Quite a few instances of deranged BBC bias today. Consider this dross from BBC correspondent Wyre Davies. You see it seems that the Israeli government has moved so far to the right that it is incapable of bringing peace. It’s all the fault of the Russians, apparently. Yes, the BBC have finally found some Russians that they don’t like – and they’re Jewish, of course. Quite a few mentions of the word fascism thrown around in this report – the BBC has no shame in trying to label the people who suffered the most grievous loss of life in the 20th century to fascism as fascists. There is a clear editorialising towards the end of this item that Israel is growing increasingly intolerant and extreme. If ONLY it would move left, dismantle itself, and just jump in the sea. A spiteful item even by BBC base standards.
ISRAEL – FASCIST CENTRAL
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What exactly was the point of the Wyre Davies piece ? It certainly wasn’t news. Presumably just another piece of leftist dribble from Haraatz.
I wait and wait to hear something from the BBC along the lines of Caroline Glick’s columns in the J Post. And wait and wait.
Is Wyre trying to out-do Bowen ?
Left and Right are meaningless terms of abuse. They have even less meaning in Israel where the ‘establishment’ unlike in most countries, comes from the ‘Left’.
I have frequently heard from Western olim (immigrants) that when they were at home they were supporters of the Labour Party, Socialist or Democrats but when they came to Israel, without changing their positions one millimetre, they are suddenly labelled ‘Rightists’.
The Russians not surprisingly take a position diametrically opposed to that of the former Soviet Union and see, not unreasonably, the Sobols and boycotters as fellow travellers of despised Communism.
There are many reasons why Israel has taken the domestic political path it has. Few of them are directly related to the Arabs but to accuse Israel of fascism is simply an instinctive reaction to the increasing irrelevance of the accusers. It is an exact counterpart of accusing America of a drift to Fascism because they (the people in a free vote) rejected Obama. That’s not fascism. That’s democracy.
John
I agree with what you put. It looks like the BBC is gloating over a possible schism in Israeli society. However to clarify David’s point – the accusations of fascism come from left-wing Israelis rather than than Davies. Still it’s a blatant piece of left-wing bias.
I agree. I thought Wyre’s report was totally unsuitable for the Today audience. For an Israeli audience *arguably* it might have had some relevance, but for people with little grasp of the broader picture it amounted to a load of misleading negative and emotive language with malicious intent.
Note the way Wyre pronounces “settlement” as though he can hardly bear to utter such a foul word. At least there was some acknowledgement that there are ‘left’ and ‘right’ wing factions in Israeli society. He says “this is arguably the most open and democratic society in the middle east.” Arguably? Argumentative, maybe – but surely not ‘arguably’.
This report isn’t spiteful. It’s just biased, ill-informed and full of amateurish analysis.
You don’t get a quality service by throwing lots of money at unaccountable public employees. State schools and the the NHS are the best examples. The BBC’s news department is not an exception to this rule.
My feeling is that Wyre Davies surrounds himself with what would be called ‘extreme Left’ Israelis when he socialises with them at all. This seems to be the BBC standard. Arabs, employed by the Palestinians and Jews so far outside the mainstream as to be almost off the map. Bowen definitely did (does?).
The Jewish group has many similarities with the British equivalent in the SWP. They ignore their minuscule and dropping share of the vote and declare themselves to be the majority.
I too found this bit of shallow agitprop appalling even by BBC standards.
It naturally told us how dreadful and “fascist” Israelis are (especially those sub-human Russkies!), but failed to give any context at all. No expanation as to why this electoral and political change has taken place. As if Hamas and Iran and AQ and the Fatah terrorists have nothing at all to do with the way Israelis think and behave.
Which is odd, because whenever any lunatic Islamist decides to murder their neighbours//sisters/mosque worshippers/Christians/donkeys/homosexuals etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc, all we get from the stinking BBC is apologetic context.
This Jew hatred of the BBC really is extraordinary. I just don’t get it.
As if Hamas and Iran and AQ and the Fatah terrorists have nothing at all to do with the way Israelis think and behave.
They have a great deal to do with with Israeli refusal to make tangible concessions, such as freezing development in return for nothing more than a promise to come to the table. However, it is a typical BBC conceptual error to imagine that Israel is defined or defines itself by the conflict*.
Israel in 2010 is very different place to Israel in 1948. The demographics and economic situation have changed enormously. The North African influx which brought the Likud to power in 1977; the Russian and Ethiopian immigrations; the smaller but important American/English speaking immigrations; the decline of agriculture that in part brought down the Kibbutz bastions of the Left; the relative downturn of the Histadrut (trade union movement) and the separation of the unions from the Labour party; the rise of hi-tech and consumerism all played their part. In addition a series of ineffectual leaders; internal Labour politics, splits and failures to recruit young members helped to bring down the Labour/Left. The rise of the religious parties also played a part. The final straw was the rise of parties, particularly Kadima that took over the role of the default opposition drove in the last nail.
Even if the Oslo Agreements and the complete withdrawal from Gaza had not been complete failures, the ‘Left’ would have been struggling.
*That is not to say the reverse is not true, Palestinians having no history can only define themselves by the conflict. If they don’t they have to define themselves as part of an Arab or Muslim larger group which would lose them support as a national liberation struggle.
INBBC: misses the truth still on Islamic persecution of Christian Copts in Egypt.
1.) ‘Jihadwatch’ report:
“Misunderstanders of Islam torch Christian homes in southern Egypt”
2.) INBBC and J. Leyne’s comparatively empty report. Whose houses were burnt down, Mr. Leyne? And which religious group did the burning down? INBBC Political watchwords: ‘don’t blame Islam’?
“Homes burnt in southern Egypt Muslim-Christian violence”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11768330
For INBBC’s Mr. Leyne, who, though based in Cairo, seems to miss a lot of what’s happening to the Christian Copts, at the hands of the Muslim majority:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/br0nc0s/managed-mt/mt-search.cgi?search=Egypt+christian+copts&IncludeBlogs=1&limit=20
More half truths from Wyre Davies:
Israel approves pullout from Lebanon border village
Israel and Lebanon are still technically at war and earlier this year, just a few miles from Ghajar, Israeli and Lebanese soldiers were killed in a gun battle.
Eh, what “gun battle”?
He must mean that incident in which the Lebanese, under the watchful eye of the UN blue helmets, murdered an Israeli officer.
Davies then finishes with some wishful thinking:
But with an international frontier running through the middle of the village, Israel could soon be facing its enemies from Hezbollah and the regular Lebanese army on the other side of main street, our correspondent says.
Israel: Damned if it does. Damned if it doesn’t.
An interesting analysis. How do you think the BBC stacks up?
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/11/is_washington_post_coverage_of.html
Has the BBC’s reporting on Israel contributed to the demonization of Israel? Check.