Please use this thread for comments about the BBC’s current programming and activities. This post will remain at or near the top of the blog – scroll down for new topic-specific posts. N.B. This is not an invitation for general off-topic comments, rants or chit-chat. Thoughtful comments are encouraged. Comments may also be moderated. Any suggestions for stories that you might like covered would be appreciated! It’s your space, use it wisely.
General BBC-related comment thread!
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Martin writes: “The BBC are really piling this crap on about Zimbabwe though. Pathetic.”
What adds a wonderful irony, as I’ve said before, is that Mugabe is a creature of the Left and was lionised by British socialists before he took power.
I wonder how many BBC veterans were formerly Mugabe fanboys?
I worry that the shift in attitude and ideology makes it easier for the BBC to ignore accusations of bias, and dismiss the site as just another right wing echo chamber.
Richy | 23.06.08 – 8:14 am |
I don’t think the BBC gives a toss either way what this blog (or any blog) is saying.
Richy,
I am sorry that my contributions here – which I assume you are referring to – cause you to want to leave. That is not my intent. I only do this in order to stimulate debate. That said, I make no apology for holding robust views on the State Broadcaster and as Jack Bauer indicates, I am sure it could not care less how nuanced, how sophisticated, how agreeable we all are. They have an agenda and so have we. I wish you would stay but the call is yours.
The BBC its pro-taliban reporting from Afghanistan and half the story.
Afghanistan ‘needs’ more troops
Up to 6,000 additional Nato soldiers are needed in Afghanistan if the alliance is to pull out of the country on schedule, a top general has warned. Gen Egon Ramms told German radio the soldiers were needed now if Nato was to hand over responsibility for security to Afghan forces by 2012………… “This is an under-resourced war and it needs more manoeuvre units, it needs more flying machines, it needs more intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance apparatus,” he said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7468526.stm
So the BBC sells the “WE are all doomed” scenario when it comes to their favourite terrorists. Here’s something they aren’t telling you. The Germans are going to send an additional 1000 troops to the country. In fact as of the first of July (next week) they are going to deploy 200 quick reaction troops that will be involved in Full combat duties unlike the rest of the German army there.
France is sending 700 troops as of next year
Germany is sending 6 CH53 which have had digital cockpits fitted
Britain is sending out those 6 CH47 which have sat in a hanger since 2001
So why doesn’t the bBC report the news rather than report what its Islamic masters wants you to hear.
The BBC its pro-taliban reporting from Afghanistan and half the story.
The BBC its pro-taliban reporting from Afghanistan and half the story.
Afghanistan ‘needs’ more troops
Up to 6,000 additional Nato soldiers are needed in Afghanistan if the alliance is to pull out of the country on schedule, a top general has warned. Gen Egon Ramms told German radio the soldiers were needed now if Nato was to hand over responsibility for security to Afghan forces by 2012………… “This is an under-resourced war and it needs more manoeuvre units, it needs more flying machines, it needs more intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance apparatus,” he said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7468526.stm
So the BBC sells the “WE are all doomed” scenario when it comes to their favourite terrorists. Here’s something they aren’t telling you. The Germans are going to send an additional 1000 troops to the country. In fact as of the first of July (next week) they are going to deploy 200 quick reaction troops that will be involved in Full combat duties unlike the rest of the German army there.
France is sending 700 troops as of next year
Germany is sending 6 CH53 which have had digital cockpits fitted
Britain is sending out those 6 CH47 which have sat in a hanger since 2001
So why doesn’t the bBC report the news rather than report what its Islamic masters wants you to hear.
The BBC its pro-taliban reporting from Afghanistan and half the story.
BBC continues lying over the Plame affair.
http://ussneverdock.blogspot.com/2008/06/bush-aides-may-have-broken-law.html
Start the Week with Andrew Marr.
Subjects: Pros and cons of multiculturalism; Race; Nazi Germany and Hitler.
Then:
Eva Figes. Subject: Her New Book. Otherwise known as Nazi Israel and other poisonous opinions from the crazy mixed up Jewish daughter of a bad mother.
Having read Eva Figes book-promoting article in the Sunday Times I wasn’t surprised at the rabidly anti-Israel views she expressed on Start the Week today. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/mainframe.shtml?http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/radio4_aod.shtml?radio4/starttheweek
The subject of her anti Israel polemic is ostensibly the story of the unfortunate Jewish maid Edith who the Figes family abandoned when they left Nazi Germany during the war.
Figes blames her mother’s personality for the family’s uncaring treatment of Edith. Reunited with Edith after the war, the tale recounted is of the miserable treatment endured by Edith as a German Jew, in Israel in 1948.
I understand the book is in fact a vehicle for a vicious attack on present day Israel, so we can add Figes to the long list of anti Zionist Jews the BBC and others refer to in support of their own one sided attitude.
Her comments on 9/11 “The Muslim world stwiking back…” and the murders in the “Gaza stwip” (she has difficulty with ‘r’) were nothing new.
I assume it was the voice of fellow guest Kenan Malik, who intervened, to question some of her outrageous comments.
But one of them I particularly noticed, regarding Israel’s murderousness etc., was “Ordinary people see that on their televisions every day”
Now that is what the media and the BBC has to answer for. That is what we want to expose.
BBC News at 1PM had the wonderful article on “Britishness”. This appeared to be about the BBC going ot a school in London where it was play “spot the white man” and how wonderful diversity is (nothing about actually promoting ENGLISH values of fairness, tolerance etc.)
Then the BBC mentions that Scotland isn’t part of this (now why would that be? The BBC doesn’t tell us) and the Scots tell us they don’t feel British but Scottish.
So what we really find out is that Gordon McBean’s homeland dont’ feel British at all, but we English are reacist bastards if we don’t accept 50 lanugages in our schools.
I also noticed that the Scottish kids were all WHITE but none of those interviewed in the London school were.
I just have two messages.
Firstly to the BBC **** off
To Gordon McBean **** off
Richy: Just another right wing echo chamber?
You seem to believe that polite chat is the most effective way to combat the BBC’s agenda-driven Newspeak. It isn’t, never was, and never will be.
Loathing for the BBC often crosses party lines. Do you really think the BBC will change voluntarily? Good luck with that one. Funding cuts and legislation to axe the licence fee will work; threats of action won’t; ridicule and ostracism may help a bit; but pipe-stem ruminations of the kind you favour, indeed the whole idea that the BBC gives a damn about your tone… well, good luck.
The BBC, a shooting in London and two foreigners.
Man jailed over crossfire death
A man has been jailed for at least 20 years for the murder of a woman caught in a “Wild West” style shoot-out. Magda Pniewska, 26, was shot in the head in New Cross, south London, in October last year. The care assistant was talking on her mobile when she was shot. Her sister in Poland told the Old Bailey she heard Ms Pniewska’s last breath down the phone.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7468903.stm
So while the bBC have gone to great lengths in which to point out the nationality of Magda Pniewska. Does anybody here know the nationality of Armel Gnango?
Sierra Leone is where this murderous black thug came from. Yet the BBC goes out of its way in which to keep this snippet hidden. Tell me again about how wonderful it is to live in a society where criminals cannot be f-ing deported.
The BBC, a shooting in London and two foreigners.
I just came across this:
spEak You’re bRanes
A collection of ignorance, narcissism, stupidity, hypocrisy and bad grammar.
All the comments quoted were found on the BBC “Have Your Say” site. Yes, people really have written them. On purpose as far as I can tell.
Richy is missing the point here.
Biased BBC, (like all other blogs) is largely a vehicle for other ‘links’ to to viewed and analysed.
Also, how well the introductory blog is written and informed is the important thing, and David Vance has a witty, cutting, sarcastic and provocative way of stirring the pot.
Few writers can condense his style of invective in such a short space.
That’s what counts.
Interesting disparity of opinion at the BBC today. This morning I was reading about Amy Winehouse and her problems with emphasema, a disease almost unknown in someone as young as Ms Winehouse. Of course, she smokes, but so do a lot of people and they don’t get emphasema at such a young age. However, this morning the BBC pointed out that Ms Winehouse had been smoking crack cocaine and canabis, which has a stronger correlation to emphasema in the young. As it happens, I was listening to BBC Radio 1 today, 12:45pm news. I expected a lecture to young people everywhere about the evils of smoking cannabis and crack courtesy of the Winehouse story. Was there such a lecture? Not even a sniff of one. Apparently it was all down to that evil tobacco. Still, if I was doing as much coke as the smack heads at Radio 1 then I wouldn’t want to diss my dealers either.
Does anybody here know the nationality of Armel Gnango?
Follow the BBC link. Take a good look at the dumb, insolent, brazen face of Gnango.
It’s the UK’s future staring right back at you. And he’ll be out in less than 10 years. Bet your life on it.
Jack Bauer | Homepage | 23.06.08 – 10:45 am
I don’t think the BBC gives a toss either way what this blog (or any blog) is saying.
They used to, and possibly could again. There was a time when two or three BBC employees regularly engaged in debate here. I still think that there have been a couple of instances where noise here caused a reaction there.
Unfortunately, I also think too many debates with the Beeboids degenerated into an endless stream of personal insults. Even on-topic ripostes contained name-calling and bile. I’ve been guilty of that myself, I know. I was always surprised that David Gregory stayed around as long as he did, considering how nasty some of the insults hurled at him were. JR often gave as good as he got, but I guess got fed up with too many people telling him he was a vicious anti-Semite, having to sift through flame wars with the trolls, and David Vance’s lower percentage of hits.
The flame wars with the trolls, and a couple of commenters spending far too much time on personal insults is probably what made the Beeboids take their leave. I thought for a while that they would check in occasionally and come back when things settled down again. I guess that hasn’t happened.
But I think this blog can have an affect on the BBC in other ways, even if the Beeboids themselves no longer look in. There have been a number of official complaints made by regular commenters here and others which have had results from the BBC, at least on the website. There have even been a couple of instances where an item here caught the attention of others, leading to a much bigger noise which forced a reaction from the BBC. I believe there is mutual support here for that, and that the existence of this blog encourages people to stand up to them. That’s important.
There is still quite a bit of solid evidence of BBC bias being discussed here, and if the sober arguments can stay above the level of invective, the BBC will have to care once again.
“I don’t think the BBC gives a toss either way what this blog (or any blog) is saying.”
Plenty of evidence that the Beeb does pay attention to what is written here, I’ve seen that myself. Certainly more attention than they do to the normal complaints to the BBC that an individual might make over their email complaints system. However, that isn’t really the way they work. They are quite happy to put:-
“David Cameron guilty of child molesting!”
in a first edition but will correct it 8 revisions later to:-
“David Cameron says people guilty of child molesting should get long sentences”
That seems to be the way they work. Put out the most contraversial left-wing NuLabour supporting tripe first and then eventually correct it much later after everyone has read an absorbed the first edition. Which means that not only are they lying, they know they are lying, in order to prop up the present government and promote a whole host of other left-wing causes.
For reasons why they do this, read this:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_hegemony
What skills does Armel Gnango have which make him indispensable to the country? Will he be deported after his prison sentence for murder? can any of the BBC’s collaborators who visit this site answer the first point?
The terrorist arrested in Bristol today is Somalian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/feedarticle/7603715
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/uk/teenager+charged+over+terror+plot/2296657
The BBC spend our money to delete such inconvenient facts:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/7469399.stm
We can expect the BBC to run and publicise ‘The Apprentice’ now with renewed purpose:-
“Sir Alan Sugar lined up to keep out Ken Livingstone”
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-mayor/article-23497869-details/Sir+Alan+Sugar+lined+up+to+keep+out+Ken+Livingstone/article.do
I think posters here should alert people everywhere to this blog, especially through the on-line newspapers. Post the url wherever you can.
There are SO many people out there who increasingly despise the ridiculous BBC – perhaps this blog could become a valuable focus for anti-Beeboid resistance.
I see the BBC is not in favor of turning to nuclear power to get away from fossil fuels. There was just a bit on “Europe Today” about a couple of new nuclear plants the French are building, one of which is in Finland. The Beeboid betrayed a bit of anger in her voice, “That’s not going well, is it? She was encouraging the caller (I couldn’t tell who he was supposed to be, but obviously we’re supposed to think he’s a voice of authority) to be as negative as possible, such as stating that nuclear power will be much more costly than advocates say. She summed it up by saying that the we all really need to wait and watch what happens with these two new plants before we “press the button” and go ahead with more nuclear power.
The BBC position was clear: be very suspicious of nuclear power.
At last a voice of reason allowed through on the BBC about Zimbabwe. They’re doing yet another WHYS on the World Service right now, and naturally, everybody is saying how awful Mugabe is, but nobody can do anything, and Morgan Tsvangirai was right to back off and go into hiding because it would prevent more bloodshed.
They had different voices chiming in, and there always seems to be a reason not to do anything. Only the Zimbabwean woman in the studio (I can’t even begin to spell her name) was really calling for outside action against Mugabe. At one point, she got fed up and said this: “If NATO doesn’t do anything, that is discrimination against Africa.”
Absolutely brilliant, and total silence from the Beeboids in the studio. They don’t like regime change, but the obvious post-colonial guilt which allows Mugabe to continue just cannot be addressed. No heads exploded, but it was a close one.
A man on the phone suggested regime change, and Chloe Tilly didn’t like it.
Basildon Peter and the Zimbabwean guest in the studio both wanted NATO action, but oh does the BBC frown on that.
Even a guest from the country which the BBC wants to lead the charge – South Africa – said that they can’t and won’t do anything because most African countries are run by lousy kleptocrats.
Basically, even thought the BBC position is that we need to sit back and let the Africans take care of it, they just didn’t want to hear what the Africans themselves were saying.
In case there was any doubt about the official BBC position on the matter, when we went to the news break Chloe reminded us of the WHYS questions:
Did Morgan Tsvangirai let down his supporters? Is it an African problem that should be dealt with by African leaders?
QED.
Following on from Sue’s 13:29 comment re Start the Week: Eva Figes is entitled to her views on Israel. What is unpardonable and pathetic is Start the Week choosing her as a guest for pretty obvious reasons: She is a pathalogical Israel basher and she slots in very nicely to the rabid anti-Zionism of the BBC.
She said on the program that Israel is just like the Nazis except for the gas chambers which Israel would not use because ‘they (Israel) would be found out’. Is this woman not deranged?
There were many German jews who fled Germany in the 30s, found a refuge in pre-1948 Israel and carved new lives for themselves. I should know, my family left Germany in 1935 for Palestine. So the story of the maid to the Figes (nee Ungar) is uncommon but serves an ulterior motive. Nobody would care about Eva Figes and her rubbishy book if not for the BBC.
Nobody would care about Eva Figes and her rubbishy book if not for the BBC.
Battersea | 23.06.08 – 6:56 pm |
And, unfortunately, the Sunday Times.
Yes, the Sunday Times too. But La Figes doesn’t make the comment equating Israel to Nazi Germany in the Sunday Times or perhaps the ST edited it out. We don’t know.
I just came across this:
spEak You’re bRanes
A collection of ignorance, narcissism, stupidity, hypocrisy and bad grammar.
All the comments quoted were found on the BBC “Have Your Say” site. Yes, people really have written them. On purpose as far as I can tell.
Biodegradable | 23.06.08 – 1:57 pm | #
Yes, a brilliant site. See, sometimes we see eye to eye.
The BBC, a tale of two refugee groups and those damn jews….
London summit on Jewish refugees
Jewish groups from around the world are meeting in London to highlight the plight of Jews who left their homes in Arab nations after Israel was founded. The conference organisers, Justice for Jews, say they want to ensure the story of Jewish refugees is told, alongside that of Palestinians. The American-based group says around 850,000 Jews lived in Arab nations before Israel was founded in 1948. It says most were forced to flee due to hostility when Israel was created….The BBC’s Arab affairs analyst Magdi Abdelhadi says the subject is highly controversial as the numbers of Jews who left, and the conditions under which they left, are disputed. He says one undisputed fact is that Jews were part of Arab societies for centuries, where they were fully integrated in their societies, until Israel was established. Some left because they were Zionists, others because of growing hostility towards them after the Arab-Israeli wars in 1948 and 1967, and there were also those who were encouraged to leave by the new Israeli state, our analyst adds.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7469745.stm
The Arabs who breed like bloody rabbits insist on referring to everybody born after 1947 who is Palestinian and doesn’t live in Israel as a refugee. Hence the BBC is more than happy to promote this image of millions of refugees.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_1600000/newsid_1606800/1606817.stm
Yet the same number of Jews who were kicked out. Sorry BBC they didn’t just simply leave their homes neither is their figure disputed. of Muslim countries aren’t given the same prominence. Mind you I must admit this BBC revision about how all Jews and Muslims lived peacefully until Israel was born is a full blown whitewash of the truth.
It seems the BBC history archives don’t have anything about the Arab pogroms of 1920/1921/1929/1938 which targeted Jews years before Israel was born. And those dates are just the ones I know off the tip of my tongue.
Yup the bBC lies while jews died.
The BBC, a tale of two refugee groups and those damn jews….
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7459946.stm
They say that McCain was not tortured and that he is is lying at the top and below that they then point out thankfully that Mr Duyet might be being liberal with the truth as Vietnam keeps a tight lid on what can be said. But I just wonder why they said that near the bottom of the article and did not say that just after Mr Duyet says that he was not tortured… It could leave people who skim articles with a doubt that McCain is being truthful.
I see the 10PM BBC 1 news just did a job on McCain. A Vietnam war hero? Well not to the BBC.
They interviewed some vietnam vet who said “how could McCain go along with the war in Iraq and torture?”
Hmm. So McCain is in favour of torture is he BBC?
http://www.tortureisnotus.org/what_it_does.php
This seemed to pass the BBC by. Tortured himself in Vietnam? Well not according to the BBC (who interviewed the man who held him captive – what was he going to say? yes I kicked the shit out of him every day!)
McCain was in favour of the war in Iraq, as were almost all the Democrats. However (unreported by the BBC) was McCain was very critical of the way the war was run AND as he pointed out the surge should have been done much earlier. None of this reported by the BBC.
The BBC report also failed to point out he was given the chance of release by the North Vietnamese as his dad was a senior officer. McCain refused knowing it would be used as propaganda.
Shit reporting BBC. Up to your usual shite standard.
Oh and the BBC had the latest “polls” up for McCain and Obama (with Obama ahead naturally).
WHY DON’T THEY PUT THE POLLS UP HERE THAT SHOW MCBEAN IS A TOTAL BLOODY FAILURE!!!!!
Martin,
Re News at 10
They were also at pains to inform us that the mission he was on was a bombing mission, not something more noble, like a rescue mission.
Then the camp commandant called him a liar bout the torture he suffered.
Then they used a quote from McCain in which he said “speak” when he meant “seek”, what a bumbling old fool he must be.
It was a hatchet job from start to finish.
hushed tones from the sombre faced beeb reporter on news 24 right now…
“the UN is in closed session, discussing the ‘crisis’ in Zimbabwe’
fuck me, give us a break… the news hasnt changed since about 3pm but they still churning out same old bollocks
some ‘expert’ on now saying that only th UN can save the day, as the Brits or the yanks would appear too ‘colonial’… no rebuke or probing from beeb man, as to be expected… sigh
Well, I sent in this complaint about the piece today on the “conference on Jewish Refugees” in London.
Let’s see if they respond.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7469745.stm
With all due respect, the BBC does a story on the international conference on Jewish refugees, does not even see fit to get a direct quote from anyone associated with the conference, including esteemed Churchill biographer and Holocaust historian Sir Martin Gilbert and renowned former justice minister of Canada and international human rights activist Irwin Cotler? In fact, the entire tenor of the article I believe would be strongly challenged by both those gentlemen, as the article itself challenges well-established historical truths, such as the number of Jewish refugees, and it ignores the fact that in several Arab countries, including Libya, most of the Jews were forcibly ejected and their property stolen. Instead, the BBC merely quotes the Arab affairs correspondent and no Jewish or Israeli voices directly, and that correspondent spares no effort in spinning the story to imply that things were not as bad as claimed—he uses HALF the length of the story to claim the “undisputed” fact that Jews were “fully integrated in their societies in Arab countries for centuries” (a patent falsehood easily disputed) then soft-pedals the reasons Jews left a) blaming it on THEM (they were Zionists) , 2) blaming it on Israel for encouraging it and 3) soft-pedalling the fact that the majority were forcibly ejected by using highly euphemistic language (“because of growing hostility towards them after the Arab-Israeli wars) without mentioning who the hostility was coming from and moreover implying that “hostility” was somehow “justified” by the Arab-Israeli wars. Then Abdelhadi rounds out the article with the falsehood that life was grand for Jews under Arab rule for centuries, an absolute patent falsehood. The smallest bit of historical research will show that even Maimonides, who lived during a supposedly golden era between Muslims and Jews, writes of his disgust for the Almohade Muslim rulers who persecuted Jews violently. If one were to ask most Jews from Arab countries living in Israel today whether they would have preferred to stay there, the overwhelming majority would say no. This is an outrageously biased article that is not in the least bit representative of the feelings of the majority of Sephardic Jews regarding the countries from which they came, nor does the article, taken in its totality accurately represent the intent and content of the conference. It reads, instead, overwhelmingly like a political rebuttal to the meaning of the conference. It is the BBC’s right to provide an “opposing point of view”. It is not the BBC’s right to make the overwhelming character of the piece reflect the “opposing point of view.” That is not journalism. It is advocacy. Please correct it immediately.
Please tell me I’m not the only who doesn’t give a toss about Zimbabwe?
They were talking tonight sbout British troops “going in” to Zimbabwe.
I can really see that. If the fat one eyed unwashed jock is that desperate to get his popularity back, what better than to be the saviour of Zimbabwe (just like Teflon was in Kosovo)
Although I think that just like Hitler Broon has lost count of just how many soldiers we really have.
Perhaps he sits (like Hitler) in his McBunker moving fictional regiments around the world?
Allah (peace be upon him) help us!!!
Well done Simon, and pounce for bringing this to our attention. It must be one of the most egregious examples of BBC bias to come our way.
A pro-Palestinian reporter on Jewish refugees from Arab countries, whatever next in the name of balance and impartiality!?
Further info on those “forgotten refugees” not included in the BBC’s version:
Congress adopts first ever Jewish refugees bill
The Forgotten Refugees
Or: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Nz9LPfB2ytM
THE SILENT EXODUS
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/06/24/dl2402.xml
Not the BBC News, not until Israel “breaches the truce”:
Gunmen reportedly fire mortar shell into Israel in breach of truce
Neither does this feature on the BBC website’s Middle East section:
Poll: 77% of Israeli Arabs would rather live in Israel than in any other country in the world
So much for the “apartheid state”, huh?
Much media coverage focuses on the divisions between Jewish and Arab citizens in Israel, and not enough on the sincere and concerted efforts to coexist peacefully, Pittinsky said in a statement.
According to the poll, 68 percent of Jewish citizens support teaching conversational Arabic in Jewish schools to help bring Arab and Jewish citizens together.
The data also showded that more than two-thirds of Israeli Jews (69 percdent) said they believed that contributing to co-existence was a personal responsibility.
“Every day, innovative experiments in coexistence are going on,” Pittinsky said.
“People on the ground in Israel are running community centers that enable cultural exchanges; in bilingual schools?like the Hand in Hand network of schools – young Jewish and Arab children become culturally conversant with each other. These deserve as much attention as rockets and roadblocks. They should be nurtured, studied, funded, and reported in the media. Ultimately the most successful efforts should be launched on a wider scale.”
The study, conducted in Hebrew and Arabic with the assistance of University of Haifa researchers, was funded by the Alan B. Slifka foundation, which has sponsored a number of coexistence projects.
Israeli media:
Mortar fired at Negev despite ceasefire; no injuries
Shell fired by Palestinian in Gaza lands near Israeli community in first breach of agreed upon truce
Shmulik Hadad
Published: 06.24.08, 00:21 / Israel News
A mortar fired by Palestinian gunmen in Gaza Wednesday night landed in Israel’s western Negev region.
The shell landed in an open area in close proximity to a community, but no injuries or damage were reported.
The incident was the first breach of the ceasefire agreement reached between Israel and armed Palestinian groups in the Strip, which went into effect Thursday morning.
The BBC:
Crickets
Chirp-chirp, Chirp-chirp, Chirp-chirp, Chirp-chirp, Chirp-chirp, Chirp-chirp, Chirp-chirp, Chirp-chirp, Chirp-chirp, Chirp-chirp, Chirp-chirp, Chirp-chirp, Chirp-chirp, Chirp-chirp, Chirp-chirp, Chirp-chirp, Chirp-chirp, Chirp-chirp
Biodegradable,
Unfortunately, as far as the BBC is concerned, this doesn’t count. They took care to point out that Hamas leadership said that they were doing a cease fire, and that anyone who tried anything after that was doing it on their own. They have brought it up on several occasions, even making it the featured quote on one of the articles.
This gives the BBC the license to ignore little attacks like this. If they do report on this or another incident, the story will be that this was just the Palestinian Peoples’ Front, or some free agents, or something outside of Hamas’s control. There could be dozens of rockets and a couple of suicide bombers, and until Hamas takes responsibility, it’s just somebody acting independently; Hamas can still be said to be honoring the cease fire. Reporting on this now, or drawing attention to any other attack on Israel, would just add to anti-Hamas sentiment, possibly making them look less favorable than Israel (*gasp*). Can’t have that, can we? The BBC must remain impartial, and not appear to take sides in the conflict.
Of course, Israel won’t wait that long to act, and then we’re back to the traditional BBC narrative: “It all started when Israel hit them back.”
There’s nothing that the BBC admires more than lefty quangos or tranzis or charities busting a gut to tackle ‘climate change’. This morning, BBC1 breakfast (which once was a news programme but is now mostly inane reports about ‘lifestyle’, especially government initiatives to dragoon us into feeling guilty or control us)was crooning over the National Trust’s loony decision to change countless thousands of light bulbs into the ‘energy efficient’ variety. There was no mention whatsoever that many believe that these allegedly ‘green’ objects – foisted on us by a decreee enacted by our real EU government in Brussels – are a pointless, even dangerous waste of time because they produce less effective light, generate a strobing effect, and are much more costly and waseful to produce (see the EU Referendum blog at http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2007/03/light-bulbs-and-eco-fascism.html).
Instead, the BBC ‘reporter’ wet her knickers telling us slavishlly what she had been told by the lefty geeks at the NT – that changing the bulbs would save the carbon dioxide content of 110 hot air balloons. Which is exactly what this report was.
The BBC’s general reporting on Canada is rather light, despite its Commonwealth and diaspara links to UK; perhaps the composition of the BBC reporting staff is more suited to reporting Islamic countries.
Anyway, this BBC report on a ‘Canadian’ is as instructive for what it omits as for what it includes. The BBC report omits: 1.) reference to Islam connection; 2.) reference to London connection. For information on these omissions, suggest see alternative ‘National Post’ report (below).
“Canadian ‘bomb plotter’ on trial”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7470397.stm
“Crown lays out its case against terror suspect Momin Khawaja”
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=608446
As we’re talking about Canada here, the BBC shows remarkably little interest in the ‘free speech’ case re- Mark Steyn and Macleans magazine:
“But we were getting along so well”
http://www.steynonline.com/content/blogcategory/15/100/
Memo for BBC:
More here on significant Canadian trial of Momin Khawaja:
http://blog.americancongressfortruth.com/2008/06/23/canada-opens-khawaja-terrorist-conspiracy-trial-in-ottawa/
While the BBC has this:
“Court rules on Guantanamo inmate”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7470405.stm
– ‘Creeping Sharia’ has this:-
“Taliban ambassador wielded power within Guantanamo”
http://creepingsharia.wordpress.com/2008/06/24/taliban-ambassador-wielded-power-within-guantanamo/#more-682
Anyone noticed how the BBC are persistently referring to Paul Ince as “the first black Premiership manager”? Surely what matters is whether he’s a good manager, not what his skin colour is?
will86. umm, didn’t ruud gullet beat paul ince to that title? Or doesn’t he count?
Of course, Israel won’t wait that long to act, and then we’re back to the traditional BBC narrative: “It all started when Israel hit them back.”
David Preiser (USA) | 24.06.08 – 4:55 am
As we both predicted the mortar attack is nly mentioned in passing in a report on an IDF action in the West Bank:
Israelis kill two in West Bank
Israeli forces have killed two Palestinians in an attack on a university building in the West Bank city of Nablus.
One of those killed was a member of the Islamic Jihad militant group.
Local reports say the other man was a student who was not a militant. The Israeli army said both men were armed.
Those ‘local reports’ again eh?
The Israeli army said the Islamic Jihad member, Tareq Abu Ghali, had been planning a bomb attack and that troops had found weapons and explosives in his rooms.
The official Palestinian news agency said both men had multiple bullet wounds and that one had been shot in the head at close range.
Sheesh! Doesn’t the BBC get any news from Israeli sources?
The violence came as the truce between Israel and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip went into its sixth day.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army said a mortar had been fired from Gaza into Israel late on Monday, about three hours before the Nablus operation.
No group has admitted responsibility for the mortar attack, which caused no casualties, and Israel said it did not consider the strike to be a breach of the Gaza ceasefire.
‘Violence’ – no difference between Israel eliminating a terrorist threat and the terrorists’ actions.
And who exactly is this ‘Israel’ who said ‘it did not consider the strike to be a breach of the Gaza ceasefire’?
I can’t find anybody in the Israeli media who says that.
Gunmen fire mortar shell from Gaza
Palestinian gunmen in the Gaza Strip fired a mortar shell into Israel Tuesday night – the first breach of the cease-fire since it went into effect five days ago.
Truce tense but holding after Gazans fire mortar, IDF kills W. Bank militants
In the first such strike since a cease-fire went into effect in the Gaza Strip last week, Palestinian militants from the coastal territory fired a mortar shell at the western Negev late Monday night. No injuries or damage were caused.
Meanwhile, Israel Defense Forces troops operating in the West Bank city of Nablus killed two Palestinian militants early Tuesday morning.
One of the dead was a senior Islamic Jihad militant, and the other belonged to Hamas.
A member of Hamas, NOT a student as reported by Al-BBC!
The militants were named as 24-year-old Iad Hanfar, of Hamas, and the second as Taker Abu Rali, a senior Islamic Jihad militant.
According to the IDF, Abu Rali was planning an attack on Israel. Troops discovered ammunition, explosives and rifles in his apartment.
In a statement released from the West Bank following the raid, Islamic Jihad said that “the reprisal for this noble blood will be in the depths of the Zionist entity, God willing.”
How can the BBC continue to give credit to Palestinian sources while ignoring the facts as published by the Israeli media?
2 Islamic Jihad men killed in Nablus, truce at risk
Joint IDF, Shin Bet operation to arrest senior commander from Jenin ends with his death. Army says imminent terror attack thwarted. Though ceasefire limited to Gaza, Islamic Jihad has warned attacks on its people in West Bank would bring Qassam reprisals
A senior commander of the Islamic Jihad and an additional gunman belonging to the group were killed in the early hours of Tuesday morning in the West Bank city of Nablus.
The two were killed in an exchange of fire with IDF and Shin Bet forces who had entered the city to arrest several wanted Palestinians.
Troops belonging to the elite Duvdevan unit were operating in the city’s Rafidiyah neighborhood, in pursuit of 25-year-old Tariq Abu Ra’ali from Jenin.
The IDF said Abu Ra’ali, a senior member of the Islamic Jihad in Hebron, has been wanted for a long period of time. He recently fled Jenin to Nablus, where he was spotted.
During the operation Abu Ra’ali barricaded himself in an apartment with another gunman and the two opened fire on the Israeli troops after refusing to turn themselves in.
The two were killed in the ensuing exchange of fire. A sweep of the apartment after the operation revealed several explosives devices, an AK-47 assault rifle, ammunition and other paramilitary equipment.
No casualties were reported amongst the Israeli forces.
Palestinian sources said the two men killed were university students and reported several people were arrested by the IDF during the operation.
On the eve of the ceasefire in Gaza, the Islamic Jihad announced that any operation against its ranks in the West Bank would result in a decisive response from the Strip.
The organization confirmed that Abu Ra’ali was a senior commander in the West Bank and said he had previously escaped five other attempts on his life.
‘Palestinian sources said the two men killed were university students’
Yeah, gotta love those ‘Palestinian students’ who keep AK-47s, explosives, ammunition and other paramilitary equipment in their university rooms!
BioD,
Too funny. And sad. It’s almost not for note.
I think this whole cease-fire issue deserves it’s own thread, so the litany of BBC abuses on the subject can be documented.
David P, note that in that last report the action takes place in an apartment, NOT in the University, and that the two terrorists were given the chance to give themselves up but opted to shoot it out.
Yes, a dedicated thread on this would be good.
No less than seven versions so far!
http://www.newssniffer.co.uk/articles/132029/diff/1/2
Version 1:
The Israeli army said the militant died in an exchange of fire, and that explosive devices and weapons were found in his flat.
But neighbours say the two men died in an explosion.
Version 5:
BBC Gaza correspondent Aleem Maqbool says the deaths are likely to test the Egyptian-brokered truce.
While the West Bank is not covered by this truce, incidents like these have put a strain on similar ceasefires in the past.
Right. Incidents in the West Bank, which is not covered by the ‘truce’ put a strain on the ‘ceasefire’ while mortars fired from Gaza which is covered by the ‘truce’ don’t matter.
Aleem Maqbool, the official Palestinian news agency, neighbors – all sources we can trust, not.