Funny how the BBC keeps reporting that Gaza is “amongst the most densely populated places on Earth.” They were at it again this morning. When one considers that the population density of the Palestinian disputed territories is below that of, say The Channel Islands, the Hamas apologists preferred retort is to single out just the Gaza strip and base their argument on its population density. Well it IS indeed quite densely populated but there are over a thousand areas within West Yorkshire, for example, which have much higher levels of population density, as indeed has the little Satan’s Tel Aviv. So, in the interests of fairness, I wonder why BBC in these locations fail to preface ever report with this equally true demographic? Oh, that’s right – it’s about pushing the “Most Oppressed People in the Universe” narrative uber alles. It’s not news anymore, it is propaganda.
THE GAZA MYTHS.
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Killing Their Own
The great tragedy of the Palestinians is that they have been the authors of their own suffering. And so, while Israel may yet succeed in eliminating the threat of Hamas-fired rockets, one question will remain unanswered: Who will save the Palestinians from themselves?
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=61CDF0F5-1D10-4E6F-8289-A0E91EF4F5D5
“Most densely populated etc.”
Tony Blair said it on Today half an hour ago.
Did you mean that?
Sue,
Missed Blair but is was said by a BBC reporter around 7.30am on Today. They all say it – it is the narrative. Snd yet, I repeat, West Yorkshire has higher levels of population density, albeit with fewer terrorists per sq km!
David 10:08
How do you know W. Yorkshire has fewer terrorists per square mile than the Gaza strip ?
Grant,
Guessing 😉
It’s worth noting that there is some dispute about the reported Palestinian population. For example here.
As a sample
Executive Summary: Population statistics and predictions of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) are unreliable. A BESA study that subjects Palestinian demography to rigorous analysis shows that the 2004 Palestinian population of the West Bank and Gaza stood at 2.5 million; not the 3.8 million claimed by the Palestinians. The 1997 PCBS population survey •which has been widely used as the basis for subsequent studies – inflated numbers by including over three hundred thousand Palestinians living abroad and double-counting over two hundred thousand Jerusalem Arabs included in Israel’s population survey. Later PCBS broadcasts echoed the forecasts of the 1997 study, reporting unrealized birth forecasts, including assumptions of mass Palestinian immigration that never occurred, and disregarding significant Palestinian emigration from the territories to Israel and neighboring Arab countries. The resulting PCBS report for 2004 inflated the size of the Arab population in the West Bank and Gaza by over fifty percent. The BESA study and further demographic research indicate that Israeli concerns about demographic pressure from the West Bank and Gaza have been exaggerated.
In balance I’ll note that another census in December 2007 confirms the Palestinian population claim.
I don’t know enough to comment either way.
I am beginning (nah…scratch that. I have long since given up any hope) to despair that any ‘news’ organisation in this country might simply stick to reporting without injecting all sorts of bizarre analysis and opinion that renders anything shared pretty much tainted.
From crafting the carefully-selected images and ‘thoughts’ of various folk (celebs to heart-wrenching civilian victims) that can mean as much or as little as the edit suite can inject, to spinning off on odd constructs as ‘proportionality’… in a shooting war. Or missing the irony of having a hissy fit at not being allowed in certain places because when they are some tend to tell the enemy what’s going on.
Mind you, they are all at it. I think I heard Eammon Holmes on SKY News this morning suggest to a representative of the Israeli people that ‘no one likes you‘.
I have written to ask the basis for the presumption behind this statement, especially on my behalf as I don’t recall being asked, and the station’s views on how appropriate such statements from a news anchor are.
Sadly, having tried the same with my national broadcaster following similar all-inclusive sweeping statements projecting an employee’s personal views onto the nation as a whole, the results have been less than satisfactory.
I want reporting, not opinion. I want fact not claim. And I want balance of reality and not a script according to a narrative.
And if I can’t have that, I really don’t see why I should have to pay for it. SKY at least are now aware that their viewing figures (by one) depend on the reasonableness of their reply.
Peter | Homepage | 06.01.09 – 10:34 am | #
We need no lessons from men like Eamonn “Lardie Boy” Holmes – following generations of child abuse, alongside Omagh and IRA atrocities in Ireland.
Or the fact that the First Republican Premier of Ireland (Eire) de Valera sent a note of condolence to the Nazis when he’d heard that Hitler had died. Or that the chief spymasters for the Nazis were the Irish republicans or the fact that Dublin encouraged it’s people to light the way to guide Nazi bombers to blitz and kill thousands of British people.
Or that the current Irish government has a whole department pumping out anti-Israel propaganda and is the loudest critic of Israel in Europe.
Tony Blair said it on Today half an hour ago
So? Is he a famously honest person?
Peter,
I realised that Al Beeb is a pro-Arab terrorist propaganda machine back in 1982, when their ‘reporter’ ‘reporting’ ‘live’ from Beirut started spouting personal anti-Israel opinions.
I also realised that they have no clue about the difference between reporting and editorial opinion. Or if they have a clue, they are blurring the distinction deliberately.
Either way, Al Beeb does not do serious journalism. It is the Ministry of Truth Broadcasting Unit.
Ricky,
It is interesting that a country with such ‘anti-colonialist credentials’ as Ireland should be so shrilly anti-Israel.
Mind you, the SNP has more antisemites per sq.km. than Gaza, probably.
For those with a strong stomach, I got into a debate here on this prominent Irish site and was struck by the venom, the sheer hatred, that my support for Israel engendered.
ttp://sluggerotoole.com/index.php/weblog/comments/belfast-people-turn-out-today-to-protest-at-what-is-happening-in-gaza/P0/
Some of the gems hurled my way included “The Israelis are the new Nazis.” Charming stuff.
In the final analysis, you cannot engage with closed Jew-hating Hamas loving minds. Alas, Ireland has more than a few. That said, there are some who do see through see the deceptions but the media tends to ignore them.
I find it hard to believe that anywhere has a greater number of Islamic Terrorists than West Yorkshire.
“I heard Eammon Holmes on SKY News this morning suggest to a representative of the Israeli people that ‘no one likes you’.”
Eammon Holmes always comes across to me like a little mammy’s boy. In the same mold as that other child like “presenter” Bill Turnbull on Breakfast Time.
Nearly Oxfordian | 06.01.09 – 12:20 pm |
I thought it was obvious why I mentioned Tony Blair’s statement. (clue) Not because I thought he was a famously honest person.
“I heard Eammon Holmes on SKY News this morning suggest to a representative of the Israeli people that ‘no one likes you’.”
Last night on BBC World News the female anchor told a female Israeli representative at the UN that “nobody believes you when you say there isn’t a humanitarian crisis in Gaza”.
Say what?
“A lie told often enough becomes the truth.”
Lenin
And Goebbels.
I wonder what the population density of Sderot is compared with that of the Gaza Strip?
To be honest, I can’t see why ‘high population density’ is even used as an argument in favour of Hamas. So they breed like rabbits, eat like rabbits (but don’t have the brains to grow vegetables to feed themselves, relying instead on the world’s handouts) – why is that relevant?
Nearly 5:10
I think part of the insinuation is that the population density is “high” because they are being denied land which is rightfully theirs.
I am just going to watch the News at 6 to see when the BBC will start using the word “ghetto”. It can only be a matter of time !
All retaliatory steps taken by Israel are unfair!
Density is also the argument used to discredit all retaliatory action by Israel -the inevitability of civilian casualties dictates violence must be avoided at all costs.
(A poster over on Mel’s blog, Philip Horowitz, has some statistics on density in Gaza.)
Collective punishment is another argument used to discredit any retaliation by Israel whatsoever. Sanctions, checkpoints, ‘apartheid walls,’ and restrictions of any kind, no good because frustration leads ‘inevitably’ to radicalisation.
Collective punishment is also unfair to innocent voters who took advantage of their democratic rights, because they didn’t know what they were letting themselves in for, and anyhow they could understandably now plead innocent on grounds of insanity. So unfair again.
Blockades and restrictions of movement – further unacceptable cruelties.
The existence of Israel itself is an affront – leading to anger and wrath. So unfair.
The only course of action on Israel’s part that would procure guaranteed approval from the rest of the world is to give in, surrender, and check out. Much fairer, surely.
Subservient Jews are acceptable though. Anne Frank, Nina Lugovskaya and Rutka Laskier who died in Auschwitz. Now they’re the ones the BBC likes. Why can’t they all be like that?
Sue 6:28
Great post. Your last line is a classic. Truly for the BBC, the only good Jew is a dead Jew.
All retaliatory steps taken by Israel are unfair!
Of course.
Density is also the argument used to discredit all retaliatory action by Israel -the inevitability of civilian casualties dictates violence must be avoided at all costs
Yes, sorry – I forgot that the BBC is not only antisemitic but also dumb and ignorant. I’ll try not to forget this again.
Wow!
What great comments. I can’t possibly add anything to all that. So refreshing to get away from the media coverage and find sanity amongst the blogging world.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=C_FtkFqFV3o
The interview you wont be seeing on Al Beeb.
Perhaps though the most refreshing thing about this is the fact that once a question is asked the reporter does not interject OR raise their voice in anger because they arent getting the right response.
Regards
Mailman
West Yorkshire has higher levels of population density, albeit with fewer terrorists per sq km!
David Vance | Homepage | 06.01.09 – 10:08 am | #
Obviously never visited Dewsbury then.
The words “densely populated” must surely be referring to the collective IQ of the Palestinians for voting in Hamas.