Hat tip to George (UPDATE and also to dumbcisco), who has pointed out this post from LGF: BBC Prisoner Sob Story Hides Terrorist Facts.
The post refers to this BBC story by Martin Patience, Palestinians back prisoner release call, featuring a Palestinian woman imprisoned by the Israelis. The BBC story simply says, “Mr Houdaly says his wife, Ataf, 44, headed a women’s organisation dedicated to providing health services for poor Palestinians.” LGF says:
Notice that Mr. Houdaly doesn’t say—and the BBC apparently doesn’t care—why his wife is imprisoned. They don’t even tell us her full name.
You have to search Google’s cache to find out who his wife really is, and why she’s in an Israeli jail, but it’s very probable that this man’s wife is an Islamic Jihad terrorist who planned to execute a suicide bombing by detonating a car bomb in Jerusalem in 1987, and was jailed for 10 years.
Charles Johnson of LGF then provides links.
Quite apart from the wife, what of the husband? The BBC story says,
Mr Houdaly knows more than most about imprisonment.
Apart from his wife, Mr Houdaly was himself jailed for 12 years for being a political organiser.
To me, that statement cries out for some supplementary questions. What sort of politics, exactly? Did your charge sheet actually say “being a political organiser”, Mr Houdaly? Did Mr Houdaly’s charge sheet actually say “being a political organiser”, Mr Israeli Government Spokesman?
UPDATE: I went looking myself. I found enough to convince me that the usual transcription of Mr Houdaly’s name is Walid al-Hodali. This article by Gideon Levy, in French, made me more sympathetic to both Mr and Mrs Hodali. It says that they had promised each other never again to get involved in the activities that got them into prison.
But what was he imprisoned for? Gideon Levy’s article is coy, diminishing my burst of sympathy. It only says, “Les années 1990-2002, Walid Hodali les a passées dans une prison israélienne, pour atteintes à la sécurité pendant la première Intifada.” That means “undermining security during the first Intifada.” I kept looking.
According to this link from the French language site of the Palestine Information Centre:
The authorities of the “Israeli” occupation freed a leader of Hamas after fifteen years of captivity.
June 24, 2005, 01:10Ramallah – CPI
The “Israeli” occupation authorities have freed on Wednesday the leader of the Hamas movement Sheikh Sami Yousef Hussein, a resident of the Jalazon refugee camp in the village of Ramallah, after fifteen years in captivity.
The inhabitants of the camp organised a big party to receive the liberated Sheik at the entrance to the camp and brandished green banners and Palestinian flags.
Sheikh Sami was arrested on 4 February 1990, accused of being a member of the armed wing of Hamas and of having attempted to kidnap a soldier in order to exchange him for Palestinian prisoners, in cooperation with Sheikh Fuad Al-Hodali and his brother Walid.
Emphasis and translation mine. If Mr Hodali was himself a would-be kidnapper of an Israeli soldier, that is something I would expect to be told by the BBC when hearing about his feelings as the husband of a woman imprisoned by the Israelis – particularly when what prompted the story was the kidnapping of another Israeli soldier.
UPDATE: Google cache of same story in English here.
UPDATE: Gideon Levy article about Walid Hodali in English here.
(I think I had posted this LGF link at about 4am on the previous open thread)
my comment was that the BBC had really excelled themselves with this one.
And why was the BBC lapping up a story from a long-term convict without proper checking ?
“Greater editorial oversight” my Aunt Fanny.
Heads should roll if this one proves to be as bad as it looks.
dumbcisco,
“Heads should roll if this one proves to be as bad as it looks.”
It’s worse – see the update. I’ve added an extra hat tip to you as well.
i’ve only just caught up on the news out of gaza – they’ve found the 18 year old teenager, Eliyahu Asheri- he was shot in the head.
http://www.vitalperspective.com/
Words fail me.
When I read the ‘heart rending’ article about this man’s wife being held in an Israeli jail, my first reaction was ‘what is the Beeb hiding?’
Now we know. Typical BBC appologists for terror. Presenting the demands for Pali prisoner release, as if it is an entirely reasonable request. Making out that the Israelis are abusing human rights of women and children by holding them without trial on trumped up charges.
This is possibly as bad as the ‘Crying when his helicopter….’ crap.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5122056.stm
top paragraph:
“that his wife and their 18-month-old child will be freed from prison.”
which implies that the israelis are going around locking up babies.
err.. well not quite.
buried lower down is this:
“The mother went on a 16-day hunger strike before the Israeli prison authorities allowed her baby Aesha to be brought to stay with her, in the jail”
‘And why was the BBC lapping up a story from a long-term convict without proper checking ?’
Ask yourself if a hack, even one working for the BBC, would not have done the basic checks to find out the reality behind the story? I think he would have checked the story and either through bias or being a poor reporter filed what he did. Either way he should be sacked. I would also suggest there is a case for investigating his editor for not checking such a false sounding story.
an interesting contrast of the language used in israeli papers versus Arab ones
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5128186.stm
note how the Arab media over-exaggerates to the point of hysteria.
WMD alert
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=newsOne&storyID=2006-06-29T013909Z_01_L29258645_RTRUKOC_0_US-MIDEAST-ROCKET.xml
Gaza terrorists claim to have fired a chemical tipped rocket into Israel
Hamas operatives escape to Sinai – explosives used to blow a hole in Egyptian border fence:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/732506.html
Time for Egypt to use its troops properly
No no no!
The BBC is biased towards Israel! At least, that’s what the completely independent (coughs) enquiry decided.
Oh yes. (laughs)
I see my 10s/6d are still safe as the BBC has not reported on the pali’s claims of having WMD or of fireing a poisonious rocket.
BBC delenda est !!
The BBC aren’t just biased – they’re completely oblivious to reality! They also have big trouble understanding the difference between right and wrong.
I APOLOGISE FOR THE LENGTH OF THIS POST, BUT THE BBC HAS A DUTY TO THE TAXPAYER TO TAKE NOTICE OF THESE FACTS AND BROADCAST THEM!
This is first first quote which the BBC doesn’t question:
Speaking at Friday prayers at a mosque in Gaza City, Mr Haniya said Israel was using Cpl Gilad Shalit’s capture by militants as a pretext to bring down his government.
Even though the BBC, in it’s supposed “balanced” reporting should have mentioned that Israel had plenty of provocation before this weekend’s murder and kidnapping (listed below) – plus the fact that the terrorists have a long history of abductions:
April 30-May 1, 2006: Palestinian terrorists fire a Qassam rocket at Kibbutz Yad Mordechai. No injuries or damage are reported.
May 3, 2006: Palestinian terrorists fire two Qassams at Israel from the northern Gaza Strip, briefly interrupting Independence Day celebrations in the south of the country.
May 4, 2006: The Israeli navy intercepts a Palestinian fishing boat near Ashkelon. The crew throws weapons and large bags overboard. A sample later reveals that the contents were 550 kilograms of high-quality TNT.
May 8, 2006: Palestinian terrorists fire eight Qassams into the western Negev.
May 13, 2006: Israeli Border Police sappers safely detonate a bomb in Nablus in the West Bank packing 10 kilograms of explosives. Police sources note the explosive device was intended for use in a suicide attack against an Israeli target.
May 14, 2006: Palestinian terrorists detonate a bomb against a vehicle at the Shiloh Junction in the West Bank. One person is lightly injured.
May 14, 2006: Israel Navy patrol ships intercept a Palestinian vessel in close proximity to the Gaza Strip. The boat contained about 450 kilograms of TNT as well as mine components, and large bags of explosives had been thrown overboard.
May 16, 2006: Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists fire a Katyusha at the western Negev community of Netiv Ha’asara. The rocket hits a chicken coop, killing thirty chickens. Shrapnel damages a water pipe and adjacent greenhouse. The IDF determines that the rocket was a Grad-class Katyusha, which carries 6 kilograms of explosives. This marks the third time Palestinian terrorists have fired a Katyusha at Israel.
May 18, 2006: Palestinian terrorists fire at a civilian vehicle near the Tapuah Junction in the West Bank, wounding two Israelis. The Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claims responsibility.
May 21, 2006: Palestinian terrorists fire two Qassams at the Israeli city of Sderot. One hits an empty classroom, while the other causes two women to go into shock. Defense Minister Amir Peretz instructs the IDF to prepare an immediate plan for the fortification of schools in the Gaza vicinity.
May 23, 2006: The Egyptian interior ministry announces that the three suicide bombers responsible for the triple explosion in the Sinai resort of Dahab on April 24, which killed more than twenty, were trained in weapons and bomb-making by Palestinian religious fundamentalists in the neighboring Gaza Strip.
May 29, 2006: Palestinian terrorists fire two mortars at an IDF base in Nahal Oz (near Sderot).
May 31, 2006: Palestinian terrorists fire four Qassams at Sderot, which cause damage and send two people into shock.
June 1, 2006: Islamic Jihad claims responsibility for a bombing attack that lightly wounds two IDF soldiers in Jenin in the West Bank.
June 2, 2006: The U.S. military determines that Palestinian terrorists have become senior operatives in the Sunni insurgency in Iraq. Officials note than an increasing number of Palestinians have joined Al Qaeda-aligned groups in Iraq. On May 30, Iraqi and U.S. troops captured three Palestinians identified as leaders of insurgency cells in Baghdad. The Palestinians were said to have recruited students from Baghdad Technical University and ordered them to plant bombs near Iraqi police and army positions (“Palestinians Rise in Sunni Insurgency,” Middle East Newsline, June 2, 2006).
June 6, 2006: The head of the General Security Service, Yuval Diskin, tells the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that the amount of weapons and explosives smuggled into Gaza from Sinai since the September disengagement is larger than the total amount smuggled since the 1967 Six Day War. The quantity includes 11 tons of TNT, three million bullets, 19,600 rifles, 1,600 pistols, 65 RPG launchers, 430 RPGs, and about ten shoulder rocket launchers.
June 6, 2006: Haaretz reports that Hamas terrorists in the West Bank have experimented with adding toxic chemicals to their bombs.
June 6, 2006: A volley of Qassams injure an Israeli woman in Sderot and wound four other Israelis.
June 7, 2006: Two Palestinian terrorists attack an Israeli couple while they are hiking in Gush Etzion in the West Bank, stabbing one and hurling rocks at the other.
June 8, 2006: Palestinian terrorists fire three Qassams at southern Israel from Gaza in two separate attacks. One woman suffers from shock.
June 10, 2006: Israeli police commissioner Moshe Karadi orders police forces to an advanced stage of alert due to ninety warnings of impending terrorist attacks.
June 11, 2006: Palestinian terrorists fire a Qassam at Sderot that critically wounds an Israeli. Hamas spokemsan Abu Oviyada proclaims, “We have decided to turn Sderot into a ghost town and we will not stop the rocket fire until the residents leave.”
June 12, 2006: Palestinian terrorists fire at least eighteen Qassams at Israel. One hits a parked car and causes a fire. An Israeli woman is lightly injured by shrapnel, and two other women suffer shock.
June 12, 2006: Palestinian terrorists shoot dead an Israeli Arab motorist, mistaken for a Jew, on Route 443 in the West Bank.
June 12, 2006: Egypt accuses Hamas of training suicide bombers in the Sinai Peninsula. Egyptian interior minister Habib Adly claims evidence of Hamas involvement in the training of at least two suicide bombers who blew themselves up at tourist sites in Sinai in April 2006.
June 12, 2006: A study reported in Haaretz finds that almost half the parents and one-third of the children in Sderot suffer from posttraumatic stress. “15 percent of the children, ages two and up, are suffering from severe post-traumatic stress syndrome. . . .”
June 13, 2006: Palestinian terrorist gunmen seriously wound another Israeli motorist on Route 443.
June 14, 2006: The IDF Home Front Command determines that 24 schools in the western Negev are in need of reinforcement against Qassam rockets. Two will have to be completely rebuilt. The cost of reinforcing the roofs of the 22 remaining schools will total NIS 165 million.
June 15, 2006: Islamic Jihad terrorists fire a salvo of Qassams into Sderot, wounding three people and damaging a factory.
June 15, 2006: Palestinian terrorists kidnap an Israeli girl near the Rahelim Junction in the West Bank. The girls’ friend flees the scene and reports the abduction to the police. The girl is found 20 minutes later.
June 18-19, 2006: Palestinian terrorists fire two Qassams at southern Israel, leaving sections of Sderot without electricity for several hours.
June 19, 2006: Palestinian foreign minister Mahmoud Zahar says Iran is preparing to deliver two aircraft and three hundred combat vehicles to the PA.
June 19, 2006: Palestinian terrorists fire two Qassams at Sderot during a visit by President Moshe Katzav and Defense Minister Amir Peretz. One woman is lightly injured.
June 19, 2006: Palestinian terrorists open fire against an Israeli bus traveling north of Ofrah in the West Bank, injuring six female civilians.
June 25, 2006: Two IDF soldiers are killed and another kidnapped when Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups attack an IDF position at Kerem Shalom near the Gaza border.
June 25, 2006: Fatah announces its has developed chemical and biological weapons. “With the help of Allah, we are pleased to say that we succeeded in developing over 20 different types of biological and chemical weapons, this after a three-year effort….”
June 26, 2006: Palestinian terrorists fire a Qassam at Sderot. Four civilians are lightly wounded by shrapnel and a number of residents suffer from shock. The impact causes a blackout in the area.
As yet, the BBC have still not mentioned the terrorists statement that they have already sent a rocket laden with a chemical warhead into southern Israel.
GAZA, June 29 (Reuters) – A spokesman for gunmen in the Gaza Strip said they had fired a rocket tipped with a chemical warhead at Israel early on Thursday.
Here’s another factor the BBC have completely misunderstood:
Palestinian political activity in the eastern part of the city is prohibited under interim peace accords.
They don’t mention that the Arabs of East Jerusalem voted freely in the PA elections, but the BBCs greatest omission is that these Hamas members had called for the destruction of Israel and are not Israeli Arabs – they’re Palestinians who will be sent back home.