose charter calls for the destruction of the State of Israel, has been branded a terrorist organization by much of the international community.
He stated that, “Hamas is first and foremost a deeply rooted political organization with social and cultural and other dimensions to it.”
During the program, Rehm accepted all of Gerges' assertions and reinforced several of his positions, The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) exposed.
NPR news programming has included Gerges’ assertions that Yasser Arafat only "flirted with limited violence."
Rehm, herself, has implied that the recent formation of a coalition government in Israel guarantees that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu "stays in office longer and perhaps prolongs this [Israeli-Palestinian] conflict."
She has further claimed that, "Israeli policy is almost at the center of everything that happens in the Middle East."
Regarding Iran, Rehm asked, "to what extent is the momentum building within Israel for an attack on Iran, which would inevitably draw the United States in?"
The professor’s assertion that "the settlements are being expanded, expanding on probably a monthly basis," which he implied lies at the core of the conflict, went entirely uncontested.
Gerges further declared that Jews control American foreign policy stating, "when I say special interest groups, you're talking about the role of AIPAC [America Israel Public Affairs Committee]. You're talking about the role of the lobby... And President Barack Obama and his advisors have convinced themselves that they cannot really stand up."
The Diane Rehm Show was listed among the Top 10 of the most powerful programs in public radio for 2007 and 2008. In 2010, Rehm won a Peabody Award, she has been named "Washingtonian of the Year," one of Washington's "100 Most Powerful Women," and one of the "150 Most Influential People in Washington" by Washingtonian Magazine.
Yet while public broadcasting is required by law to demonstrate "strict adherence to objectivity and balance in all programs or series of programs of a controversial nature," with regards to Israel such standards seem to be rarely applicable.