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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5178492.stm
“An Israeli soldier was in a cross border raid by Palestinian militants last month.”
I think they have, in their haste to correct this, simply missed out a word. Quite an important one too. 🙂
Oh, the dilemma. Which word(s) to use? ‘Kidnapped’? ‘Captured’? ‘Abducted’? ‘Taken hostage’?
Thia morning James Naughtie at 8.10am introduced the main item of the Today programme with the words –
“This crisis started with the capture of an Israeli soldier in Gaza.”
So Naughtie and all the rersearchers and editors on the Today programme who scripted and vetted this intro are perpetuating the lie. There was of course nil mention of all the prior rockets fired in attempts at murdering Israli civilians, nor of the 2 soldiers killed in the Hamas incursion into Israel.
10 pm BBC TV news. Jeremy Bowen enters Lebanon from Syria. In Beirut the only family he speaks to are Hezbollah supporters. He does not speak to any of the millions of Lebanese who hate Hezbollah, who are oppressed by Hezbollah.
Nice one, Mr Bowen. Keep spinning the narrative.
Bowen …”It is now 3 weeks since that Israeli soldier was captured in Gaza”
“…particularly in complex situations such as the Middle East where any appearance of bias would undermine our credibility.”
The Beeboid forgot to add “amongst the Arabs” at the end of that statement, which is exactly what he meant.
Regarding the “captured in Gaza” lie, if you tell a lie often enough it becomes truth. this is one of the fundamental principles of BBC news reporting.
Hezbollah leader vows ‘open war’
A third soldier, captured by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip where Israel is conducting a separate operation, is also still alive, he said.
This PDF by Martin Bright, the Political Editor of the New Statesman, explains the facts behind tonight’s Channel 4 programme that argued that the Government – and the media – are insane to rely on the MCB as a proper mouthpiece for moderate Muslims :
Click to access 176.pdf
Very troubling. Goes much further than the line that the John Ware’s Panorama programme had started.
The trouble is – the Martin Bright Channel 4 prog will be largely ignored by Channel 4 news, just as the BBC largely sidesteps the issues raised by John Ware. We still get the same old, same old “Muslim spokesmen” with no description of what their hidden views and links are.
Mark Urban talking on Newsnight referred to the Israeli soldier kidnapped in Gaza.
Biodegradable | 15.07.06 – 12:06 am
I phoned 08700 100 222 (beeb information) and complained about this.
I asked how urban can retain any credibility when he doesn’t appreciate the significance of his error.
There’s a world of difference between Israel being invaded by hamas and hisbollah to capture/kidnap IDF soldiers and Israeli soldiers being captured when the IDF invades gaza and lebanon.
It made me feel better, anyway.
gordon-bennett – well done!
If I lived in the UK I’d be on the phone constantly to them. It seems that like the decision not to use the “T” word a group decision has been made to propogate this meme too. The problem is it goes along with the tendency to strengthen the lie that all of “Palestine” is occupied, see here:
http://hurryupharry.bloghouse.net/archives/2006/07/12/a_little_pizza_jordan_a_little_pizza_israel.php
This just made my blood boil too:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5182048.stm
A mother and daughter died in an attack on the town of Meron. Two Israelis died in attacks on Thursday.
It makes no sense at all to me. Are they talking about this incident?
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=2877
Grandmother and grandson, 5, killed, rest of family injured in direct Katyushu strike at home in Moshav Meron Friday evening as strikes spread to Acre and Carmiel regions
“An Israeli soldier was ……… in a cross border raid by Palestinian militants last month.”
Maybe the omission is deliberate? Maybe whoever edited the sentence realised that there was no way to maintain the fabrication that the soldier had been taken in Gaza, but is still refusing to bow to pressure and use the ‘K’ word.
So he/she has left it up to readers to fill in the blank.
Perhaps this will be the BBC’s new look. Controversial words will simply be omitted and the public will have to make up its own mind regarding meaning and context.
A sort of ‘do it yourself’ BBC.
Phrase of the Day, massive bombing campaign
Of course the BBC have no desire to be judgmental. Thus 1,000 Qassam rockets ‘rarely cause casulaties’, despite evidence of deaths and wounded, 70 Katyusha rockets are fired from Lebanon ‘on Friday alone’ yet the Israeli response is ‘massive’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5182564.stm
The Israeli air raids began after Hezbollah seized two Israeli soldiers.
The massive bombing campaign has killed more than 60 Lebanese.
…
Mr Putin was more critical of Israel’s massive bombing campaign, saying that the “use of force should be balanced”,
More lies and incomplete sentences:
In a statement broadcast on al-Manar TV on Saturday, Hezbollah said that its forces had carried out the attack which sank the Israel vessel.
The ship caught fire after it was hit by either a rocket, the Israeli military said.
“hit by either a rocket…”
Or what?
The ship caught fire after it was hit by either a rocket, the Israeli military said.
I detect a new trend. We really are going to have to fill in the gaps for them.
I have been complaining all week about the BBC’s outright lies about the location of Cpl Shalit’s kidnap. I’ve called the complaints line 3 times and logged online complaints on at least 5 other occasions. What I don’t get is why the BBC keeps peddling this lie. Can’t work out whether it’s blatant bias (which seems a bit odd, even for them) or sheer stupidity. I think the latter, but really not sure.
DD,
Part of the reason could be a function of editing. As Gaza is overshadowed by Lebanon, reference to Gaza is whittled down to short sentences. So instead of saying outside Gaza – which doesn’t make immediate sense – or on the Israeli side of the Gaza border – which would be pro-Israel to the BBC’s thinking – they dismiss all inconvenient detail and just speak of Gaza.
But that’s being a bit too kind to the BBC. Funny, isn’t it, how the whittling-down process always favours the terrorists?
Call me paranoid but this turn of phrase indicates to me that the BBC really do see the “Palestinians” as ‘our (the BBC’s) people’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5184304.stm
Troops and tanks, backed by helicopters, moved towards the town of Beit Hanoun early on Sunday.
Three were killed and eight wounded by an Israeli air strike, Palestinian medical sources said.
Israeli forces have been attacking targets in Gaza for nearly three weeks since the capture of Cpl Gilad Shalit.
Israeli troops are also involved in attacks inside Lebanon after Hezbollah guerrillas there captured two more Israeli soldiers.
Three what? Three ‘militants’? Three cats? Three dogs?
Two quick points:
1. regarding roaming charges- the headline “EU slashes overseas mobile costs” is in the present tense – it’s true that the EU hasn’t already done this, but it is in the process of doing so (hence why it’s in the present and not in the past tense). In fact, merely putting forward the suggestion of capping roaming charges (which have been outrageously high for a long time now) has been enough to make O2 and T-Mobile SLASH their costs – 35p on O2 and about 55p on T-Mobile. This is down from over £1 just a year ago. The reason for this? Operators recognise that they will be forced to cut their prices in the not too distant future and so are attempting to gain market share before these measures come into force. This is a welcome move!
b) Regarding whether terrorists / civilians were killed in air strikes – I guess it’s fairly impossible for the BBC to be precise because terrorist by their very nature don’t wear uniforms so they’d be difficult to identify. However, when you’re bombing apartment blocks in residential areas it’s probably fair to say that at least some civilians will be affected as well. My personal view is that, although the Lebanese army should indeed try to retake the areas of Southern Lebanon that are under Hezbollah’s control, Israel isn’t making it easy for them by further weakening the Government. Further, the collective punishment Israel is carrying out in Lebanon – on airports, powerplants and other civilian infrastructure – is wholly unjust.
Mark – I don’t believe Israel is carrying out “collective punishment” in Lebanon or anywhere else.
see here: http://drinksoakedtrotsforwar.blogspot.com/2006/07/collective-punishment.html
Mark – what do you call the indiscriminate firing of rockets at Israeli towns and cities by terrorists from Gaza or Lebanon?
I call it attempted mass murder.
I hardly see how destroying power plants in Gaza and Lebanon can be anything other than collective punishment. See this article from the Jerusalem Post:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1150886010029&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
The officer said Israel needs to be “very careful that we only put enough pressure on the Lebanese government to change the situation but not enough to make it fall.”
Israel holds the Lebanese government responsible for Hizbullah’s actions and has been attacking civilian infrastructure, both to prevent its use by Hizbullah and to “send a message to the Lebanese that they will pay a high price” for Hizbullah’s attacks on Israel.
As this extract clearly shows, the high-ranking official that the Jerusalem Post refers to states that the purpose of bombing civilian infrastructure is to “put pressure” on the Lebanese government. It is using collective punishment on civilians (certainly by bombing infrastructure, though not intentionally killing civilians) to push the Lebanese government to take a certain action. The absurdity of it all is that Israel’s intervention in Lebanon has probably only strengthened the view among civilians of Hezbollah, and made it that much more difficult for the government to sort out Hezbollah.
With regards to collective punishment “anywhere else”, Biodegradable, the Gaza Strip will now be without power for the next 6-8 months. It is undoubtedly the civilian population that will be hardest hit by Israel’s actions. Knocking out Palestinian power stations will have little effect on Hamas’ ability to move the kidnapped Israeli soldier from Gaza, as was demonstrated in a Channel 4 News interview between Jon Snow and Zvi Heifetz, the Israeli Ambasssador, a few weeks ago:
http://www.channel4.com/news/special-reports/special-reports-storypage.jsp?id=2680
06:30 in (my rough transcript below)
Jon Snow: What was the purpose of attacking the power stations? Very simple question. Who is dependent on the power stations?
Israeli Ambassador: To stop them from smuggling out the solider.
JS: How do you use a power station to smuggle people?
IA: Because there is going to be minimal light at night and it will make the possibility of…
JS: Surely you need darkness at night to smuggle people out? You don’t need a power station.
IA: In order to prevent them from carrying out the smuggling out of the soldier.
Mark – what do you call the indiscriminate firing of rockets at Israeli towns and cities by terrorists from Gaza or Lebanon?
I call it attempted mass murder.
Biodegradable | 16.07.06 – 7:45 pm | #
Not really sure what sort of point you’re trying to make here but yes of course that is their aim. It doesn’t mean civilians who live in Lebanon or Gaza agree with it though.
Mark ” My personal view is that, although the Lebanese army should indeed try to retake the areas of Southern Lebanon that are under Hezbollah’s control, Israel isn’t making it easy for them by further weakening the Government.”
The Lebanese government have made no efforts to dislodge Hezbollah these past years, when Israel was doing nothing to hamper the task.
They have no intention of shifting the terrorists off their patch. A Lebanese government minister interviewed on TV today just expected Israel to get on with the business of prisoner exchange. He would presumably be happy for the hundreds of freed terrorists to go back to their posts in S Lebanon.
The Lebanese government have made no efforts to dislodge Hezbollah these past years, when Israel was doing nothing to hamper the task.
Yes, but Hezbollah was. The pro-Syrian Hezbollah has been falling in popularity in Lebanon since Israel pulled out in 2000. Only one year ago, in April 2005, Lebanon gained de facto independence from Syria. A million people – a quarter of the population of Lebanon – marched in Beirut against Syria.
They are still retain a significant amount of power, with 14 out of 128 seats in the Lebanese Parliament, but there were strong signs that their popularity was falling. My fear is that the effect of Israel’s actions will only be to boost their support.
… obviously as well as undermining the moderate but still fragile and weak Lebanese government which has only had de facto control over its own territory for the last 15 months.
Actually what I also love is when people complain that the Lebanese and Palestinian governments haven’t done enough to combat extremism and terrorism in their midsts and then go and bomb their infrastructure to make it even more difficult, e.g. the Palestinian Interior Ministry, Beirut airport, the list goes on…
mark | 16.07.06 – 8:26 pm
Neither you or Jon Snow have ‘proven’ anything to me, specially not Jon Snow.
Back on topic, the BBC are still insisting with their soldier ‘captured’ in Gaza lie:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5185728.stm
The statement – issued after hours of difficult negotiations – calls for the release of three captured Israeli soldiers – one in the Gaza Strip.
No al-Beeb!
Three soldiers kidnapped, all from within Israel proper!
A million people – a quarter of the population of Lebanon – marched in Beirut against Syria.
And that’s precisely when they should have ejected the pro-Syrian government – even by a coup if that’s what it would have taken – and the very next step should have been to eject Hizbullah from Lebanon as well. Not easy, granted, but instead they have Hizbullah ministers in government, no doubt calling the shots, literally.
You also need to dig a little deeper for your facts. Gaza has other sources of electricity apart from that power plant – though it was admittedly a major supplier – and Israel supplies it as well.
But these are facts you’ll rarely learn from the BBC.
Anonymous,
There comes a point at which people have to take responsibility for their own actions, and that includes people who harbour terrorists and vote them into power. They shouldn’t expect all to be rosy after that.
It’s called growing up.
The BBC’s geographical shortcomings find a ready audience. From HYS
Added: Monday, 17 July, 2006, 11:28 GMT 12:28 UK
It it perfectly clear that misslie attacks by Hezbollah were unacceptable, but not the capture of Israeli soldiers, who were in Lebanese territory.
However, it is also perfectly clear that Israel is indulging in collective punishments – a war crime and crime against humanity; in deliberate strikes against civilian infrastucture – a war crime, as are direct attacks on civilian areas.
International action against Israel should be taken.
Mark Preston, Whitworth
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So Mark gets past the high hurdle of a HYS posting with a glaring factual error. It is hard to regard this as other than deliberate mis-information by the BBC.
The HYS is also littered with references to an apparent out of the blue attack by Israel onto the Gaza beach.
Just listening to BBC World Service Radio news and Wyre Whatsisname reporting from Haifa – when the sirens sounded he says he headed for shelter in “an Arab cafe in the old quarter”, riiiiight, he obviously knows who his friends are.
Then some dickhead of a reporter in Beirut who finds a Lebanese ‘man in the street’ to ask the question, “Who’s to blame for all this?” The unsurprising answer comes back on cue, “the Israelis!”
Of course…
will,
I’ve noticed the same thing frequently on HYS. There are only two possibilities here:
1. HYS moderators don’t know that the soldiers were kidnapped from inside Israel.
2. They know, but they allow the public to use their forum to spread lies and propaganda.
Either way, they have no business being in journalism.
Biodegradable,
The World Service keeps on getting hold of Lebanese with stories to tell and asking them who they think is to blame. I’ve heard this leading question four or five times already. It’s like a memo has gone around to ensure that the journos whip up anger against the Israelis.
More of the same:
EU clamps down on airline fares
Well no, actually. Just like the ‘slashing phone costs’ story its all about proposals.