I was struck by this BBC headline “Rare suicide bombing hits Israel” prominently displayed on its Middle-Eastern news page. Consider the details and then ask yourself if “Rare” is the word you would choose to describe what has happened.
“A suicide bomber has killed a woman in the southern Israeli town of Dimona, the first such attack in over a year. Police said a second suicide attacker was shot dead before he was able to detonate his explosives belt. “We heard a large explosion and people started to run. I saw pieces of flesh flying in the air,” a witness told army radio.
Several point here. Despite what the BBC alleges, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade terror group is an integral part of the Fatah organisation, led by Mahmoud Abbas. So why does the BBC try to distance it from their favourite “man of peace”, the holocaust denier Abbas, by claiming it is some sort of “violent off-shoot”? Next, this is a SAVAGE terrorist attack. The frequency of it is neither here nor there. By suggesting this is a rare event (which it isn’t since Palestinians have carried out many homicide bomber attacks over the years) it is in danger of being seen to try and somehow ameliorate the barbarism and naked hatred that lay behind this outrage. Finally, I note that both Hamas and Fatah get to comment on this, both of them predictably explaining that the bad Jews brought it upon themselves. Curiously, comment from the Israeli government is missing. Fair and balanced????
p.s I also note that the BBC initial report makes no mention of those other people who were injured and traumatised by this vicious act of terrorism. More amelioration?
Update by Natalie:The word “rare” has now been stealth-edited out.
Sorry to digress, but Israel’s fault is that it’s made something of itself. If it were a poor basket-case, do you think we’d hear so much about it? Me neither.
Heron | 05.02.08 – 11:48 am
I’m not so sure…
“Why the bicycle riders?”
Alan you may like to keep these links;
pounce | 05.02.08 – 3:03 am |
Thanks pounce!
B-BBC has now fully documented this “rare” article for posterity.
It is unbelievably Orwellian how BBC can silently edit their article under the same URL and everything goes on as if nothing had happened.
In another organization someone would have to be fired.
JR, SJ – B-BBC ability to predict BBC behavior in advance of events is proof positive that we understand what is going on within BBC better than you two.
Biodegradable’s Ghost:
Alan may like to bookmark this too:
http://www.newssniffer.co.uk/art…/94341/diff/8/ 9
note that there were a couple of early versions that didn’t say “rare”.
Biodegradable’s Ghost | 05.02.08 – 3:08 am |
Thanks!
It seems that some activists within BBC are more eager to break all journalistic norms than others. Quite an internal struggle (a.k.a. Jihad) 🙂
Robin appears to be another muslim plant on this board.
I think he selected the effete name of Robin believing it to be a typical middle class name for the sort of leftie ponces that work at the Beeb.
But Robin, most of the guys that work at the Beeb are called Jeremy, so please get your identity right before you continue your Jew hating rants.
Heron | 05.02.08 – 11:48 am |
Well put. I am sympathetic to that line of thinking myself. It’s just too bad that mindset prevents BBC editors and reporters from considering the consequences of their actions.
I too am with the Mossad, although under double-secret probation. My call sign is Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot. WTF? for short.
David Preiser (USA) | 04.02.08 – 9:21 pm
Me too; Romeo-Oscar-Tango-Foxtrot-Lima, or to the Hillhunts and Robins of this world; Golf-Foxtrot-Yankee
JR, SJ – B-BBC ability to predict BBC behavior in advance of events is proof positive that we understand what is going on within BBC better than you two.
Alan | 05.02.08 – 1:18 pm | #
You only think you do.
Too bad the trolls have come back, they don’t help things.
Israeli deaths:
2005 48
2006 25
2007 13
TOTAL 86
Palestinian deaths:
2005 216
2006 678
2007 396
TOTAL 1290
The Israelis have murdered 15 Palestinians for every Israeli killed.
Robin | 04.02.08 – 6:49 pm
I think you should read this and then revise your script:
Number-crunching the Israel/Palestine conflict
The BBC noted the HRW report but only in these terms:
West ’embraces sham democracies’
Note the omission of that place (not a state yet) that is often claimed by the left to be governed by a terrorist organization that was “democratically elected”.
I find it very strange that of all the information contained in the report the BBC decided to concentrate on that aspect.
Bottom line Robin:
“Hamas’s violent take-over of Gaza killed more Palestinians in just one month than Israel’s did in a year.”
Its not so much what the BBC write but what they ignore. Everyday Gaza send rockets into Israel resulting in casulties yet BBC report this when Israel retaliates as an afterthought near the bottom of the anti Israel report. Terrible BBC reporting will be responsible for Israel acting in the future far stronger than they should
Lemar | 06.02.08 – 6:23 pm
Terrible BBC reporting will be responsible for Israel acting in the future far stronger than they should
I think you overstate your case.
I don’t think either Israel or Hamas give a damn about BBC opinion. Hamas because it thinks of the BBC both as a ‘dhimmi’ organization, largely in the Palestinian/Islamic pocket and alternately (and in contradiction) as a representative of an effete, weak and deliberately ignorant third rate power.
Come to think of it. Israel agrees with Hamas.
For some reason I couldn’t post a reply to the above remarks (most of which I mentally threw into the rubbish bin for the offensive use of personal insults).
I really wondered if I had been prevented from posting (as one person recommended) but my fears seem to be unfounded. So I hope free speech is still allowed here.
Vehement hatred of me and the use of insults really reflects on those who post such rubbish and serves to establish their low mental age.
The few sensible logical posts seem to be buried in the former which makes me think this blog is for extremist Israeli apologists.
The only use that I can see for this blog is as a place for letting off steam and thus protecting that great British Institution, the BBC, and allowing it to continue safely into the future.
Have a nice day.
PS
By the way, what happened to that fine straight talking reporter Orla Guerin? We all miss her a lot.
Robin