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In the wee small hours of yesterday I watched a Bowen report where he gave some al-Beeb background on the history of Lebanon. Specifically the 1983 massacre of US Marines in Beirut by Hezbollah. But, Bowen never hinted at the “H” word! Instead Bowen said the act was carried out by “suicide bombers”!
Not only are the BBC lying by omission but they are intentionally giving the impression of providing insightful background information when they are doing the opposite to appease terrorists. While very scary I have to admit to some admiration out just how cunning the BBC propaganda is.
Jpost, on bbc coverage
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1153291996216&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
looks like they are , finally, waking up to the PR battle that they have.
this is how israeli media reports on its soldiers
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3281878,00.html
worth bearing in mind, next time you see BBC defeatist morale-sapping “reporting” on our boys in Afghanistan & Iraq.
The Jpost fisking is of a particularly biased BBC opinion piece by Nick Thorpe.
The JPost is no doubt being sarcastic when it states Nick Thorpe, BBC expert on Israeli geography, water, land policy, missile defense, history, political strategy and national survival, offers a word of instruction.
The BBC still list Thorpe as Budapest correspondent!
Thorpe’s expert analysis of ME here
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/5181628.stm
an analysis of who hezbollah are, and what they have done in the past
http://www.ict.org.il/articles/articledet.cfm?articleid=531
there’s more packed into that article than months and months of Jeremy “Hezbollah = Hospitals” Bowen.
from C4’s Jon Snow – in his “snowmail”, which i get every evening (one does like to keep on the pulse of things…)
**************************
The stumbling block – the word ‘immediate. ‘ Foreign ministers from such diverse places as Saudi Arabia, Britain, America, France and Jordan, could not agree on attaching the word ‘immediate’ to the word ‘ceasefire’.
So they didn’t call for one. Instead they have urged the international community to look for a ceasefire. All they could agree on was that humanitarian aid should be got to the region and they will all be putting their shoulder to the wheel when it comes to reconstruction.
In the meantime Lebanon continues to be blown to pieces. In short your correspondent has attended an international failure.
******************************
*sigh*
no mention of Hezbollahs rocket attacks on Israel. how many today? 100 or so?
What happened to this
Media and the Middle East: your views
http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/…0413�paginator
Must have been taken off as it was getting abused by people complaing of the bias in the BBC news.
Jon
Be flippant, and never mind the facts
By ANDREA LEVIN
Early media coverage of Hizbullah’s aggression against Israel presented a generally sound picture of cause and effect, of the terrorist group’s agenda and of Israel’s right to remove the menace to its people.
The BBC, however, is a frequent exception.
Correspondent Nick Thorpe, for instance, in a report broadcast on July 15 and posted as well on the network’s Web site – “Becoming Israel’s greatest enemy” – opted for jarringly flippant characterizations of the present crisis in Lebanon, followed by anti-Israel distortions and platitudes.
An introductory account of the assault of Katyusha rockets raining down on northern Israel, and the less lethal Kassams plaguing the south of the country, are reported like a child’s fable.
Thorpe says: “The Kassams mostly needle the Israelis, like pinpricks in the ankles of a giant, taunting him to stamp back with his big, US-issue army boots. The Katyushas are like poisoned arrows. They drive him mad.”
Thorpe likes the image of Israel as a mad giant, saying later: “The giant is kicking out, then landing punch after punch on long-suffering Lebanon.”
The fact that the allegedly “giant” nation is actually so tiny that its entire northern region and nearly a third of its population are being battered by Katyusha missiles is of no interest to the story-teller.
BUT THE Hizbullah-launched conflagration is only a backdrop to the central, indelible and preferred story, and Thorpe soon segues into his topic – Palestinian feelings and grievances. He notes:
“For many Palestinians there is proof at last that the state which has taken 78% of what they regard as their land since the foundation of Israel in 1948 – and every day seems to take a little more – can actually be beaten.”
The 78% Palestinians “regard as their land” is, of course, not just the West Bank and Gaza, but encompasses the legally sovereign and internationally sanctioned State of Israel itself.
Thorpe is comfortable, though, casually repeating without caveat this irredentist position and – less than a year after Israel’s withdrawal from the entire Gaza Strip – asserting absurdly that “every day” more land is seized.
CLICHES ABOUND. Driving in the West Bank, the BBC correspondent expresses understanding of “the resentment and the sense of oppression the Palestinians feel” as he witnesses “smart, middle-class Israeli settlements [that] have sprung up on virgin hillsides…” These, he claims, are “watered by springs often diverted from Palestinian villages.”
Notably, Thorpe is imprecise here, omitting names of any such multiple Palestinian villages robbed of water diverted to neighboring Jewish towns.
In reality, West Bank Arab towns have, during Israel’s administering of the area, enjoyed a dramatic improvement in water availability.
In the period, for example, from 1967 to 1995, West Bank Palestinians increased domestic water use by 640%, from 5.4 million cubic meters to to 40 MCM. This occurred as Israel connected hundreds of West Bank towns to its national water carrier and drilled or permitted Palestinians to drill scores of major wells as well as innumerable private ones.
Thorpe makes no note of these nettlesome details in scanning the hills of the West Bank.
BEYOND ALLEGED water and land seizures, the Israeli “occupier” has also committed other severe offenses, including erecting – for no apparent reason mentioned by Thorpe – “tunnels and fences” that “keep Palestinians away from Israeli roads, Israelis settlements and Israeli soldiers.” (Terrorism is omitted entirely.)This seemingly inexplicable, callous and exclusionary practice by the giant Israel has led to Palestinians being “increasingly confined by barriers and checkpoints into little reservations” and, Thorpe observes, “it is little wonder that Palestinians applaud Sheikh Nasrallah, the spiritual head of the Hezbollah, when he calls for the release of some of the thousands of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.”
Having sketched all these Israeli abuses, Thorpe moves to the concluding section of his account, describing a discussion with Dov, his “old friend” from Jerusalem who works to identify and counter threats to the Jewish people.
He queries: “On your travels, you must often be asked to justify Israel’s policy towards the Palestinians.”
When Dov replies that he does not “engage with” the issue, Nick Thorpe, BBC expert on Israeli geography, water, land policy, missile defense, history, political strategy and national survival, offers a word of instruction.
He writes: “I disagree, as gently as I can. Until there is a broad peace agreement in the Middle East, it seems to me, not imposed by Israel but agreed by all sides, I fear his people, and for that matter mine, will be targets.”
NOTHING IN Thorpe’s breezy rendition even hints at decades of Palestinian violence, anti-Jewish hate-mongering or rejectionism. Nothing suggests the self-inflicted disasters.
In a final touch of symbolism, the reporter describes a passing Arab villager “pushing a cart loaded to the sky with white eggs. In the other direction come lorries loaded with shells for Israeli tanks to launch into Lebanon.”
As fatuous and simple-minded as this report may be, the animus toward Israel and gross disregard for fact are no joke, but rather all too emblematic of bias in coverage provided by Britain’s government-supported network.
The writer is executive director of CAMERA, Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America.
oh god – they’ve got John Simpson on the Israel/Lebanon frontline now.
its costing the IDF “heavily”
Hezbollah are the nearest thing to a “real army”
the IDF have a certain “respect” for them.
words fail me.
NO mention that for every IDF soldier killed , the IDF has killed around 10 to 20 Hezbollah. so , thats a kill rate of 10 to 1 , if not more.
NO MENTION of Hizbollahs “kill all the jews” ideology.
and NO MENTION of the 95 per cent support for the war in Israel itself.
i give up – i really do. this sort of crap passes for “news”???
next on is Jeremy Bowen…. oh god here we go.
Tonight i am getting news reports of Maggs Beckett, so-called Foreign Secretary, raising issue of US flights of munitions to Israel via Prestwick Airport on grounds of hazardous materials………………..
Why doesn’t she use the Internet and read the Prestwick Airport Website ?
NEQ
Glasgow Prestwick Airport has been able to obtain a NEQ (Net Explosive Quantity) of 11,000 kilo’s.
This is the highest capacity throughout the UK outside military airfields. Consequently the airport is now the prime site for the handling and movement of this specialised commodity.
and Wikipedia
Today, as well as the thriving no-frills segment, Prestwick has continued its traditional strategic role as a refuelling point for military aircraft – the US Air Force, RAF and the Canadian Armed Forces are frequent visitors for example. Cargo traffic has also become another stronghold of Prestwick with the vast majority of Scotland’s Boeing 747 Freighter traffic entering via the airport.
i am referring to the BBC 10 O clock news above.
Watched a bit of Beeb News at 10 – Fergal Keene wandering about the ruins of the big bomb in Beirut. Switched over (for the first time ever) to Fox to hear “We are not allowed to go anywhere without a Hizbollah ‘guide’ but today we managed to give them the slip…’ and there they were in the same ruins.
The assumption being that, according to Fox, Hizbollah were keeping foreign TV away today, I wonder whether Keane had to ‘give Hizbollah the slip’, or does the BBC have a better relationship with Hizbollah than other TV crews, giving them better access?
It is Kofi Annan’s fault the UN peacekeepers were in the firing line – he left them there, even though they had done no good whatsoever for yonks.
It is a mirac le – or rather a testament to the carefulness of the IDF – that so few UN personnel have been hurt.
http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/editorial/kofi_blames_the_victim_editorial_.htm
and look at the photo at the end of this piece :
http://fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com/2006/07/knife-thrower-at-carnival.html
Kofi Annan is part of the problem – not the solution.
He is a moral bankrupt, a total fool in the eyes of most Brits.
But the BBC loves him.
Who Cares?? Ain’t you lot figured it out yet???
Europe is dead, and slipping back to Dictatorship, and Jew Hatred…..Europe is just reverting to type……
But of course, no matter how much they wail and scream….it’s Uncle Sam they scream too…as Uncle Sam has the real power……
Europe is dead……..Russia And America will not forgive it another go at being “Nazis”…….
Europe is full of Jew haters…they have form in this area…..the rest of the world just views Europe as the starter of two worlwars,a nd the creators of the nazi Fascist and Gas chamber…..
So is it any wonder that the “EU” comes accross as Jew haters….
I share archduke’s disgust at tonight’s BBC news.
Viewers were treated to a full ten minutes of Feargal ‘bleeding heart’ Keane emoting about Israeli attacks and other ‘think of the children’ stuff, before we finally got a fleeting mention of missile strikes against Israel.
Can anyone but a hardened Independent-reader believe this is even remotely equal treament?
I stumbled across your sight tonight.
I commented on the BBC media, biased HYS Blog and got voted top comment – To their fairness I was invited on the show – Didn’t do myself or the topic justice and was really just brushed off – How can I become more proactive? – I don’t like what they’re putting (I am of sound mind and broad minded) I have worked for the Beeb as a security consultant on many trips and documentries (Seen the spin first hand) I have also worked in the ME for the UN and they were not reporting from the same place that I was experiencing! Something aint right here and we should do more…
“Europe is dead……..Russia And America will not forgive it another go at being “Nazis”…….”
is it any wonder that Putin is scoffing at the EU?
i have to say , i cant blame the guy.
if i were Russia, i’d stay the hell out of it, and build up the armed forces – rapidly.
they’ll be needed when Europe goes pear shaped.
Newsnight – the BBC estimates that of 420 killed in Lebanon, only about 30 were Hezbollah.
How dumb or wartped can the BBC get ?
“Something aint right here and we should do more…”
tim – if you are genuine, and you have something genuine to say, i would suggest that you get in touch with Natalie or the other moderators of B-BBC, purely on a private email basis.
you have a lot to say – and i wouldnt waste it on a comment board. it deserves a bigger audience.
but in the meantime – post away and do tell more.
I’m genuine and and not a mole – But I understand your doubts – Who do I get in touch with? and feel free to conduct your due diligence on me – I am fully transparent (Unlike the white city Folk)
nataliesolent AT aol DOT COM
its on the right side of this blog.
then again, if you feel like posting away on here – feel free to do so.
but , the fact that you were an insider in the ME , makes it all to more interesting. i am sure that natalie would be extremely interested in what you have to say.
newsnight -> oh dear.
bunker busting bombs via prestwick.
margaret beckett is “furious”
you can win with these people – bunker busters are extremely targetted munitions. the specifically avoid the need for outright blanket bombing.
if the israelis DIDNT have them, then you’d have utter and total blanket bombing, killing thousands.
damned if they do, damned if they dont. must be something to do with the Israelis being “evil zionists” maybe…
typo:
you cant win with these people
Never worked in this current conflict area (Iraq elections for the UN) and security work for Beeb was in Europe – G8/ mayday riots/ football thugs/ NI riots/ anti war/ anti everthing protests and all that.
Yes I’ve some very interesting tales to tell and maybe the time is right.
your license fee at work:
http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/article.html?in_article_id=17688&in_page_id=2
remember that C4 get a portion of your license fee.
My goodness, did you just see the trailer for next week’s Panorama? An expose of Hamas summer camps for kids as hate factories and Islamic “charities” as conduits for terrorists weapons.
Either the penny is dropping or some is VERY off message.
“Yes I’ve some very interesting tales to tell and maybe the time is right.”
yes it is.
if its any consolation, i’m not a Tory – never have been. and never voted right wing in my life.
i think in the last year or so, everything changed – 7/7, Danish cartoons, Euston Manifesto…
if you’d met me about 5 years ago, i would have been your typical , middle class, New Labour voter.
times have changed though.
Al Beeb and stealth edits.
I cut and posted this earlier on from the BBC and how it depicted a terrorist;
“Chief among those is Samir Qantar, serving five life sentences for murder after attacking a civilian apartment block in Nahariya in 1979. Danny Haran was killed in front of his four-year-old daughter; the girl’s skull was then crushed with a rifle butt. Cowering inside, Smadar Haran accidentally smothered her two-year-old daughter to death as she hid in a cupboard trying to stay silent.”
Now look how Al Beeb rewrites it;
“Chief among those is Samir Qantar, serving several life sentences for murder after attacking a civilian apartment block in Nahariya in 1979. A policeman, another man and his four-year-old daughter were killed. A baby girl was accidentally smothered by her mother as she hid in a cupboard.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5211930.stm
Al Beeb defending those who wish to kill us.
“Either the penny is dropping or some is VERY off message.”
the penny is dropping at Time magazine, which certainly isnt what you would call a “right wing” publication.
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/pictures/20060724TyreLebanonTIME01.jpg
maybe that Time spread has given the some Panoroma folks the green light & courage to go ahead with this.
“Al Beeb defending those who wish to kill us.
pounce”
that editing of Samir Qantar is revolting.
he smashed the four year old girl’s head against a rock. AFTER he had shot her father dead in front of her.
if there is a re-incarnation of Adolf Eichmann walking around, it is certainly in the soul of that terrorist.
and for the BBC to edit it out, is tantamount to propagandising for Hezbollah.
revolting – and we’re paying for this crap…
AL Beeb and how it brainwashes Children in which to support its masters;
Newsround spoke to two children who have just left Lebanon to come back to the UK and another child whose brother and sister are still out there.
Child 1;
“Beirut was on the floor, there were only around two buildings still standing. ”
Child 2
“When I went to Beirut before all the houses were nice. Now they’re all knocked down and all the people are gone. It’s empty. I don’t want to go back again.”
Child 3
“When I spoke to my brother and sister they said that all the buildings in Beruit were crushed down and there was dust all around. They are sad.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_5210000/newsid_5218300/5218390.stm
So from the above I get the impression that Beruit has been ground into the ground or has it?
Start them young Al beeb brainwash the young of today in which to teach them that all Jews are Evil.
and may i add- guess what the “evil zionists” did with Qantar?
hang him?
shoot him?
chop his head off in chop-chop square according to some Mohammedian “law”?
errr.. no . none of that – he was imprisoned for life.
yeah – real evil those israelis – they dont even execute the worst of the terrorists. says a lot about them , dont you think?
and yet, Al BBC never comments on the weekly executions that go on in Iran and Saudi Arabia under sharia law.
Dagenham Dave:
Is it this documentary?
http://www.mpacuk.org/content/view/2059/#read-comments?mosmsg=Comment+Saved
SCANDAL!!!:
This Islamophobic Zionist propagada is being financed by our lisence-fees. But the real scandal is that there’s millions of Muslims who let this happen without lifting a finger! I mean it literally only takes 2mins to call the BBC. If even 10% of Muslims did this we’d never suffer this type of anti-Muslim programmes. It’s not rocket science – it’s exactly how the Zionists are so successful in getting their agenda across through the media. Please brothers and sisters, for the sake of the Ummah and the Deen – respond to this alert, forward it to your friends and family and demand your local mosque annouces this issue at Jummah and displays the details on their notice board.
“Start them young Al beeb brainwash the young of today in which to teach them that all Jews are Evil.”
why dont the BBC go the full hog and start sponsoring Blue Peter days away at Hezbollah youth camps? like this one:
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/pictures/20060724TyreLebanonTIME01.jpg%5D
heck -if they have a blue peter badge, they might be able to kill some evil Joooooooos and get some extra BBC brownie points for it.
Pounce:
Re the kids story.
I find it unbelievable that even the BBC can post such utter crap on a kids ‘news’ page.
My blood boils.
“The BBC Youth”
Sounds scary……….
“I find it unbelievable that even the BBC can post such utter crap on a kids ‘news’ page.”
its a bit sad alright. the bbc robbing the childhood from the kids of today.
OT
Any MPs read this blog?
Recognise this sneak?
For details, ask NS for my e-mail addy.
Working for an MP, I get a pretty good insight of what’s going on. My work colleague is going to be Chief Steward at the Labour Party Conference this year and my other colleague, being the Political Assistant is going as well. That leaves me in the office.
I don’t really have a problem with this, until I found out who is coming to be the keynote speaker at the conference this year.
Every year, it’s someone pretty imporatant. We’ve seen Clinton, Karzai, Bono etc etc.
This year’s conference has got someone really, really big. And now I want to go.
I can’t go into details too much, but I urge every single one of you to make sure that you have a day off on the day of the keynote speech. Chances are, it’ll be on September 28 2006.
If it is who it’s supposed to be, it’ll be the death knell of the Labour Party. This person is going to be booed by teh vast majority of the conference… if he ain’t, well, the conference hall is likely to be full of yes-men.
I know this post is a bit enigmatic, but we will really need to organise something for this speaker. Something really, really, big.
OT (even for the OT thread):
Devil’s Kitchen hosts a nice take-down of tonights Stephen Lawrence documentary:
http://devilskitchen.blogspot.com/2006/07/fraud-and-corruption-but-where.html
mick in the uk | Homepage | 27.07.06 – 12:34 am
It’s George W Bush.
Anyone see fergal tonight?
He was inspecting a bombed house in Tyre and banging on about extensive destruction when an IAF jet flew over the area and everyone scattered. They had scuttled no less than a few feet before they were in areas where the buildings seemed completely untouched.
So much for widesparead destruction by the wicked Israelis.
FK then sped to another location where he shouted up to some people who had decided to stay put in their untouched apartment block. All the streets along which he motored to get there seemed untouched by bombs.
So much for widesparead destruction by the wicked Israelis.
I put these points to 08700 100 222 (beeb information) and added that if they really wanted to give us the scale of destruction by the IAF then why didn’t they show a map of Beirut with the damaged areas marked on it.
Could it be that they wont show such a map because if they did it would show that Beirut damage is limited to about 1% of the city’s area?
Anyway, it made me feel better.
Is it wrong to hate the BBC?..
“Police fury at BBC’s Lawrence corruption claim”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2287567,00.html
.
http://tinyurl.com/fetl6
CNN explains how Hezbollah makes propaganda for media
An extract from an email from a FOO “(Forward Observation Officer) with a Canadian Infantry Unit in Afghanistan. He speaks of the various battles including helping 3 PARA out at Sangin and then says THIS:
“We went to the PRT and it didn’t even seem real. I took off my helmet, Flak vest and I had a shower and changed my clothes for the first time in two weeks. I ate a huge fresh meal (until my stomach hurt), and then went and sat on the edge of a water fountain in garden and watched a beach volleyball game between the Brits and Estonians. I laughed as I had supper and watched the BBC (British Broadcasting Company) which was reporting that we had taken back the towns, but H Hour was still 2 hours away, so much for the element of surprise.”
Al Beeb – even during the Falklands they were telling the enemy what we were up to…looks like they are still doing it!
http://israelibunker.blogspot.com/
Nice map here showing where camera lenses are being zoomed
Radio 5 on stonking form this morning. An English man of Pakistano origin proud to support England and they just didn’t get it.
Desperate to get Sajid Mahmood’s dad to say he really wanted Pakistan to win, the good man said (in a thick Lancastrian accent) “No, this is my home I’ve lived here 40 years”
“But you support Pakistan” the hack said.
“Well I was born there, but I’ve only been back 4 or 5 times”
“But what if Sajid wasn’t playing?”
“I support England, it’s been my home for 40 years” said an exasperated Mr M
Durrrrrr!
Nicky Campbell stepped in “I think you just passed the Tebbit test”
Campbell played a blinder yesterday, too, repeatedly referring to Hizbollah as a terrorist organisation to the disconfort of assembled experts, BBC abd otherwise. Clearly off message.
Anyone notice how TrendyRev Giles Fraser sounds just like Feargal with an Estuarine accent? Wonder if that’s what he sounded like when he was at Oxford.
I’m actually a bit confused. The failure of the inquiry into Stephen Lawrence’s murder was ascribed to the Met’s “institutional racism” by MacPherson, yet Al-Beeb’s latest programme suggests it was a corrupt cop to blame. Any thoughts anyone?
Oh, and anyone who heard Alex Salmond on Today this morning ought to know that it’s SNP policy to withdraw from NATO and that the party is institutionally anti-American. But, because this isn’t known south of the Border, the editors didn’t feel the need to balance Salmond.
The comment that opens this thread is typical of B-BBC. Chris accuses Jeremy Bowen of bias in these terms:
“In the wee small hours of yesterday I watched a Bowen report where he gave some al-Beeb background on the history of Lebanon. Specifically the 1983 massacre of US Marines in Beirut by Hezbollah. But, Bowen never hinted at the “H” word! Instead Bowen said the act was carried out by “suicide bombers”!
Not only are the BBC lying by omission but they are intentionally giving the impression of providing insightful background information when they are doing the opposite….
Chris | 26.07.06 – 6:01 pm |
What are the facts as we know them? It is a moot point whether Hezbollah actually carried out the Marine Barracks bombing. Indeed, it is a moot point whether Hizbollah actually existed at the time as a fully-functioning organization.
Wikipedia leaves the question open:
Scholars differ as to when Hezbollah came to be a distinct entity. Some organizations list the official formation of the group as early as 1982 whereas (Tom) Diaz and Barabara Newman maintain that Hezbollah remained an amalgamation of various violent Shi’a extremists until as late as 1985
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hezbollah
Hezbollah has always explicitly DENIED carrying out the massacre. We need not believe them. They could well be lying. However, another group • the Free Islamic Revolutionary Movement • which was associated with radical elements of the Amal Militia DID acknowledge responsibility. They also correctly named the two suicide bombers (information that had been withheld from the media).
http://news.billinge.com/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/23/newsid_2489000/2489117.stm
Given the uncertainty, should Bowen have ascribed the act to Hezbollah. No • that would be editorializing on a disputed issue. Instead he blamed ‘suicide bombers’ • accurate and uncontestable.
When I say this is typical of B-BBC comments I mean that it:
1. Calls upon the BBC to report as FACT matters that ere contestable and contested.
2. When the BBC (rightly) recoils from doing so, accuses the Corporation of bias by omission.
As usual the allegation doesn’t bear a moment’s scrutiny.
Is this report’s wording due to PC?
The top court in Washington state in the US … backed the Defense of Marriage Act, which was passed in the state eight years ago to limit marriage to heterosexual couples.
Is that really the law? Isn’t it more likely that the law relates to the gender of the partners rather than their sexual orientation?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/5219098.stm