Well, it’s just too good an opportunity to miss, isn’t it? Israeli troops brutally murdering innocent Palestinians – hold the front page. The thing is that until an IDF investigation has concluded, this is mere anonymous speculation. If it is proven true, the IDF will deal with those found guilty. If it turns out to be as specious as much other media driven hostility towards Israel, then can we expect the BBC to report that with as much enthusiasm as they drool over this? Further, the BBC headline implies this abuse of peace-loving Gazans as a fact, it is nothing of the sort, it is an allegation.
BURYING ISRAEL.
Bookmark the permalink.
The BBC publishes hearsay and rumour, unproven speculation on a regular basis is stock in trade for the comrades, the only proviso being that it must support the BBCs own prejudice and narrative.
No corrections will be offered when/if the stories are found to be false, the BBC doesnt do retractions on its evidence lite propaganda does it? As long as the lies go out, the BBC dont care, everything the BBC does has a political purpose now, they run riot and unchecked by a sabotaged and castrated oversight organisation now run would you believe by ex labour and ex BBC propagandists, the BBC is a law unto itself with its very own socio-political agenda and long term plan, they are in fact evil and this evil empire is funded by the very people it despises most, how ironic!
I bet it turns out to be the same heartless bastards who bombed that Gaza school….er, hold on….
BBC website: 18.49pm
MOST POPULAR STORIES NOW
SHARED READ WATCHED/LISTENED
French unions claim 3m on street
Israel troops admit Gaza abuses
Should ski helmets be compulsory?
Google’s pictures of UK go live
Israel troops admit Gaza abuses
Twice the hate message. Twice the impact.
Did anyone hear the BBC Radio 4 programme this morning focusing on how oppressed Israeli Arabs are?
The BBC like to focus endlessly on Israel, don’t they. So little else goes on in the world, so why not?
Or do they just have a problem with Jews?
The BBC loves to kick them every which way.
when was there last a demo outside the hq of this evil organisation? Im getting seriously pissed off and would love to Have my say fecking lol.
“I am not Jewish but”…By RUPERT MURDOCH
“IN THE WEST, we are used to thinking that Israel cannot survive without the help of Europe and the United States. Tonight I say to you: Maybe we should start wondering whether we in Europe and the United States can survive if we allow the terrorists to succeed in Israel.
In the end, the Israeli people are fighting the same enemy we are: cold-blooded killers who reject peace, who reject freedom and who rule by the suicide vest, the car bomb and the human shield.
Against such an enemy, I will not second-guess the decisions of a free Israel defending her citizens. And I would ask all those who support peace and freedom to do the same”.
More.. The Jerusalem Post.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1237392665709&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
.
Israel troops admit Gaza abuses
Not a scare quote in sight.
Why does the BBC not interview people like Nonie Darwish?:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25212480-7583,00.html
Then maybe the BBC would start to get somewhere near the truth.
Because he speaks the truth.
That will never do in A proper Beeboyd “analysis”
Kevin
The chances of the BBC interviewing Nonie Garwash are a little below zero.
The wider question is – why doesn’t the BBC employ honest journalists.
On Iraq, for example, we have had several years of far better reporting on what is actually happening from independents like Michael Yon or Michael Totten than we have had from the entire BBC farrago. It started with Rageeh Omah, and went downhill from then on.
On the BBC’s reporting on the Palestine question – words fail me. I am an old geezer now, not Jewish, not with close Jewish friends – just a bloke in Sarf London, but I have fellow-feeling with the Jewish people and state who are forever being lied about by the BBC. The more the BBC carries on the biased reporting – bias by omission and commission – the less I trust anything the BBC says on world issues.
Ian Infidel
That article by Rupert Murdoch is so, so true.
With his huge media empire, Murdoch is better-informed and briefed than most prime ministers and presidents. His judgment on Gaza is worth more than the views of any number of BBC appatchiks. He has no personal or religious involvement – he just has experience and judgment.
To us Aussies, Murdoch is a “tall poppy” – we love knocking them. (And in my own small case I had some legal trouble with Sky TV on a metter in which Murdoch was directly involved. I had no option, in the end, but to sue them – if only to force the buggers to deal with the issue.)
But all of that is nothing compared to the truth – “truth’s a chiel that winnae die”. And Murdoch on Gaza rings entirely true.
I posted this:
http://www.haloscan.com/comments/patrickcrozier/4151451762026371221/#456394
On the general thread, only to be followed by:
Anonymous:
you don’t think the IDF did it then Sue?
Anonymous | 19.03.09 – 9:57 pm
I said “I think Aussie dave has it right” This is what he said.
“1. I would like to wait until after the IDF’s investigation before passing judgment. It is the least I can do considering the IDF defends my country and protects the lives of me and my family.
2. At least the IDF conducts investigations when accusations like this are made. That seems pretty moral to me.
3. I am uncomfortable with the enthusiasm with which Ha’aretz in particular is pursuing this. I said uncomfortable, not surprised.
4. I am also uncomfortable with this becoming public knowledge before an investigation has been conducted and the findings released. If any of this turns out to be fabrication, it won’t matter. This is going to cause a huge amount of damage to Israel’s image.
5. The IDF still has a track record in being highly moral, and indeed tried to spare the lives of civilians during Operation Cast Lead through actions such as the dropping of leaflets and attempted pinpoint strikes.
6. If an IDF investigation finds that these accusations are true and without the presence of any mitigating factors, I unequivocally condemn the actions in question and sincerely hope that the IDF implements appropriate measures to ensure they don’t happen again.
By the way, I think other pro-Israeli bloggers who have aspirations to do more than preach to the choir are shooting themselves in the foot if they ignore this news item. It is important to tackle this issue and admit that mistakes have been made if the IDF findings conclude this.”
Obviously Anonymous couldn’t be bothered to ‘scroll down to 3.30’ or why would he have made his comment.
Whether or not I think the “IDF did it” is neither here nor there. There may be some truth in it even though people are saying some of the evidence is heresay. But although I sincerely hope it hasn’t happened, if it has, we should be allowed to ask how does it compare with other wars, and the conduct of other soldiers?
Now go to Harry’s Place for the antidote, testimony from another Israeli soldier.
“One story the media isn’t telling,[……] how much resentment the Hamas policy of using Palestinians as human shields causes among Gaza civilians.”
http://www.hurryupharry.org/
It been over two months now.
Such an argument would be true in January, but why now?
How much of the truth is the Beeboyds on the gaza ground burying?
Even with the Beeboyd/Hamas newsservice hype,immediately post -war, fascinating traces of apathy or even anger was descernable amongst the Gazans. No Hizbollah type blood n bic razor demos, nothing. The bloody Gazan people are letting the side down, message wise. The Beeboyd hive leaders must be faintly tut tutting.
you don’t think the IDF did it then Sue?
Anonymous | 19.03.09 – 9:57 pm | #
I did my basic training and then served 14 years in the IDF reserves. There was not one time that we did anything that was likely to bring us into contact with Palestinians that one of the officers would not come before we left base and instruct us on rules of engagement: when to fire and when not to fire. We heard it so many times we could recite the rules by heart.
Can I say with absolute certainty the accusations are false? Of course not. I wasn’t there.
Can I say that the IDF are a disciplined army and that every soldier is well aware of the rules of engagement? Definitely.
I once attended a lecture given by the ICRC and discovered their proposed rules of engagement are actually less strict than the IDF’s. In other words a soldier obeying the Red Cross’s proposed changes to the Hague Conventions would be more likely to shoot than an Israeli soldier obeying the IDF’s rules.
Hamas rules would of course be easier to remember. there is only one: SHOOT!
So I don’t think the IDF did it or there were circumstances the complainant was unaware of at the time.
You’d think that just reporting these allegations would provide the BBC with satisfaction enough. Is it really necessary to add gratuitous digs such as
‘Israel frequently claims to possess the most moral army in the world.’
Or to belittle Israel’s right to defend itself against constant rocket attacks thusly
‘The stated aim was to curb rocket and mortar fire by militants from Gaza [surely they mean Hamas?]’
Considering the way the piece as a whole is written, I’d be willing to believe the quotes from the soldiers have been juiced up as well.
War dehumanises you, and the Israeli military isn’t really trained for civilian operations, it’s trained first and foremost to attack and kill/destroy all possible and potential obstacles standing in the way of its particular objectives.
When the Brits used the paras in places like Cyprus and Northern Ireland it was a social and political disaster, and the damage took years/decades to unravel.
This is a kind of oxymoron for the BBC, since it’s publicising the killing of civilians by the IDF, and therefore holding them up to be better than that.
The reality on the ground is that both sides kill each other pretty indiscriminately.
If the Israeli military shows up near your Gazan village…you don’t exactly hang about to watch.
The reality on the ground is that both sides kill each other pretty indiscriminately
ady
if that were true far more Palestinians would be dead.
The IDF could have killed vastly more civilians than they did.
There is just a hint of sacrificial goat about all of this!!!
deegee | 20.03.09 – 12:21 am
A colleague who has family in Israel says that quite a bit has changed in terms of discipline/professionalism/ethos in the IDF since large numbers of Russians who haven’t been brought up in Israeli culture long were recruited.
He says many have the mindset of the Russian street mafias back where they came from.
Do you think there is much to this?
quite a bit has changed in terms of discipline/professionalism/ethos in the IDF since large numbers of Russians who haven’t been brought up in Israeli culture long were recruited.
Tom | 20.03.09 – 3:05 pm |
A bit of a libel on the Russians don’t you think?
The major emigration from the former Soviet Union took place in the decade 1990-1999. Most of the 18yr old conscripts have experienced at least 9yrs of Israeli education. Long enough to absorb the ethos. In any case the original Ha’aretz article IDF in Gaza: Killing civilians, vandalism, and lax rules of engagement made no suggestion the ‘culprits’ were Russian.
the mindset of the Russian street mafias back where they came from.
The two incidents mentioned both implied the problem came from the officers not the men. IDF officer training is strict. I don’t think too many Mafia people make it through.
While I don’t doubt some criminals made it to Israel I haven’t met any of them. For what it’s worth Israel’s crime scene (again not from personal experience) seems dominated by North Africans who arrived in the 1950s. The vast majority of Russians seem middle class, determined to succeed by hard work and push their children to higher education. Not street people.
If there has been a change in the IDF it has come from the decline of Socialist Kibbutzim as a source of both officers and combat soldiers in the elite regiments and their replacement by what is known as the national orthodox (dati leumi). The so-called ‘Left’ who always thought of themselves as the standard bearers of ‘Israeliness’ are clearly not pleased but I haven’t heard anyone claim that led to a problem of discipline/professionalism/ethos in the IDF.
Analysis: The crucial morality of the IDF’s cause
Who puts a conscientious objector in charge of a pre-military preparatory course? Israel.
As usual, Melanie Phillips carries an excellent link:-
http://www.tomgrossmedia.com/mideastdispatches/archives/001019.html
“Now, it turns out that Chris Gunness, the UNWRA spokesman who went on several different international TV networks in January to accuse Israel of “war crimes” on account of the supposed school incident, is in fact a former BBC journalist and a close colleague of the BBC’s notoriously anti-Israel Chief Jerusalem Correspondent Jeremy Bowen.”