Monthly Archives: August 2010

DEFEATED IN IRAQ

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Anyone else catch THIS disgraceful commentary by Hugh Sykes on the news that the last US combat brigade has left Iraq. Note the sneering contemptuous tone he adopts, note how he mocks the US soldier that dares to suggest they won (Where’s Saddam today, Hugh) and note the clear suggestion that it was all a waste of time – in line with the BBC narrative even before we liberated that wretched country. For years the BBC opposed the notion we would want to remove a terror-enabling mass murderer in the form of Saddam and now that Obama has delivered them the retreat that they want, they put the knife in even deeper. Sykes is not balanced, he is not neutral, his miserable commentary could come straight out of a Guardian editorial.

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No Change

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It could be that the tide is turning in the BBC/Israel conflict.
But one swallow doesn’t a summer make or whatever jumbled up sentence means ‘don’t think one tiddly Panorama signifies light at the end of the tunnel’.

If the BBC was really the pro-Israel outfit that the Israel-haters say it is, they’d hardly approach the subject in the way they’ve consistently done to date.
We don’t know whether it’s ignorance or malevolence, but whatever the cause, the result is the same. If there’s a momentary let-up, as we saw with the aforementioned Panorama, the Israel-haters they’ve created are up in arms expressing outrage. The thing they find particularly upsetting is hearing the Israeli perspective.

That’s it. It’s as if there was a court in which the entire case for the defence was ruled inadmissible, and if any of it leaked, the leaksmith would be deemed almost as guilty as the accused.

The small but perfectly formed ways the BBC sticks the boot in are relentless and cumulative, comprising such things as gratuitous reminders of the body count during Cast Lead, or the new improved variation, the death toll of the nine Turkish peace activists. Either way there are too few Israeli casualties for the BBC’s complete satisfaction.

In this report about the armed Palestinian at the Turkish Embassy in Tel Aviv who was thought to be seeking asylum in Turkey and probably got lumbered with the wrong sort of asylum, the BBC helpfully concluded with this reminder:

“Correspondents say Tuesday’s incident appears to be unrelated to a recent diplomatic dispute between Israel and Turkey.
Ties deteriorated after nine Turks were killed in late May in an Israeli commando raid on a flotilla of aid ships bound for the Gaza Strip.”

Does an incident that involves one Palestinian, suffering from a delusional psychotic episode, combined with a possibly arbitrary connection to Turkey really require such a reminder? Maybe if it was an in-depth analysis, but this wasn’t that.
If the BBC feels it’s essential to attach such reminders to everything relating to Israel, they should equally attach a reminder of the Hamas charter to everything related to Gaza.

What is this headline? Israel ‘to blame’ for child death. Follow the link, and it’s this:

“Israel was responsible for the 2007 death of a 10-year-old Palestinian girl, a court in Jerusalem has ruled.”

So an Israeli court accepted responsibility for the death of a 10 year old girl hit by a rubber bullet, overturning an earlier ruling where there was uncertainty over whether she was hit by a Palestinian protester’s rock. Not exactly ‘Israel to blame for child death’ more ‘Israel accepts responsibility for girl’s death.’ Subtle difference but emotive, and telling.

Last but not least, the BBC article about Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. The BBC is keen to tell us that since 1948 Lebanon has been tolerating their unwanted Palestinians who really belong in Israel, (booo!) and that permission has generously been granted for some of them to actually work, legally, in Lebanon. (Hoorah!)

The BBC is less keen to tell us that many have never been to “Palestine.” They were born in Lebanon, wish to work in Lebanon, and hope to jolly well stay in Lebanon.
Other news organs have quoted Ahmed al- Mehdawi, 45. Why can’t the BBC?
So; one Panorama does not a light at the end of the tunnel make.

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NOT ALL LIB DEMS ARE EQUAL!

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I am far from being a fan of the Coalition government (being way too blue in tooth and claw, so to speak) but you have to give credit where it is due and so the fact that it has hung together for a 100 days and tackled some big issues is commendable. But, obviously, the BBC is not going to happy about any of this. It wanted a coalition but one built on the political left, as we covered in these pages back then, What it got was not what it wanted and so it, like Labour, has gone into opposition mode. That means it will give extra spotlight on those who seek to see the Coalition unravel, be they Conservative, Labour or Lib-Dem. This explains the weight it has given to the warbling of Simon Hughes this morning. It explains the attention given to Ming the Mindless yesterday. The idea is to cause a split within Lib-Dem ranks that can then detonate into the actual Coalition. Labour is the broadcasting arm of Labour. And we fund it.

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MORE OBAMALOVE….

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Anyone catch Mark Mardell’s take on Obama’s latest u-turn on the building of a Mosque at Ground Zero? Note how Mardell lashes “the right” whilst claiming that Obama is “middle of the road”. Also, for good measure, Mardell conjures up images of Islamphobia to make us feel sorry for America’s beseiged Muslims. Is Marky getting a little upset that “The One” is looking more and more like a one term President? Surely not?

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CUBAN HEELS

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Little bit of Obama-love here from Michael Voss which happily also lavishes attention on Castro’s Cuba. No mention of the gross violations of human rights which passes for everyday life in this Communist hell-hole. But hey, never mind that, let’s dance…

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FREE DRUGS?

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I knew that this was one story the BBC would just love. I refer, of course, to the lunatic call from Sir Ian Gilmore for drug use to be de-criminalised. Happily, Dominic Casciani is at hand to explain the difference between decriminalising and legalisation of illegal drugs. The BBC memo is that we cannot win the war on drugs so best divert all that cash to helping drug addicts. Yip – I can see why the BBC likes this one..  

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A DAY WITHOUT THE BBC

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Been away for the past few days and have been mercifully spared BBC coverage. But just back to see the BBC once again pimping Alistair Darling as an economic genius. It seems that as we now live in year zero, Darling has been repackaged as the sensible voice of the economy there to keep that young whippersnapper George Osborne in his place. Meanwhile Derek Simpson was on the news to give us his received wisdom on inflation. Can’t wait for Gordon Brown to return to the scene as the man with the golden economic touch.    

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BBC Eases Blockade on Balance

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At the beginning of the year Jane Corbin made an appalling Panorama about Jerusalem called “A Walk in the Park” which was full of malicious innuendo.
However this time she must have done something right, because this one about the Mavi Marmara incident has antagonised Ken O’Keefe and at least one other Israel-hating blogger. They are convinced that the ‘pro Israel BBC is at it again’. You’d laugh, if it wasn’t so sad.

It was gratifying that this Panorama took Israeli testimony seriously at last, bearing in mind that as far as the BBC’s concerned we’ve been conditioned to be grateful for small mercies.
Jane Corbin’s whole programme lacked context, so you knew that despite being presented with an exceptionally generous airing of the Israeli perspective, most viewers would still be thinking uneasily about the ‘’humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the ‘illegal blockade’ and ‘the Israeli attack occurring in International Waters’.

Panorama could have been more forthcoming about the IHH, and about Ken O’Keefe’s dubious record. They could have said something about the reason for the blockade, and about Hamas’s genocidal ambitions.
But I realise that one programme can’t tackle everything, and learning that there was a pre-planned strategy of violent resistance from the activists, and that the ‘aid’ was symbolic rather than useful might have set some people thinking.

The programme would have been livelier if they’d taken a little look at the media’s response, notably the BBC’s instant reflexive condemnation of Israel. In view of all the emerging evidence, a hindsight examination of the rush to pass judgement would have made compelling viewing.

There was very little in the programme that wasn’t already in the public domain, should anyone have taken the trouble to find out, despite Jeremy Vine’s hyperbole about revelations.

Honest Reporting has linked to the Panorama message board. I haven’t looked at it since this morning, when many comments said it was outrageously biased in favour of the evil Zionist entity. They know it’s evil because the BBC has told them so.

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KICKING A MAN WHEN HE’S DOWN…

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The BBC’s report of the resignation of Lord Pearson of Rannoch as leader of UKIP makes drearily predictable reading. The stress in commentary by Ross Hawkins is totally on what the BBC perceived he did not do well, most notably that he regarded a question about banks as “minutiae”. But what Mr Hawkins fails to mention is that Lord Pearson was by this time deeply frustrated by the BBC’s systematic avoidance during the election campaign of raising anything that would cut across the desire by the three main parties to avoid the EU as an election issue. Note, too, the choice of the picture of Lord Pearson. Not his best side, as they say. The corporation hate UKIP and everything to do with it, so yet again, this is seen as an open goal to knock the enemy.

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