There has indeed been friction between Pieter Cobelens and Johan Derksen because of the raving sneer. The gentlemen called each other over the weekend. “I’d rather not have this.”
Pieter Cobelens is a highly valued guest of Today Inside, partly because he is someone of stature as the former director of the Military Intelligence and Security Service. Yet last week Johan Derksen shouted in Today Inside that Pieter would ‘rant’. When he shouted that? A day after Pieter was a guest in the studio and scolded Johan.
Pissed off Peter
The fact that Johan strikes back when Pieter is not present is, according to critics, including Wilfred Genee, cowardly. Wilfred brought it up last night in Today Inside, where Pieter is a guest for the first time since the sneer. “You’ve been getting worked up at home, Pieter, just admit it.”
Then Pieter agrees that he was indeed pissed off at Johan. He finds his way not done. “Yes, first of all: I don’t mind him saying that, but I would rather he do it in front of me, so we talked about that on Sunday,” he says in the talk show on SBS 6.
‘I do not care’
Wilfred laughs: “Now that is not the format of the program if I am very honest.”
This is not about the format, but about decency, says Pieter. “I do not care. I think so. I think that if you think something about someone, you should take it head on and not a day later. Moreover, you can go on about it for a long time, but you have to make sure that the pictures you show belong to the story behind it.”
The reason for the clash between the gentlemen is that Pieter states that Israel uses precision weapons to prevent civilian deaths in the Gaza Strip, while Johan shows photos of entire destroyed streets.
‘Very selective’
Pieter stands by his statements. “What happened there: when the Israelis get a rocket fired at them, they immediately fire back at the same location. If there are missiles or other things there, the rest goes with it. Yes, if you show pictures of that…”
According to him, the Palestinian movement Hamas has itself to blame for this. “They have a knack for storing ammunition in places where there are many civilians, but also under hospitals. They know that people will fire back and then they show these kinds of photos as quickly as possible, saying: look, enormous misery is being caused!”
Cause-effect
And Johan falls for that, says Pieter. “It does not alter the fact that Palestinian civilians do die, but that is cause and effect. That was what mattered to me at that moment.”
Wilfred: “Just to be clear: you’ve figured it out, right? Because you called each other this weekend, didn’t you?”
Johan: “Yes, yes, yes, yes.”
Wilfred: “That was in good peace?”
Johan: “Yes, yes.”
Pieter: “I have an active memory of that and I agree.”