It has been seen as a daring raid by crack Israeli troops to rescue dozens of their countrymen held at the mercy of hijackers.
But newly released documents contain a claim that the 1976 rescue of hostages, kidnapped on an Air France flight and held in Entebbe in Uganda, was not all it seemed.
A UK government file on the crisis, released from the National Archives, contains a claim that Israel itself was behind the hijacking.
“Contains a claim”, the weasel words so good they used them twice. Here is the claim as reported by the BBC:
An unnamed contact told a British diplomat in Paris that the Israeli Secret Service, the Shin Bet, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) collaborated to seize the plane.
So if you get that far you discover that a junior diplomat chappie in, er, Paris, where they know all about events in Uganda and really know how to live, heard another chappie in Paris tell him that the Hand Of Israel was behind it all. The junior diplomat chappie then wrote it all down, writing down tedious gossip being what junior diplomat chappies are paid to do so that they can eventually become Ambassador to Belgium.
A little more info about the second chappie will be revealed later in this post, but even as it stands, this is pathetic. In its domestic reporting the BBC is painfully careful to avoid engendering prejudice, so careful in fact that it sometimes defeats its own object – but when Israel can be made to look bad it will grab any old mouldy leftovers from the back of the fridge and serve them up to its audience. The BBC is in no way excused by the fact it was not the only one. It is the only one I am compelled to pay for.
Hat tips to commenters Pounce and Ashley Pomeroy. The latter wrote,
“Inevitably this will be passed around the internet as the gospel truth, because it’s on the BBC. I can picture the arguments on Wikipedia in my head. “It is widely known that the Israelis faked the Entebbe crisis – even the BBC admits this” they will say.
Under the subheading “Ugandans killed” – not “Uganda soldiers killed”, just “Ugandans killed” – we learn that: “Two Israeli civilian hostages died in the shooting, and a third died later in a Nairobi hospital.”
The third hostage was an old woman who was strangled at the orders of Idi Amin, in revenge for his humiliation by the Israeli commandos. The report doesn’t say that. “A third died later” is incredibly misleading. It implies that the hostage was wounded in the shooting and expired of these wounds in hospital, whereas in reality she had been removed from the hostages before the rescue took place.”
Indeed. Dora Bloch, a 75 year old widow with dual British-Israeli nationality, was on her way to her son’s wedding when the plane was hijacked. The BBC has form on this use of “died” to mean “murdered while Jewish.” It played the same game when describing the murder of Leon Klinghoffer.
Now, about that second chappie, described as unnamed by the BBC.
The Times reported, but the BBC did not, that this mysterious person was “A contact Euro-Arab Parliamentary association”. The Times seems to have lost an “in the” at some point, but that’s nothing compared to the BBC losing a whole Euro-Arab Parliamentarian. Talk about Arab voices being silenced in the media, eh? Never mind, he did get a mention in Guardian, the Telegraph and the Jerusalem Post (Hat tip: Biodegradable for the JP) and practically every other outlet other than the BBC.
It would be nice to think that the BBC avoided mention of the Euro-Arab Parliamentary Association because unlike the sheep in the Guardian / Times / Telegraph all copying the same news agency report, the ever-diligent BBC had bothered to ascertain that there is no such body. There is a Parliamentary Association for Euro-Arab Cooperation. But I have a feeling that someone at the Beeb just didn’t think that an Arab (OK, OK, it could have been a Euro, only I don’t think even the Foreign Office wallahs see Luxembourgian rumours about the Israelis as worth recording) … where was I? Oh, yes, someone at the Beeb just didn’t think an Arab claiming that bad things done by Arabs were really the work of duplicitous Jews had news value.
The BBC story ends,
The file does not make it clear how seriously the government took the claim that Israel also may have aided the hijackers.
And, in the great tradition of Yellow Journalism everywhere, neither does the BBC.
Fabio P.Barbieri:
Just because the ruling classes in London took something seriously, it does not mean that it is worth so much as pissing on.
A point you might want to raise with the editors of such anti-Israeli media as the Jerusalem Post and the Daily Telegraph, who also devoted space to this newly-released document….
…and whose headlines gave it a tad more credence than the BBC, as I pointed out above.
http://www.haloscan.com/comments/patrickcrozier/7732521461450178885/?dt=1180974429#358240
And so the reality is revealed. Hillhunt has made some very good counter-points to some of the stuff that is posted here. So, how does a right-wing website deal with criticism? Well, it bans them of course. You talk the talk about free speech and then shut down opposition. You are to blogs what Iran is to democracy. Congratulations on reaching an unprecendented level of hypocrisy.
how does a right-wing website deal with criticism?
I don’t know, I’ve always voted Labour.
How did it go in Rostock?
Did you throw lots of bricks for peace?
Is that you wearing a black hoodie?
http://drinksoakedtrotsforwar.blogspot.com/2007/06/hoodie-manufacturers-profits-up.html
Korova
Before you drown in your own self righteousness … most here object to the BBC trivialising oppression and human rights violations by having their correspondants file this
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6213854.stm
WHEN THE REALITY IS THIS
http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=11309
http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=11307
or this
http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=11268
watch the videos
Well done bijan. In case you didn’t know korova’s first appearence here was to brow-beat everybody into signing a petition against stoning in Iran. One of his long list of feel-good campaigns, like freeing Australian terrorists and boycotting ASDA.
What a maroon!
To date:
…
2. A full IDF style welcome is promised by disillusioned german.
3. Biodegraded is threatening violence so startling that it’ll keep the dentist busy for some time afterwards
4. Horse & Hound offers a horsehwipping and the attentions of a pack of dogs.
And in which direction did this incivility manifest itself?
hillhunt | 04.06.07 – 12:32 pm
Have you never asked yourself why you elicite such reactions?
I’m sure if you behaved as you do here in your local pub you’d be dead by now. But as your round-the-clock presence here would indicate, you don’t have a life.
korova | Homepage | 04.06.07 – 1:07 pm |
HMMM, Hillhunt not banned, Korova not banned, no one has even suggested JR should be banned.
Let`s have a look at your wondrous musings shall we?
“Now, if you might excuse me, I’m off to have a wank.”
korova | Homepage | 29.05.07 – 5:00 pm |
To quote the famous anarchist “What devastating repartee” – Wrick, Britain.
here corova see if you can finf this on the BBC website
http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/images/pali_ceasefire2_nov2806.jpg&imgrefurl=http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/lll_media_bias/index.html&h=312&w=460&sz=87&hl=en&start=6&um=1&tbnid=lvC019iyzhU3gM:&tbnh=87&tbnw=128&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcaroline%2Bglick%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN
Biodegraded:
Have you never asked yourself why you elicite such reactions?
No idea why a self-selecting gang of Israel obsessives, libertarian fantasists and Millennialist Global War on Islam armchair commandos should react so badly, no.
korovo
“how does a right-wing website deal with criticism?”
Its about the bias of the BBC, not right or left wing.
Do you always talk such b@l@x?
I always vote and have never voted conservative or for any right wing parties.
I am not alone on the site in this.
Others posting here are conservative or right wing, so what?
Its about BBC bias not political affiliations.
You just dont get it do you?
Judging by your posts you just want to stir it when you really should try hillhunt’s advice, if the crap fits wear it!
BaggieJ:
“how does a right-wing website deal with criticism?”
Its about the bias of the BBC, not right or left wing.
Do you always talk such b@l@x?
As it happens, I don’t think this is an issue of left v right.
But I’d be hard-pressed to find a B-BBC voice on here who sounds even remotely sympathetic to the tenets of socialism. Wouldn’t you?
You talk the talk about free speech and then shut down opposition. You are to blogs what Iran is to democracy. Congratulations on reaching an unprecendented level of hypocrisy.
korova | 04.06.07 – 1:07 pm
You have a very strange idea of free speech, and hypocrisy:
http://maskofanarchy.blogspot.com/2007/06/rctv-why-it-was-right-to-close-it-down.html
Hillhunt
Since even new labour are not socialist and anyway this blog is not about political allegiance why would that bother you?
If it does you need to go to another blog and discuss politics.
This blog is about bbc bias (or even the lack of it), not who is right wing or who is socialist, unless it is with specific reference to the BBC’s political allegiances and reporting.
Oh dear. HH: we’ve tried to explain – all those socialists who believe the BBC are biased in favour of the US, Israel, anti-immigration groups and the Conservative party are working (ever so slowly) on getting their own site together. Don’t hold your breath…
Baggie J:
Since even new labour are not socialist and anyway this blog is not about political allegiance why would that bother you?
It doesn’t. As I said a few minutes ago.
As it happens, I don’t think this is an issue of left v right.
On the other hand, Korova got a good verbal kicking for suggesting that this was a right-wing website. Seemed reasonable to address that issue.
Whether the political view of the B-BBC regulars is right-wing is irrelevant. But Korova simply stated the obvious – that these threads have a strong right-wing flavour. Why get so antsy over that point?
Biased BBC. As we say. Not as we do.
Biased BBC – there is no ‘we’, you still struggle with that one don’t you…
korova’s reading skills (or lack thereof) can be found here:
http://maskofanarchy.blogspot.com/2007/06/biased-bbc-attack-alan-johnston.html
Yes, despite the ongoing suffering of the Johnston family, Powell had this to say:
In fact it is not behond [sic] the witts [sic] or political affiliations of Mr Johnson to have staged his own kiddnapping [sic] with Hamas in the first place. An opinion that I will hold untill [sic] I see evidence to indicate otherwise. Like serious torture marks or his dislocated head on a Hamas plate.
Yes, you did not read that last line wrong, Powell wants to see Johnston’s head on a plate.
Despite Powell NOT saying that korova (presumably having read it more than once) thinks he has. It is this type of obtuseness that explains a lot of the juvenile-left rantings.
An outpouring of socialist compassion, empathy and moral equivalence on the “legacy of the 197 war” HYS:
http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?threadID=6444&&edition=2&ttl=20070604145948
Added: Monday, 4 June, 2007, 09:34 GMT 10:34 UK
The legacy of the war is a cycle of tiresome hatred on both sides. To be honest I am sick of the lot of them as neither one is better or worse than the other. I just wish they would all just go away and stop us from having to hear the lot of them moaning about something that they could all have fixed years and years ago by living together like normal people and not like a pack of rabid beasts. Do us all a favour and disappear please!
Nicole, Ldn, UK
Note also the sidebar on korova’s blog. Quotes hyper-linked to Biased BBC even when they were not made at that site. More intellectual dishonesty from the left.
“legacy of the 197 war” should be 1967 war, naturlament
Quotes hyper-linked to Biased BBC even when they were not made at that site. More intellectual dishonesty from the left.
Anonymous | 04.06.07 – 3:12 pm
I’ve already voiced my doubts as to whether those quotes (on korova’s comment pages) were even made by readers of B-BBC.
Put nothing past those who throw bricks for peace and wear black.
Sorry to disappoint you Bio, but they were. All the ISP’s originate from here. Anway, what are you blithering on about with your ‘bricks for peace’ routine?
’You will be pleased to hear I will not be trolling here again. But I will keep reading with interest to see if you actually move towards a more balanced approach and become less of an extremist fringe and more of a rational voice of opposition to the BBC. ‘
korova | Homepage | 31.05.07 – 10:33 am |
And Then
’Congratulations on reaching an unprecendented level of hypocrisy.’
korova | Homepage | 04.06.07 – 1:07 pm | #
Kept his word then.
.
All the ISP’s originate from here.
korova | 04.06.07 – 3:19 pm |
Can you substantiate that?
..and while you’re at it Bio, can you tell me more about the radio station that was closed in Venezuela? Didn’t see much in the media about that one.
Anway, what are you blithering on about with your ‘bricks for peace’ routine?
korova | 04.06.07 – 3:19 pm
http://www.haloscan.com/comments/patrickcrozier/3253162701720140571/#347848
I welcome you throwing bricks at the next WTO meeting. Instead, you will be tutting at home with your capitalist buddies at the impertinance of some up-starts voicing their opposition to your established order.
korova | Homepage | 07.05.07 – 2:49 pm
..and while you’re at it Bio, can you tell me more about the radio station that was closed in Venezuela? Didn’t see much in the media about that one.
korova | 04.06.07 – 3:24 pm
So it was a TV station and not a radio, a lapsus on my part. My point stands; you are a hypocrite – you clearly back Chavez’s curbs on freedom of speech.
Nope, still don’t get that bricks for peace routine?? Oh yes, hang on a minute I remember now…..it was in reference to some claim that this blog does not represent the establishment. I made the point if it was so anti-establishment I am looking forward to seeing you out throwing bricks at the establishment you seek to protect. I didn’t actually suggest that I would take that action myself. Still, ‘facts’ eh? They can be tricky, right?
[deleted]korova | 04.06.07 – 3:27 pm
Publishing identifiable personal information is a infringement of privacy laws and maybe be punishable under UK law.
Natalie, please delete said IP address in korova’s post.
http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:uM1_Ijmm6f4J:dcs.ics.forth.gr/Activities/papers/2006.CMS.trace-anonymization.pdf+publishing+IP+address+illegal&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=11&client=safari
http://groups.google.com/group/blogger-help-publishing/browse_thread/thread/f72e8d9e8b920ac5/9c9469996ee7d921?lnk=raot
[I haven’t a clue what this was all about. But everyone seems agreed these numbers should be deleted. So they have been.]
Edited By Siteowner
korkova’s two best friends having a kiss & a cuddle
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/09/19/wchirac19.xml
i think i need to throw up
I worry.
One biased account smacks of carelessness, but the hundreds of biased accounts drawn to our attention on this site smacks of more than that. What are the chances that delibrate editorial DECISIONS are being made to promote the Arab/Muslim cause? Perhaps this stream of misreporting is not just BBC sloppiness or even a soft-left/liberal agenda being mindlessly followed, but a genuine CAMPAIGN?
I’m not a comspiracy kook, honest! But I have read that in the 1970s there were 35,000 people in the media, colleges, universities and the trade unions in the pay of the East German Stasi. Is this happening again? Is there a NEWSROOM WITHIN A NEWSROOM at the BBC?
God, I hope not.
Anonymous:
Quoting garypowell and Korova
In fact it is not behond [sic] the witts [sic] or political affiliations of Mr Johnson to have staged his own kiddnapping [sic] with Hamas in the first place. An opinion that I will hold untill [sic] I see evidence to indicate otherwise. Like serious torture marks or his dislocated head on a Hamas plate.
Yes, you did not read that last line wrong, Powell wants to see Johnston’s head on a plate.
Despite Powell NOT saying that korova (presumably having read it more than once) thinks he has. It is this type of obtuseness that explains a lot of the juvenile-left rantings.
The delightful Gary did clearly say that only serious torture marks would convince him that Johnston’s kidnap had been real.
There’s been a strange silence from B-BBCers on this touchy point.
Just how much torture would B-BBCers expect Johnston to bear before he’d be taken seriously as a kidnap victim?
korkova’s two best friends having a kiss & a cuddle
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/…9/ wchirac19.xml
i think i need to throw up
bijan daneshmand | 04.06.07 – 3:48 pm
Both raving antisemites:
http://hurryupharry.bloghouse.net/archives/2007/02/27/chavez_and_antisemitism.php
Korkova
You claim to be against the constant abuse of human rights by the Islamic Republic Regieme
So korkova how do you explain the
BBC TRIVIALISING THIS
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2007/05/my-god-theyre-beating-their-women-to.html
BY ISSUING FATUOUS REPORTS LIKE THIS
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world…ast/ 6213854.stm
AS PART OF THIS
http://hnn.us/blogs/entries/39167.html
Despite what Hillhunt & Korkova would like you to believe this site is still driven by individuals that are disgusted with the biased and shoddy jounalism of the BBC especially when it covers the United States, Israel, Islam, the Middle East, Capitalism and a half dozen other of its politicaly inspired pet issues.
I am not the first to have noted that even Al Jazeera’s English language coverage of these issues is far more balanced …
http://www.haloscan.com/comments/patrickcrozier/2959682555847920330/#358393
korova,
I suggest you email the site owners and ask them nicely to delete your comment that includes an IP address, here’s why:
Leaking IP address information is illegal in UK
See also:
http://forum.forumer.com/showthread.php?t=13487
Sorry, that was just a random set of numbers I posted earlier. I have no objections to it being deleted.
Sorry, that was just a random set of numbers I posted earlier.
korova | Homepage | 04.06.07 – 4:37 pm
You are a liar.
Put your “random set of numbers” in here:
http://www.internautas.org/w-iplocaliza.html
email the site owners and ask them to delete it or find a lawyer.
Sorry, that was just a random set of numbers I posted earlier.
korova | Homepage | 04.06.07 – 4:37 pm
That is outragous.
Bio – I’m a relative novice with the internet. I take it that this individual has posted your location.
I meant korova should ask the site owners to delete the post containing an IP address, or korova should find a lawyer.
Bio – I’m a relative novice with the internet. I take it that this individual has posted your location.
TPO | 04.06.07 – 4:46 pm
Yes indeed!
http://www.haloscan.com/comments/patrickcrozier/7732521461450178885/?a=18794#358394
http://www.haloscan.com/comments/patrickcrozier/7732521461450178885/?a=18794#358411
TPO | 03.06.07 – 9:00 pm
Just got back to see the discussion going on about the Israeli ‘connivance’ in the Entebbe hijacking (I prefer air piracy).
Can’t elaborate tonight but it is total tosh. Will give an insight into FCO workings tomorrow (and a little about multinational company involvement – but no names).
Trust me – it’s total tosh.
Since when, not a peep. I do hope you haven’t suddenly received one of those ever-so-politely-threatening letters reminding pensioners of their responsibilities, TPO.
Okay • let me start the ball rolling.
It is total tosh.
What isn’t total tosh is that mysterious hands were behind the Entebbe air piracy.
They weren’t Israeli; they were Soviet.
It all started at 26 Kutuzovsky Prospekt when, over a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label, Mikhail Suslov and Yuri Andropov came up with the scheme of manipulating international terrorism through a special department of the KGB.
In 1970 • on Andropov’s instructions • the KGB recruited one Wadi Haddad (AKA- Abu Hani) • a Lebanon-based Palestinian Christian from Safed, who was a leading member of the PFLP.
Wadi went on to lead the head-banging tendency within the PFLP, organized hi-jacks (oops…acts of air piracy) and lent his house to Leila Khaled • which almost killed her, but that’s another story. Wadi worked closely with Carlos the Jackal and took the view that killing one Jew far away was worth killing a hundred Israelis.
The Russians didn’t want to risk working with him directly, so outsourced his handling to the East Germans (though why they should have thought this would fool anyone, I can’t imagine).
Wadi’s East German friends were also instrumental in sponsoring the Revolutionaren Zellen (…sorry still can’t find umlauts on this keyboard). They introduced Bonni Bose and the bimbo Brigitte.
The rest is history.
All this was well known to the SIS, the FO (or at least to anyone who’d been through Shemlan.) And to an earlier generation of BBC staff, MOST of whom have retired.
So what’s interesting about yer man Colvin’s memo isn’t so much the tosh • as the absence of any Soviet reference.
TPO • any theories?
John Reith | 04.06.07 – 4:58 pm
Very, very interesting JR. It begs the question why has the BBC not covered that angle (Pally terror supported by the nasty Ruskies) or the Mufti of Jerusalem’s well known friendship with Adolf Hitler, instead of the usual “Pally terror is a logical and understandable result of Israeli occupation”?
This week that marks the anniversary of the Six Day War would be a good opportunity to set the record straight – for example a history of the “Palestinian People” prior to 1967.
What? You mean there wasn’t a “Palestinian People”?
You mean that Gaza was part of Egypt and the West Bank was part of Jordan?
Why who’d a thunkit?
Actually, Mossad killed Elvis
It’s true – a guy in a pub said so.
That little Zahara gonna be the new Naomi Campbell in a hot minute…I just hope she stays grounded…She’s adorable.
Actually, Mossad killed Elvis
Barry | 04.06.07 – 5:09 pm
That’s just more Arab disinformation!
Elvis was Jewish!
http://www.pallorium.com/ARTICLES/art25.html
http://www.elvispresleynews.com/JewishElvis.html
http://amuseum.org/jahf/nomination/elvis_article.html
TPO • any theories?
John Reith | 04.06.07 – 4:58 pm |
You’re pre-empting me jr.
As I said on another thread I’m running out of time again.
have been compiling it today but had difficulty in getting into the National Archive (won’t let me research)
Haven’t managed to digest fully what you said above but would tend to broadly agree with what you’ve put.
will post either tonight or early tomorrow. But don’t expect names (Colvin excepted) especially the multi-nationals (absolute no-no)
All this was well known to the SIS, the FO (or at least to anyone who’d been through Shemlan.) And to an earlier generation of BBC staff, MOST of whom have retired.
Ah those were the days. Very interesting JR – but I couldn’t possibly comment. But I can help with the umlauts. Just type auml – preceded by an & and followed by a semi-colon – and hey presto – ä
ä
That’s brilliant….thanks.
Biodegradable – for what it is worth I have emailed Natalie and it appears that the IP number has been removed. I know you probably don’t believe me, but I did not realise that Haloscan prints full IP addresses of that it is so easy to use the IP address to discover locations. As I use Haloscan, I will be emailing them to ask that, like Site Meter, they do not print the full IP address. I do not like the idea of it being so readily available.
So, once again, apologies for my stupidity in publishing an IP address on this forum.
IP addresses of that it is so easy to use the IP address to discover locations
should read ‘or’.