BBC Watch has an update on Sarah Montague’s claim on the Today programme that Israel persecutes Christians and this is a problem that the Israeli government could solve.
It includes a very rapid reply to a complaint about this interview which tries to whitewash the matter:
BBC R4′s ‘Today’ programme implies persecution of Christians in Israel
SM: “But are you saying – can I just ask – countries like Pakistan that you refer to, or perhaps Israel or even Iraq where there is a functioning government – is it just down to the politicians in those countries to speak out and this problem could be solved?” [emphasis added]
However, one listener at least received the following reply to a complaint made to the ‘Today’ programme:
“Thank you for your email. Sarah Montague cited Israel not as an example of a country which persecutes Christians but of a country where there is a functioning Government. She did this in the context of asking what responsibility politicians should bear for promoting harmony between those of different faiths.
There is evidence of an outflow of Christians from the Middle East caused in part by the unresolved dispute between Israel and the Palestinians but more widely by social, economic and political concerns. But Sarah’s question did not seek to apportion blame onto one single country or group of countries. It is clearly a more complicated issue than that.
I hope this helps answer your concerns.
Yours sincerely
Dominic Groves
Assistant Editor
’Today’ “
No she did not. Sarah Montague lumped Israel together with Pakistan and Iraq and asked “is it just down to the politicians in those countries to speak out and this problem could be solved?” – thus clearly implying to listeners that similar problems of persecution of Christians exist in all three of the countries she named.
The BBC refusing to take responsibility yet again ( £300,000 spent to hide Balen…and you wonder why?) for helping to spread anti-Semitism.
Which is what they are in effect doing….‘Look everyone…the Jews are persecuting Christians’
Sounds a bit like the old anti-Semitic trope….‘The Jews killed Christ’ doesn’t it?
Even the reply denying Montague meant Israelis persecuted Christians just reinforces her comment with another blaming Israel again ….It’s the creation of Israel that is helping to drive the persecution of Christians.
When they react that quickly, you know they are rattled.
And that’s when howlers get made.
What’s that about the cover up being worse?
Nice how the denial actually ends up being another attack on Israel, as if its very existence is a ‘problem’.
Scholastic Press, the world’s largest publisher of childrens’ text books –
Stokes the Muslim wet dream – removes Israel from the map – book “Thea Stilton and the Blue Scarab Hunt”.
Apparently committed a mistake of replacing Israel by
the much larger Jordan ?
I can imagine erroneously mislabelling a country, which would be embarrassing …. but
That kind of “mistake” requiring the conscious REDRAWING of to nations borders?
BBC, Warsi, Cameron, Vague
This as always, with R Spencer, no nonsense, concise and cogent re Warsi
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/11/christians-in-middle-east-face-extinction-because-of-jihad-terror.html
while we re talking about denial and obfuscation
C Rice
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4453906,00.html
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/11/obama-national-security-adviser-susan-rice-the-united-states-does-not-accept-the-legitimacy-of-conti.html
and ignorance
J Kerry
“Senators Told to ‘Ignore Israel’ On Iran,”
Israel National News
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/173994#.Uoah6Y2AGkg
Still waiting for my reply from my one and only complaint to the BBC thus far.
I have told plenty other people in the US and Israeli Embassy to help drive a stake through the heart of the BBCs overpaid reflex Jew baiters and Christian smearing types…of which Montague shows herself to be a lazy prejudiced cliche ridden hack.
Hence her fat salary and life at the top of the BBC bubble.
Oh wait-I`m sexist…forget all I`ve said.
“Sisters are doing it for themselves”..ask Oprah if you dare you racist sexist pleb!
‘Still waiting for my reply from my one and only complaint to the BBC thus far.’
Hunker down.
Seems that a lot more folk are expressing concerns about the BBC’s lack of accuracy & failures in objectivity and integrity, and even cut & pasting cookie cutter ‘we think we got it about’ right template blow-offs does take a while.
Do let us know if and when you do hear back eventually.
I am prepared to bet it will be introduced with an insincere apology for the delay (making out this is a rarity when in fact every single one is stacked back weeks) before telling you how much they care, but not for what you’ve raised.
No hurry Mr Who!
A slow burning fuse, so I hope.
To use MY religions being persecuted as yet another pretext to drop liberal cherrybombs into Israels lap…when f***in Islam is the totality of that problem is a disgrace.
Today has got to go…with Gods mercy and grace it`ll happen sooner now.
(Eek…nearly signed off with Ali Akba!)
How very Christian of you.
Why don’t you just turn the other cheek?
They probably have to send your’s off to be translated first – hence the delay.
Muslims always claim that Islam is all about peace. Muslims will inform you that
1. It is only a tiny minority of Muslims who are extremist. And as an extension, they will add that all religions have extremists.
2. Jihad is really a retaliation against injustice by the other.
One must bear in mind, that Islam always gets its retaliation in first. This is because any attempt to even criticize Islam, is opposing Islam, and thus an act of war. Retaliation (Jihad), is therefore a natural response, and can take the form of burning churches, to bombs, and “ethnic” cleansing.
But we must remember that Islam is self-defined “RoP”, and retaliatory Jihad occurs only when opposed in any form.
Offensive Jihad is allowed only when a caliphate exists, and is by order of a caliph. This is why OBL, and all believing Muslims, wish to establish a caliphate. Without a caliphate, Muslims do not see how the world can be brought under sharia law. I sympathize.
The Youtube below illustrates the above post.
For Islam the existence any non-Muslims is a “problem” – that is the simple reality behind the “Jewish problem” and the “Christian problem” in the Middle East. The anti-Semitic and Anti-Christian BBC automatically allies itself with Islam (if you are waiting for a programme on the BBC which attacks Islam [as opposed to Israel or Christians] do not hold your breath) because for the BBC the enemy is not Islam (or other totalitarians such as Marxists) but anybody (Such as “Murdoch” or “Tories” or “Neo-Liberals”) who defend a free society.
The public sector BBC is filled to the very brim with thick Guardian reading Jew hating Christian hating Western hating nihilistic scum.
Thanks Alan for updating us.
This idea that there is persecution of Christians in Israel was much stronger as it was said at the begiining that they were talking about Christians being persecuted in their land of origins . This was confusing to the listener as the interview was about Pakistan . Most people associate the country of the origin of Christianity with Israel and the intention was to focus on Israel even though it is the only country in the Middle East, where the population of Christians is increasing.
For those at biasedBBC who think it is a waste of time to complain to the BBC, if the site highlights slander that incites hatred, it must surely be worth emailing in a strongly worded but polite complaint . Thanks to ChrisH for doing this for the first time.
Maybe we should take a page out of the left way of protesting:
Post Dominic Groves home address.
Pester him day and night
Inform his neighbours that he is a paedophile
Follow his children to school and tell them that their daddy is a bad man.
claim to the media that everything that has been done is legal and above board.
Works for Unite/Islam/Peta/Peter Tatchell
You mean like the Mohammed Ajeeb and his pals who hounded the headmaster Roy Honeyford for writing an article which argued that teachers should seek to integrate the children under their care not promote multiculturalism.
Mohammed Ajeeb, in an interview with the BBC published after Honeyford’s death in 2012, defended his actions asserting that Honeyford should not have wandered into “race politics” and that it was “offensive” of Honeyford to express views in a “right-wing journal”.
After joining the Labour Party in 1974, Ajeeb became Chairman of the Bradford Community Relations Council in 1977 and was elected to Bradford Metropolitan District Council in 1979. In 1984 he was elected Chairman of the Labour Group on the council and became Lord Mayor in 1985-86. In 2001 he was awarded the CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.
Mohammed Ajeeb noted in a radio interview that ‘our children are bound to be influenced by the values of their British counterparts’ and may not be able to ‘withstand… Western values and culture’.
The thought, well why don’t you do us all a favour and fuck off back to Pakistan if you hate Western values so much, crosses my mind.
May well dedicate any faith school library to keep the name of Ray Honeyford alive.
I`ll get away with it, as long as I tell the thick liberals that it`s named after the lovely teacher that rescues Matilda in the Roald Dahl book…that`ll be A Level standard though, so won`t imagine the Guardain didos and dodis will check too closely.
Ajeeb will hopefully be as reviled as Savile ,before Last Word come slobbering along to pay tribute to him.
They lauded Ceausescus architect the other day…simply charming Soviet realism with a Mediterranean bistro funkiness , so I understand….
mohammed ajeeb. The statement attributed to me in the BBC interview should have been printed in full to do the justice. Wild’s statement is clearly manifestation of his racist mentality similar to his friend Honeyford.
There are actually many functioning governments around the world. Why choose Pakistan, Israel and Iran? If that is the only factor why not Canada, Brazil and France?
This is about the Middle East, really. Those countries aren’t really relevant.
Pakistan is not Middle-East either.
Okay, fair point. But it’s much closer to the region than the others, and is in the news about the issue.
I noted this too demon…which just goes to show how patronisingly ignorant Montague(or her highlighter pen monkey more like) is in regard of as well as history.
Maybe if the bigoted bint could remove her pith helmet and look again at her world atlas post 1967 , she too would know that Pakistan is not the Middle east…but let`s not tell her until we`ve wrung something toxic out of her and her Beeboid thinking eh?
I don’t see this as ignorance, chris. I see it as foolishness and anti-Israel bias that Montague thinks Israel is somehow culpable or could do anything about the Palestinian Muslims persecuting Christians in their midst.
Why not choose our own British government? You know the one we elect and have some influence over?
I’m sure the rationale behind the ‘explanation’ is completely sincere and not further transparent obfuscation …
In response to the Beeb’s biase against specific unfavoured ‘communities’ – those communities should organise non payment campaigns – the majority by simply ignoring the threats – a few high profile individuals by going to court e.g. Jonathan Sacks, Andrew Green, Justin Welby, former BBC insiders – Peter Sissons, Rod Liddle – real revenue loss combined with lots of media coverage but not in a good way might give the tories the backbone to do something – bugger going well title the last part!
Imagine Justin Webb-Welby doing that?
No Archbishop broadcast on New Years Day to dedicate 2014 to the Campaign to clean all used yogurt pots to an new agreed Brussels standard?
And-hopefully-not have to say anything about all that exotic unpleasantness to be found in the Levant and beyond…some misunderstanding that a few more needless sacrifices to Molech might help assuage.
His Thought For The day seems safe at this point eh?
No, purely the unrealistic optimism brought about by a large G&T after the match. Been downhill since Carey
Been downhill since Ramsay, IMO.
Judging also by what Warsi said in her interview:-
“I’m concerned, Sarah – as are members of the public from the large amount of correspondence that we receive – that the birthplace of Christianity – the parts of the world where Christianity first spread – is now seeing large sections of the Christian community leaving and that those that are remaining are feeling persecuted.…and therefore we all have an interest in making sure that Christian communities do continue to feel like they belong and are not persecuted in the places where this religion was born.”
To anybody trying to follow what Warsi is saying, her statement definitely implies that this persecution is in Israel. At no point has Montague clarified otherwise for the listener, and her later statement as pointed out by BBC Watch, would seem to confirm that IT IS ISRAEL.
Although Jesus Christ was supposedly born in what is now Palestinian territories (Bethlehem). It was mainly Christian when I went there many years ago, but I believe that there are few Christians now, having been ethnically cleansed – something that clearly didn’t happen to them during Israel’s occupation.
Where are the DOTIs to give us their bonkers defences of Montague’s clear anti-Semitism?
I visited Bethlehem in March – very much a Muslim city now. They earn money from the tourist visitors – but I found the town and the bus journeys to get there unpleasant.
By contrast Nazareth up near the Sea of Galilee was a pleasant small city, where faiths are tolerant of each other. But in Israel generally – I felt an underlying hostility from a lot of the Arabs or in Arab districts. Whereas Jewish areas were a pleasure, relaxed and friendly.
To make myself clear, I was meaning that Warsi’s claim about the birthplace of Christianity could refer to Palestinian persecution of Christians which we know is happening.
But Warsi worries only about the “feeling” that Christians might be getting persecuted…perception is all, reality a moveable feast.
Mind you-I heard Vincent Nichols(Catholic Archbishop) say on the same show that Christians and Jews should not be removed from these places, lest it drive a further wedge between Shia and Sunni in effect.
See-Christians and Jews DO have their uses, according to our Archbishop…as plasterboard or pollyfilla between the house of hell(Shia) and the house of f***in hell(Sunni).
Maybe lost in translation…but you need to be able to speak classical gas to understand that translation I freely bring to the Muslim Party of nice things.
That the birthplace of Christianity – the parts of the world where Christianity first spread
I don’t interpret this as the place where Christ was born. Christianity was born and first spread from Israel, and would include many different areas there.
“the parts of the world where Christianity first spread”
That’ll be Syria, then. And it’s not Assad who’s driven them out of Homs.
I think that Warsi’s description of ‘the birthplace of Christianity’ was ambiguous, but Montague citing Israel (but not Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Leabanon or Jordan) would confuse the listener that Warsi meant Israel. I think Warsi was merely pointing out the irony, while I think that Montague was displaying bias.
R4 and Montague cannot admit to being wrong. The liberal is never wrong. By definition they have the truth. The rest of us are either mad or bad probably both. I wash my hands of the BBc. It is really not worth bothering about .
This is a culture war. It is my enemy .
You could not getter a better example of the BBC’s denial of reality than this statement:
‘There is evidence of an outflow of Christians from the Middle East caused in part by the unresolved dispute between Israel and the Palestinians but more widely by social, economic and political concerns.’
So persecution and murder by Muslims nothing to do with it, then?
That’s the line that stands out for me, too.
“There is evidence of a decrease in the number of Jews in Europe caused in part by the unresolved dispute between the Allied and Axis powers.”
Nicely put
More likely it was a “feeling” as “perceived” by the Jews at that time.
Clearly Lord HawHaw had not been received on their wirelesses properly.
Thank Allah now that the BBC would not allow this glitch in service provision to be any excuse these days.
Had Goebbels not had a club foot-why, he could have achieved the success at the BBC as did James Savile BBC(Wood Lane Batallion)
How lucky for the Saracens that western Christians aren’t susceptible to the sort of ‘radicalisation’ that the RoP primitives seem to be.
Urban II, Bernard of Clairveaux, Peter the Hermit et al. must be spinning in their graves at the present ignorant supine appeasement in which the Beeb is complicit.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9529123/Vatican-official-says-Israel-fostering-intolerance-of-Christianity.html Hardly on the same level as the other nations mentioned but not everything is black and white.
Fair enough Gomez…but for Montague to mention the one country (between Russia and Kenya, from China to Greece) that is most tolerant of Christians, gays and women…AND Muslims from the “wrong strand”) is disgusting.
And-overall_I`d be surprised if a Christian in Israel would think Britain to be a better place to be that his own country…Britain isn`t far off trouble in my view.
If you look hard enough you can find some hostility towards Christianity amongst ultra-orthodox Jews in Israel. I know this because I saw a BBC programme about it. After all the belief that Jesus of Nazareth was God is a Jewish heresy. Come to think of it every single television programme I have ever seen which has shown Israeli Jews in a bad light has been made by the BBC. I recall watching interviews with some of the Jewish terrorists who murdered various British people. There have also been an endless number of interviews with Jewish settlers who assert that all the land from the Nile to the Euphrates belongs to Israel. The only positive portrayals of Israeli Jews on the BBC that I can recall are of those who view themselves as on the Left. They are treated in the same way that the BBC used to treat SDLP politicians in Northern Ireland, as honorary Guardian readers, and therefore as fonts of reasonableness and wisdom. I cannot think of any exceptions. To pick out Israel as the example of persecution of Christians in the Middle East however is the product of a sick mind. The BBC on Israel are about as reliable as Goebbels.
I agree. As in all countries I suspect, you can always find people ‘hostile’ to Christianity, but that is not the same as ‘persecution’ and to pretend it is mocks the suffering of those who are really persecuted.
The only trouble in Israel for Christians I have noted in the past few years comes from other Christians at the site of St Sepulchre in Jerusalem where six Christian denominations share jurisdiction for this holy site and regularly come to blows over petty admin’ problems.
I’ve also complained to the BBC – we’ll see what happens. I think everyone here who thinks what Montague did shows bias or ignorance should make a complaint.
What a lie !!! Christians living in Nigeria, Egypt, Syria, Iran, Irak, Lybia, Lebanon, Turkey and others are persecuted by muslim countries only. The only country where christians can live in peace in the middle east is Israel. I know what I mean, I have in my family, people who live there. If you’re not convinced, take a flight to watch it.
Israel Persecutes Christians says Sarah Montague…update – Biased BBC cheap jordans usa http://www.dermapros.com/log.php?module=tags&brand=jordanretro&tags=jordan-2013-a-flight-ray-allen