You know when there’s a well-established mantra that’s invariably used to batter one’s adversary over the head with?
A notion that’s repeated over and over till thoroughly incorporated into the narrative, to be produced reflexively each time a certain something sets it off?
Well, when that thing is suddenly exposed as a bit of a myth, but the adversary doesn’t wish to concede or make friends, so they continue beating you with a new stick as though nothing has changed?
I’m talking, of course, about the accusation that follows the slightest mention of Israel; namely that Israel’s blockade has driven residents of Gaza to a state of malnutrition and starvation.
Ed Stourton seamlessly shifts the emphasis thus in his recent reports from Gaza on R4 Today and From our Own Correspondent. Which brings me to Alan Johnston. Reminiscing nostalgically, he says in his introduction :
“In the years when I was a correspondent in the Gaza Strip there was always one steady bleak trend; life there always got harder and harder, and for most Gazans that continues to be true.” (But not for all, as Ed will attest.)
“A major reason for this is Israel’s economic blockade. The Israelis say it’s aimed at weakening the Hamas movement, which controls the strip.”(They’re just saying that)
“ For years Hamas has launched rockets from Gaza targeting homes, schools and offices in nearby Israeli towns, and Hamas doesn’t only oppose Israel’s continuing occupation of the Palestinian territories, it also talks of ultimately seeking the destruction of Israel itself.”
( Hurry that past the listeners and they might think Israel still occupies Gaza and won’t notice the other bit) “So the blockade goes on, and Ed Stourton has been looking at the everyday impact it has on the streets of Gaza.”
Ed Stourton:
“The shops in Gaza City centre are so well stocked that the abundance is almost indecent!” […] “All of this in a place that is supposed to be on the brink of a humanitarian crisis because of Israel’s economic blockade.”
You said it bud. But although the ‘tunnel economy’ has allowed crooks and thieves to prosper, and cars and camels to be brought in, somehow Israel is to blame for the fact that Hamas won’t let poor people acquire the materials to mend their houses. (Because Israel says they might be used for military purposes.) Well, if the need for washing machines and fridges is greater than the need to repair their houses, whose fault is it that they haven’t bothered to smuggle in a few bags of cement too?
Whose do you think?
So the starvation/malnutrition mantra no longer holds water, and the charge against Israel is cunningly transferred from the original one to the updated crime of forcing them into corruption and profiteering. The prosperity of crooks and thieves, the abundance of which could also be described as indecent, seems somehow to be the fault of Israel.
*********
The blood libel that has been doing the rounds recently might have some foundation after all. Clare Short shouldn’t have antagonized those dastardly Israelis. Parts of her have been harvested and reallocated. Jane Corbin got the face, and Alan Johnston the voice.
How neat, alluding to the blood libel as “organ harvesting,” with its connotation of avarice and greed. Why not use the term as a euphemism for acquisitions of any type, not just stolen body parts. Anything one might gather in, so to speak, such as the groaning shelves of Gaza which are a veritable harvest festival.
<i>“The shops in Gaza City centre are so well stocked that the abundance is almost indecent!”</i>
Well this must be because Palestinian Arabs are self-motivated and hard working. So it is time to shift the large amounts of our money that goes to the Pali Arabs to go somwhere more deserving.
It’s interesting how they studiosly avoid mentioning Israeli help in Haiti that was reported by all major broadcasters
They used to have a transcript of FOOC on the ‘News’ website, but no longer, it seems, and my compt wont play the ‘Alan Johnston’ link above and it’s not in the podcasts so I guess I’ll have to remain in blissful ignorance of what Stourton said. On the plus side, at least I wont have to listen to Johnston’s awful voice as he introduces the piece. He’s sounding more and more like he’s drugged.
FOOC is touted as the programme that allows BBC reporters to voice their feelings and more intimate observations. As such it is always dire, nauseating stuff, steeped in sickly PC.
Good lord. Is Clare Short-On-Brains still alive?
I thought that hatchet-faced Mrs Stalin had departed this mortal coil eons ago.
Oh well.
Do they get the all the water and electricity necessary to run all those washing machines, microwaves, and fridges from Egypt? I forget. No mention of an Egyptian border, either. I mean, if these tunnels are all smuggling goods from Egypt, under which border are they running? And who controls that border?
So once again, the BBC deliberately perpetuates the lie that only Isael is responsible. And it is a lie.
On a positive note, when talking about last year’s Israeli assault on Gaza, Stourton didn’t bring up the BBC’s ghoulish Body Count Narrative.
She is starting to look more like Tony Benn, I would say.
Not only do they look alike, but they’ve also both got hyper-annoying voices. If only those voices could be put to practical use -like developing new mining techniques for example – rather than being wasted on irrational left-wing lost causes.
I’m all in favour of Israel’s restrictions on Gaza – one cannot expect a territory ruled by an enemy quasi-government to receive free and unhindered supplies – but lets not pretend building supplies can be smuggled just like other goods.
Think how much cement there is in a house, how much steel reinforcing in an average building and how bulky and heavy it is. It could never be smuggled through some clandestine tunnels in significant quantities. WE’re not talking small arms or car parts here.
The Gazans must understand that they will not be able to have a normal life as long as they allow Hamas to rule them. They have a choice between continuing hardship under Hamas, or a better life under a reasonable government.
Did anyone see today the legendary Orla Guerin squirming not to mention that the latest Haitian pulled from the rubble had been saved by an Israeli rescue team? (Oh, the irony!)
One of the rescuers was interviewed, without caption. Shame he did not wear a star of David on his uniform (oh, sorry, in that case the clip woud never have been aired…)
Gaza is not ‘groaning with goodies’ but on the other hand it’s not a hell-hole or the world’s bigest prison either. Thankfully the easily proven false claim that it’s ‘the’ or ‘even one-of-the’ world’s most population dense place has been mostly shelved by the BBC.
As with any place with high unemployment, low wages, high transport costs – tunnels double the price of goods, excessive expenditure on armaments and a regime where its followers receive preference some people live a quite comfortable life and others do without. That was largely true before the Israeli/Egyptian blockade although it was the Fatah regime in control rather than Hamas.
The Israeli court has forced the authorities to produce a list of permitted and forbidden products and justify that list within 30 days. Haven’t heard anything about it on the BBC.
@ Biru
It was a French rescue team member that deathshead Guerin was interviewing.
No self -respecting Israeli would let deathshead get within 200 yards of them.
Hopefully Israeli technology has developed portable systems which allows teams to detect the approach of Deathshead and her unwashed beeboid cronies at niight or in adverse weather conditions.
Here’s a classic case of BBC anti-Israel bias. Israel the warmonger, if you believe the BBC version:
Israeli PM plays down minister’s Lebanon war claim
Israel’s prime minister has distanced himself from comments by a member of his cabinet who suggested Israel was heading for a new war with Lebanon.
Israel was “not seeking any conflict” with Lebanon, Benjamin Netanyahu said.
Earlier, Yossi Peled, minister without portfolio and a reserve army general, had said that a repeat of the 2006 war with Lebanon was only a matter of time.
Well yes he did say that, but he also pointed out that it wouldn’t be Israel that started any future conflict, just as it wasn’t Israel that started the last one.
Compare with the JPost report, which includes the full quote:
Minister Yossi Peled: Military conflict with Lebanon is inevitable
“A military conflict with Lebanon is inevitable,” Minister-without-Portfolio Yossi Peled (Likud) assessed on Saturday.
“Without a doubt we are heading for another round (of fighting) in the North. No one knows when, but it’s clear that it will happen. We did not know that the Second Lebanon War was going to break out,” Peled, who is a former OC Northern Command, said at an event in Beersheba.
The BBC again:
The statement came shortly after comments by Mr Peled were broadcast in which the minister said Israel was “heading towards a new confrontation”.
“In my estimation, understanding and knowledge it is almost clear to me that it is a matter of time before there is a military clash in the north,” he said.
Note the missing last part of the quote.
the BBC goes on to inform the masses that…
The 2006 war began when Israel launched air and sea attacks on targets in Lebanon, after Lebanese militant group Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers.
Excuse me BBC!
Hezbollah crossed the border into Israel and kidnapped two Israeli soldiers, and killed eight. Sounds to me that that was the causus bellis and so it was in fact Hezbollah who started the war.
A case of putting the cart before the horse, one of the BBC’s tools for rewriting history.
The BBC disgusts me more each day.
At the same time as the border incursion, Hizbullah launched rocket attacks at Northern population areas. Causus bellis #2 that for some reason is ignored when discussing the war.
According to the BBC all the wars were started by Israel.
I haven’t received any reply whatsoever to my complaint about their report that claimed that the 1948 war “led to the establishment of the State of Israel”.
I pointed out that their version inverts the actual chronology – that the State of Israel was first declared and that the war followed when the Arabs rejected the Jewish state and attacked from all sides.
There are all kinds of quips in Israel about the first name of one Orla Guerin. In Hebrew it means foreskin. Take it away! I leave it to you.
Considering Jewish men don’t have foreskins…
Orla: Superfluous human tissue – dispose of as “biological waste”.
100% Degradable 😀
May also contain traces of nuts
If gave me Clare Short’s transplanted brain, I would sue.
“BBC Watch Report on Bowen’s Gaza coverage” –
“BBC Watch has completed a study evaluating Jeremy Bowen’s coverage last year during Operation Cast Lead. The report can be requested by filling in the form found here. The executive summary states:
1. Of 58 reports by Mr. Bowen, 38 were unbalanced. Of those, a staggering 98% portrayed Israel in a negative light;
2. Of the civilian human interest interviews selected by Mr. Bowen, 82% portrayed Palestinians in a positive light — a remarkable feat when, for most of the conflict, Mr. Bowen complained that he was not allowed into Gaza and so principally only had access to Israelis.
3. Of Mr. Bowen’s 22 diary entries, all posted on the BBC website under the title of “The Bowen Diary,” 20 were unbalanced. All of them portrayed Israel in a negative light.
4. The Bowen Dieary frequently included personal opinion of Mr. Bowen in clear breach of BBC guidelines; . . .
“BBC Watch is submitting a formal complaint. In a significant ruling last spring, the BBC’s highest bodysubstantially upheld CAMERA’s complaint Jeremy Bowen violated the broadcaster’s guidelines that require impartiality and accuracy. See here for a detailed account of that complaint and ruling.”
http://blog.camera.org/archives/2010/01/now_available_bbc_watchs_repor_1.html
BBC relegates reporting of Islamic violence against minorities in Middle East, and concentrates on vilifying Israel.
The BBC is very reluctant to report the persecution of Christian Copts by Muslims in Egypt.
Compared with its daily vilification of Israel, the BBC relegates the persecution of Christians in Egypt, so that the BBC has virtually nothing on the issue from May to December, 2009. It seems that it took a Copts’ protest against the BBC’ bias reporting to get any attention.
And when the BBC does rarely report on this, it is of the fallacious, unthinking, biased nature: ‘both sides are as bad’ stuff.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8478397.stm
To fill a gap in the BBC’s censorship on this, suggest see:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/br0nc0s/managed-mt/mt-search.cgi?search=christian+copts&IncludeBlogs=1&limit=20
Biodegradable – More and more it has become clear that the BBC is pandering to radical Islam.