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Jerusalem on Edge; Leaks Reveal Behind the Scenes of U.S. Drone Program; Typhoon Koppu Expected to Bring Heavy Rain to Philippines; Artists Sabotage Homeland Set. Aired 8:00a-9:00p ET
Aired October 16, 2015 - 8:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:00:38] MANISHA TANK, HOST: Hi, I'm Manisha Tank in Hong Kong. A warm welcome to News Stream.
Tension in Israel and the West Bank, these are live images coming to us from Bethlehem. Police there and elsewhere are out in force to try and
stop the weeks of violence.
The reporters behind Edward Snowden's revelations about the NSA have another source with disturbing allegations about the U.S. military drone
program.
And we'll show you how a show about spies and saboteurs was itself sabotaged by graffiti artists.
Jerusalem is on edge this Friday. Police there are out in full force. Authorities have even urged Israeli civilians to carry their weapons saying
legally armed citizens have a part to play, this after weeks of violence.
A short time ago clashes broke out in the city of Bethlehem in the West Bank. And this comes after a holy site in Nabliss (ph) was set on
fire overnight.
The Israeli military is blaming Palestinians for the arson attack at Joseph's tomb, a cite revered by both Jews and Christians.
Palestinian forces managed to push back the rioters and put that fire out.
Well, just hours from now, the UN Security Council is meeting to discuss the recent surge in violence.
And we're just learning about another stabbing attack, this time in the West Bank.
Oren Liebermann joins us now from Damascus Gate in Jerusalem. Perhaps you can tell us a bit more about this latest attack, Oren.
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Manisha. We have just gotten the word from the IDF that there was a stabbing attack
against a soldier in Kirit Ouba (ph), an Israeli settlement in the West Bank just outside of Hebron is a very tense city. The IDF says a
Palestinian dressed as a news photographer approached a soldier and stabbed him. IDF soldiers opened fire and the IDF killed the attacker.
Now all of this ads to an already tense environment. You mentioned what happened in Nabliss (ph) overnight. The IDF says Palestinian rider
torched Joseph's tomb, a holy site for Jews and Christians. It was Palestinian security forces that moved in, dispersed the riot and put out
that fire.
But we have seen the pictures there. We have seen the damage there adding, again, to that tense situation. And now clashes breaking out in
Bethlehem just a few miles from where we're standing in the old city of Jerusalem.
Much smaller than we've seen in recent weeks, but clashes nevertheless from the video we've seen. It looks to be perhaps 20 to 30 Palestinian
protesters clashing with the Israeli military.
Let's get to where we're standing right now and in terms of what it feels like in and around the old city of Jerusalem.
As you mentioned, thousands of extra security forces in Jerusalem. Israel has called those up in light of this recent wave of attacks, but
that was all for Friday prayers, which can be a flashpoint, which can ignite clashes that can become deadly between Palestinians and Israelis.
Where we were, which was just outside the Damascus Gate, that the Friday prayers came quietly and passed quietly and then the Muslim
worshipers went their own way, as did most of the soldiers. You can see this is just inside the Damascus Gate, it's quiet here.
There are a couple of security officers down at the bottom of this little ramp here, but it is shockingly quiet, tensely quiet, on what is
normally a very busy hour in the old city here, but that's because of the additional restrictions Israel has put in place throughout the old city of
Jerusalem around the old city of Jerusalem and east Jerusalem making it difficult for Palestinians to move. Part of those restrictions were
checking IDs. And that made it difficult for movement. And that is the result of those restrictions is what you see here, a very quiet old city at
this hour, because very simply, Manisha, the people aren't here.
TANK: Yeah, I wondered about that. I mean, the people aren't there. They fear to go out. Is that basically the case?
LIEBERMANN: Well, it's too different sides. Many Israelis say they now fear to go out, because of this recent wave of attacks, but in response
to this recent wave of attacks it's been that increased Israeli security, what they say is for security reasons, making it very difficult for
hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in East Jerusalem to move, to get around, no restrictions on Friday prayers, only men over the age of 40 and
women of all ages, many Muslim worshipers had to pray outside the old city. Roads were blocked and it seems, from what we're seeing on the ground, that
many people simply didn't venture this way.
Now Palestinians say this attempt to deescalate, to quiet the situation by using extra force on the Israeli side, only contributes to
incitement and escalating the situation even more. So, Manisha, you get the sense of how tense it can be here and how sensitive this still remains,
even though from what we've seen today, a relatively quiet afternoon in the old city.
[08:05:37] TANK: Yeah, well it's good to be out there with you in some senses. Oren, you get a real sense for what's going on. Oren
Liebermann, thanks so much to you and the rest of the team for that latest update. Oren just updating us there on yet another attack, this time in
the West Bank.
Now, the Turkish military says its war planes have shot down an aircraft in Turkish airspace. It was an unmanned vehicle, or a drone
The U.S. says it was Russian. But Russian media report all Russian aircraft operating in the region are accounted for.
And in the past few hours, Reuters reports that there have been Russian airstrkes and fighting on the ground near the Syrian city of
Aleppo.
Meanwhile, Russia continues its airstrikes, hitting what it says are ISIS targets across several districts in Syria. Turkey is a critic of
Moscow's bombing campaign in Syria. And it's certainly having its issues with incursions into its airspace as well, Nick Paton Walsh is monitoring
the situation and joins us now from Istanbul.
I mean, Nick, do we have any more intelligence on what this -- where this particular unmanned craft came from?
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I mean, U.S. officials are telling our colleague Barbara Starr in Washington actually
they believe this was a Russian drone.
Now, it's important to point out that the Turkish used the word aircraft when they first released this statement. They say that they
warned this vehicle three times and then acted within the rules of engagement when they shot it down.
Now, a Russian statement in Russian state media citing a spokesperson for their ministry of defense said that their jets had returned to base
after completing their missions, but use a strange phrase to refer to their unmanned aerial vehicles saying that they were function under the planned
regime.
So, some capacity there, potentially, for this drone to have been Russian. That would be the obvious choice, frankly, given the capacities
of the Syrians and maybe even if you believe the Iranians are operation in that area. It's more likely to have been Russian.
But this occurs at a phenomenally sensitive time. It appears there has been no loss of life in this incident. It's unclear if war planes took
the aircraft down, or if it was some other capacity the Turkish have, but it came the day after a senior Russian defense official came here to talk
to the Turkish about an incident 10 days ago in which the Russians apologized for one of their jets straying into Turkish airspace and blamed
bad weather.
Well, frankly, with the technology available these days, that's often a tough excuse to give.
But now 24 hours later, we have this incident. And it really goes to show how conflicted and messy the airspace is now over Syria.
Four year war in which now hundreds of different militia are scrapping amongst themselves at time. Now, though, with the intervention of Russia,
we have their aircraft flying in the same skies, often as the Israelis. Well, they've been talking to the Israelis about making sure there's a
hotline to be sure they don't mistake each other and get into dogfights. They'll be talking to the Americans who are flying against ISIS and often
other extremist targets more to the east of the Syrian country and airspace. Now of course we have this incident in which it may be that a
Russian drone was shot down by a NATO member, Turkey.
Geopolitically, Syria is becoming complicated in a military way, not just politically. So, phenomenally grave moments here if we're actually
going to see more instances like this -- Manisha.
TANK: OK, Nick, thanks so much for that update. And, you know, really shining the light on what a difficult situation this is. Thanks for
that.
A reminder that you're watching News Stream. Coming up on this program, another whistleblower has come out with top secret U.S. military
documents, this time they're about the U.S. drone program. Details next.
And is the U.S. vice president ever going to declare he's running for president? We'll hear from a Biden adviser.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:11:54] TANK: Well, welcome back.
These are live pictures we're just bringing in from Bethlehem, the West Bank. This really very much where we're seeing some tension at the
moment. You've been hearing about this ongoing violence in the region. We saw just a moment ago there now off our screen, but we did see Israeli
troops there on the street.
And further down the street, a number of what I can only describe as youths, a number of them on the streets there.
Otherwise, we're seeing calm in other parts in East Jerusalem, but we did hear of an attack, another attack today in the West Bank in the Israeli
occupied area of the West Bank.
Keeping you up to date with that situation in Israel right now.
Now, the U.S. government has another leak on its hands. The same reporters who received classified documents from whistleblower Edward
Snowden in 2013 are now publishing secret information from a new source. The site here -- this site is called Intercept. It compiled the documents
into what it calls The Drone Papers.
They've purportedly detail the U.S. government's targeted drone killings in Afghanistan, Yemen, and Somalia. And this new anonymous source
has been providing information to The Intercept since August of last year.
Well, Jeremy Scahill is the co-founder of The Intercept and explained more of his findings to CNN's Jack Tapper.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEREMY SCAHILL, CO-FOUNDER THE INTERCEPT: I've spoken with several people who worked the drone program, including our source who said that
oftentimes they have no idea who they are killing and that they're actually in fact targeting cellphones and not actually people.
And, you know, in the stories that we reported, you know, we quote -- and we interviewed Lieutenant General Michael Flynn who was the head of
JSOC, the elite commando unit that killed Osama bin Laden, their intelligence unit, and he basically said drone strikes are
counterproductive. We're making a martyr out of these people. We can kill them, pat ourselves in the back and put it in a headline, but we've just
encouraged them to fight even harder.
So, you know, I think what these documents show is first of all this bureaucracy of assassination and the cold corporate language that the
military uses to describe what is actually hunting human beings.
And Jake I think the clearest thing that we want people to take away from this is that these tactics are not only counterproductive, they are
resulting in killing innocent people and making new enemies for the United States. And I think everyone who is concerned about democracy should
celebrate the fact that someone very brave came forward and made these documents available to the public.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN CORREPSONDENT: Now, Jeremy, you write in one of your stories that, quote, "the Obama administration masked the true number of
civilians killed in drone strikes by categorizing unidentified killed in a strike as enemies even if they were not the intended targets."
Do you have evidence that these individuals killed were clearly innocent? Or is it just that the U.S. government has no idea who they
were?
SCAHILL: Well, Jake, what we do know is that the first covert airstrike that President Obama personally authorized in Yemen killed more
than 40 people, roughly half of them women and children in a cluster bombing of Amajullah (ph).
In Afghanistan, which is the specific case that you are talking about, we know that 90 percent of the people, they don't know their identities.
And the way that the White House set this up, and this was really John Brennan, his brainchild, is that they created a mathematical equation for
determining civilians killed that would almost result in zero. In other words, if can prove posthumously that someone was not a militant or a
terrorist, oh well it's an oops and we'll go and pay them some money.
But it's sort of like a reverse judicial process, except there's actually no trial and no verdict, you're just assassinated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TANK: That was Jeremy Scahill speaking to CNN's Jake Tapper.
Well, the Pentagon had this response to The Drone Papers, "the report he referenced is an internal classified document. As a matter of policy,
we don't comment on the details of classified reports."
Now, Malaysian authorities have arrested a man accused of stealing the personal information of more than 1,000 American military members and then
giving it to ISIS. The 20-year-old alleged hacker is a citizen of Kosovo, and police say he was studying computer science in Kuala Lumpur.
He's being detained on a provisional U.S. arrest warrant while U.S. officials apply for his extradition.
Now, in the race for the U.S. White House, another democratic contender may be close to throwing his name in the running. CNN Senior
Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny reports on Vice President Joe Biden's latest moves.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you made your decision yet?
JOSEPH BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I can't hear you.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As Vice President Joe Biden continues to evade the big question, this morning, it appears that
he's closer to answering that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is there still an opening for you in the race, sir?
BIDEN: I'll tell you what, good to see you all.
ZELENY: Sources telling CNN that Biden's family supports a presidential run. The vice president personally making calls this week to
Democratic strategists from Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina this week. The conversation how, not whether, he'll launch a campaign.
STEVE SCHALE: With the stature he would bring to the race, the minute he got in the race, the entire narrative would change and we start talking
about the first debate in Iowa in November.
ZELENY: New this morning, a look inside his possible 2016 run. A close advisor to Biden, former Delaware Senator Ted Kaufman, sent an e-mail
obtained by CNN, to his former staffers, asking for their help if the vice president decides to run.
In it, Kaufman says it will be a campaign from the heart, "A campaign consistent his values, our values and the values of the American people."
Kaufman went on to say, if he runs he'll run because of his burning conviction that we need to fundamentally change the balance of our economy
and the political structure to restore the ability of the middle class to get ahead.
Kaufman also writing in the email, "Biden believes we must win this election. Or in the hands of the Republicans, everything that he and the
president have worked for and care about is at stake."
Friends of Biden who have spoken to him say he's not afraid to lose, even in the wake of a strong debate performance this week by Hillary
Clinton and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
BIDEN: Hey, how are you? Nice to see you.
ZELENY: The vice president has asked several Democratic strategists in early states to work for him if he decides to run. Fundraisers and
supporters are also waiting in the wings to join his campaign if he moves forward.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TANK: That was our senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny reporting.
You're watching News Stream. Coming up, we have an exclusive interview with a man who helped smuggle people out of war torn Afghanistan.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:22:08] TANK: Now the entrepreneur behind SpaceX and Tesla motors wants to change how people get around. Elon Musk has a new envisaged a
high speed transportation system unlike anything we've ever seen before. It's called Hyperloop. In today's future cities, Max Foster takes a look
at how Musk's dream could become a reality.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In 2013, Elon Musk published his vision for a sustainable, rapid mass transit system called
Hyperloop. Busy with his other ventures at Tesla and SpaceX, Musk issued a rallying cry to the best and the brightest to help build a viable fifth
mode of transportation.
The playground for this adventure is California.
DIRK AHLBORN, CEO, HYPERLOOK TRANSPORTATION TECHNOLOGIES: When you're an entrepreneur it's all about doing something that has an impact.
FOSTER: Dirk Ahlborn wants to make a change with Hyperloop transportation technologies.
Their focus is to make Hyperloop a reality.
AHLBORN: Imagine a capsule filled with people that's hovering inside a tube and it's moving very fast from point a to point b. You create a low
pressure environment inside this tube, so the capsule can just like an airplane that goes into higher altitudes move very fast with very little
energy.
The whole system is powered by alternative energy, so it actually produces more energy that it uses, and therefore it has very low
operational costs.
FOSTER: The man behind Hyperloop's design is renowned architect Craig Hodgetts.
CRAIG HODGETTS, DESIGNER: Some of the stuff that actually way back is in my DNA is automotive design. And that's one of the reasons why I'm so
involved with the Hyperloop, because the whole idea of vehicles and comfort and speed -- I'm a junky.
FOSTER: Hyperloop can reach a subsonic 760 miles per hour. That journey needs to be a smooth ride.
HODGETTS: Have you ever done tricks with a yo-yo where you swing it around or a hoola hoop? OK, that's a violent motion where the centrifugal
force is really exerting a lot of force. When we plot out the route for the Hyperloop, it's going to be very, very gentle changes of direction so
that it won't exert very much pressure on you.
It's a little bit like when a 747 is circling the airport and getting ready to come down, it'll be about that level of stress.
QUAY HAYS: This is a national progression for California. There are really three Californias. The first California was the Bay Area that got
established in the 1850s with the Gold Rush. And then at the beginning of the 20th Century with Hollywood and the other things happening in Southern
California. Southern California is the second California.
And both of those areas have been pretty well built out and are very unique places.
The third California is the Central Valley. And that's the place that's going to absorb those 10 million people California is going to grow
by over the next couple of decades.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[08:25:24] TANK: Alibaba has announced it's made an offer to buy the video streaming site Youku Tudou for almost $27 a share. Alibaba already
owns 18 percent, but the ecommerce business is now setting its sites on digital entertainment.
Under the proposal, Youku's founder will continue to lead the company as the chairman and CEO.
You're watching News Stream. When Migrants begin a risky passage to flee violence and war, they need help from wherever they can find it. We
have an exclusive report on someone who smuggles Migrants out of their country.
And a hit TV drama's attempt to look more authentic has backfired. We'll tell you what artists spray painted onto the set of Homeland.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TANK: I'm Manisha Tank in Hong Kong. And you're watching News Stream. These are your world headlines right now.
An Israeli soldier has been stabbed in the West Bank. The Israeli military says a Palestinian disguised as a news photographer carried out
the attack. The soldier suffered moderate wounds. The attacker was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers.
And we're keeping an eye on Bethlehem. These are live images coming in to us from the West Bank city. Israeli forces are facing Palestinian
demonstrators in what has become another flashpoint.
The Turkish military says its warplanes shot down a drone in Turkish airspace near the Syria border. U.S. sources tell CNN it was Russian, but
Russian media report all their aircraft operating in the region are accounted for.
Malaysian authorities have arrested a man accused of stealing the personal information of more than 1,000 American military members and then
giving it to ISIS. The 20-year-old alleged hacker is a citizen of Kosovo and police say he was studying computer science in Kuala Lumpur. The U.S.
is trying to extradite him
Two Libyans have been identified as suspects in the Pan-Am Flight 103 bombing that happened nearly 27 years ago. Reuters reports one of them is
ex-Gadhafi's spy chief Abdullah al-Senussi. The plane exploded over Lockerbie in Scotland killing 270 people. Scottish and U.S. officials say
they've asked for Libya's help to interview the suspect.
Now Typhoon Koppu is heading for the Philippines and is steadily increasing in strength. Storm alerts have been issued.
So, let's get more from our meteorologist Chad Myers just to get an understanding, Chad, of quite how bad this storm could be.
[08:31:10] CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: 160 kilometers per hour right now, and forecast to be about 205 kilometers per hour at landfall or
near landfall.
A big threat with this will be flooding. There will be nearly a half a meter of rain before it finally moves away from the island.
This is going to go north of Manila. This is going to go on to places that have very rugged mountains, and a lot of people that live in valleys
along those mountains.
So, here comes the wind. There is Manila. We may get some back surge from Manila into the bay, maybe even towards Subik (ph) as we get winds
here from the west pushing that water into the bays there even on the west side, although the storm is coming in from the east.
Here is what the radar is going to look like. Rain all the way up here north of Manila, could be at least 500 millimeters. And as I get out
of the way here for you, see this is the accumulation of the rainfall here from Manila northward, not down near Tacloban where the big hurricane, the
big typhoon, super typhoon hit years ago, but this is farther up to the north.
But this has been a tremendous year, and I don't mean that in a good way. There have been seven tropical storms, typhoons or super typhoons, in
the typhoon area here across parts of the Philippines. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.
And there is a number eight out there, although I do expect it to turn to the north and away from the Philippines. With it or without it, there's
still going to be so much rain coming down. Manisha, a half a meter of rain in the mountains.
TANK: Which is a great deal of rain to have to cope with.
You were just pointing out the number of typhoons that have come through this and the number of big storms that have come through this
region. But as I know living out here in Hong Kong, this is very much the season for the big storms. So, everyone has been talking about this El
Nino effect. Is this going to make it worse? Are we going to see more of these coming through this year?
MYERS: I don't think El Nino so much here out to the west. Really, the Pacific typhoon season never even shuts off. I know we talk about an
Atlantic hurricane season for the United States and for the Caribbean, that's because the water gets warm.
But the water in the Pacific stays warm all year. You can get typhoons all the way through the entire season from January to January.
And I believe now that the El Nino season may deflect some of these storms maybe a little big farther to the north or farther to the south and that
people in the Philippines are very thankful for that. We'll keep watching it for you, though, Manisha.
TANK: Thanks so much for that, Chad, thanks for the update on that storm.
A lot of people there very much on edge.
Now EU and Turkish leaders have agreed on measures aimed at stemming the flow of migrants to Europe. This tentative agreement sees European
leaders giving Turkey more than $3 billion and making it easier for Turkish citizens to get visas.
Hungarian TV reports that the country's leadership will decide later on Friday whether to close its border with Croatia completely. The country
already has fences along its Croatian and Serbian borders to stop migrants crossing.
I need to warn you, the images you're about to see are difficult to watch, and you may find them disturbing. Seven people drowned off the
coast of Lesbos on Thursday. This included three children and a baby.
Thousands of refugees are making the perilous journey by boat to Greece very day.
Well, the migrants come from a number of countries, and this includes Afghanistan. Our Nic Robertson met one man who has been smuggling people
out of that war torn country. And as Nic tells us in his exclusive report passage is risky and comes at a high price.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm meeting a people smuggler.
How many people have you taken to Europe?
"1,500 to Germany in the past six months," he tells me. "The most popular destination."
We can't show his face, because what he does is illegal.
[08:35:05] UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We take people to Germany on three different routes: by the sea for $7,000. We take people
by road and foot for $9,000. And we take people by air for $20,000.
ROBERTSON: Top dollar, he tells me, buys a black market visa and direct flight. Anything less could cost your life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We have had our clients injured and even killed along this journey. Just 15 days ago, 70 people
were caught by Iranians and deported from the Turkish border, which included 15 of my clients.
ROBERTSON: But there are plenty here who are ready to take the risk. Before dawn, the line outside Kabul's passport office stretches several
blocks. People worried about the faltering economy, worried about war.
Getting a passport has never been so popular, people here say, these lines never so long. Precisely how many plan to flee is hard to nail down,
but early estimates this year already say the number of Afghans arriving in Europe is second only to the number of Syrians and how they get there
starts right here.
Omar Saboor runs the passport office.
How many people are applying for passports every day?
OMAR SABOOR, PASSPORT OFFICE DIRECTOR: Every day more than 7,000 or 6,000 people.
ROBERTSON: None here are ready to admit their plans, but Saboor knows many will leave.
He tells me, since Europe opened its doors to refugees we've seen a direct increase in the number of people applying for passports.
For the smuggler, each passport holder is a business opportunity.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): They leave their money with a trusted person. For instance, a money dealer. As soon as the person
reaches his destination, then he calls the money dealer to give us the money.
ROBERTSON: But as he explains, if the person doesn't get through he still gets paid.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Our rule is that we try three times, but if the person couldn't reach his destination after three
attempts he has to pay us.
ROBETSON: The surest certainty, it seems, smugglers always win.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Kabul, Afghanistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TANK: OK, I want to take you to some live pictures that we're getting from Bethlehem and the West Bank at the moment. You know about the ongoing
violence over the past couple of weeks, a number of lone wolf attacks. Well, here in Bethlehem today we're seeing what looks to be tires being
burned, that's where that smoke is coming from.
And about 30 minutes or so ago, we did see Israeli troops on the other end of that street closer to where the camera is, they were firing
something off into the other direction, a number of the youth that you see there now dispersed, that road was completely empty at one stage, but they
have now come back and we're seeing, you know, some stones being thrown. We are going to keep a check on this situation, but it is worth pointing
out that in other parts of the area in East Jerusalem where we had seen attacks we have seen relative calm today. And relative calm around Friday
prayers.
This of course an important day in the weekly calendar.
Stay with us, there's more to come.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:40:04] TANK: Welcome back.
Now, graffiti artists hired to make the set of a U.S. spy series more authentic actually ending up sabotaging the TV show. They spray painted
subversive messages in Arabic, including one calling the show racist. And the graffiti made it on to an episode of Homeland.
Ian Lee speaks to one of the artists.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Homeland has been hijacked by graffiti. The Showtime series hired street artists to give their set of a Syrian
refugee camp a more authentic feel, but they flipped the script, tagging things like Homeland is racist and Homeland is a joke, but we aren't
laughing.
Here, it says Homeland is a watermelon.
HEBA AMIN, EGYPTIAN STREET ARTIST: When you say something is batif (ph), or something is watermelon you're basically saying it's a sham, it's
a joke, it's not to be taken seriously.
LEE: Egyptian Heba Amin was one of the artists involved. When they realized nobody from the show was double checking, they took creative
license.
AMIN: Well, in previous, you know, seasons they had many, many mistakes in regards to cultural references and regards to language. So, it
seems that they don't have a thorough research team.
LEE: The series, which follows CIA agent Kerry Mathison (ph), played by Claire Danes, has been criticized for distorting the Middle East.
Countries even threatened to sue.
Here, the series depicts Beirut's Humra (ph) Street as dangerous, full of violent militiamen. In reality, the strip in the Lebanese capital is
famous for its cafes, restaurants and nightlife.
AMIN: To really open this dialogue of the lack of awareness that people have of how these images are incredibly dangerous and really have a
real world impact, even if it's a fictional story and even if these are fictional characters.
LEE: Homeland's co-creator Alex Ganza told CNN "we wish we'd caught these images before they made it to air. However, as Homeland always
strives to be subversive in its own right and a stimulus for conversation, we can't help but admire this act of artistic sabotage."
AMIN: I'm an artist. And so there is this huge tradition of subversive art and activist art. And that's a scene that I'm very much
involved in.
LEE: A key part of street art: provoking conversation.
Ian Lee, CNN, Cairo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TANK: And that's it for this edition of News Stream. I'm Manisha Tank. Good to have you with us. But don't go anywhere, World Sport with
Christina Macfarlane is up next.
END
