It occurred to me that we could have a permanent thread called `Israel-Bashing for the day.’ But it would soon fill up and cause congestion.
You know the one about paranoia? “Just because I’m paranoid, it doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get me” That one. Well it must go down well in Israel, because everyone will be aware that Israelis have good reason to always be on their mettle. They’re in a state of war with some very hostile neighbours don’t you know.
Some people don’t seem able to understand that. They think any signs of suspicion or discrimination against the Arab population in Israel is racist, while similar behaviour the other way round is understandable and legitimate.
On the Sunday Programme this morning an English lady reform rabbi was given a slot to complain about a controversial demand that some of her Israeli counterparts have made recently. Their idea is that Israelis must not rent properties to Arabs. Many Israelis including PM Netanyahu have denounced this idea, but our rabbi still needed to air the view, apparently shared by many diaspora Jews, that such racism reflects badly on themselves. She managed to include comparisons with apartheid, and 1930s Germany, and neither she nor her interviewer mentioned the openly and proudly proclaimed announcement by Arab leaders to the effect that no Jew will ever be allowed to set foot in the new Palestinian state.
There are quite a few ‘AsaJews’ around these days who have the knack of publicising their criticisms and denouncements of Israel, seemingly having swallowed the BBC’s version of the situation hook line and sinker.
One of the things this English lady rabbi was bothered about was that because of Israel her Muslim neighbours might hate her for being a Jew. Lady, many of them would hate you for that no matter what Israel decided to do, and if this is indeed anything like the 1930s, let’s hope you never have good reason to call on Israel, if it still exists, as a safe haven.
I digress. There’s nothing wrong with these views being aired on the radio. I welcome them in fact. But please, let’s have some counterbalance. If the presenters of these programmes don’t know how to do it, and they obviously don’t, they must know a man (or a lady) who can.
That was Israel-Bashing for The Day.
“One of the things this English lady rabbi was bothered about was that because of Israel her Muslim neighbours might hate her for being a Jew.”
Unbelievable. Doesn’t this silly liberal realise that many Muslims are always going to hate her simply because she isn’t a Muslim?
what angers many israeli hating Israel liberals is simply that israel has defended itself form islamisation for sixty years whereas britain has indeed caved in and is ready for the picking
sorry
What angers many israeli hating british jewish and non jewish liberals is simply that israel has defended itself from islamisation for sixty years whereas britain has indeed caved in and is ready for the taking.
This article was mentioned by RGH on the thread above. As this sort of incident is not unique I thought it was worth pointing out that it is one of the reasons Israelis need to be on their mettle. It might not justify the edict about not renting property to Arabs, but it goes some way to explaining what led to it.
Did the programme manage to mention Palestinian Chairman Abbas’s statement pre the resumption of peace talks that:
“I will never allow a single Israeli to live among us on Palestinian land,”
Oddly the BBC seem totally uninterested when the head of the Palestinian Authority makes a statement that affects the whole of the Palestinian Territories and all Israelis, why?
Sue, an interesting little foot note to the reporting.
Since this morning the news channels have correctly attributed US citizenship to the poor woman murdered west of Jerusalem, but the BBC placed the nationality in inverted commas.
This evening the story was updated, clearly it is on-going. Thank goodness the surviving woman seems to be out of immediate danger.
Right at the end of the piece, out of nowhere, a non-sequitor:
“Speaking to the Haaretz newspaper, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said: “She did not know who they were, or what the reason for the attack was. We are examining whether this is a nationalistic stabbing, but other leads are being examined as well.”
Initially, Israeli police described the dead woman as a British citizen.
Entirely new information tacked on long after the American citizenship of Ms Logan was quite clearly established.
I commented on the treatment of ‘American Tourist’ this morning.
Now this footnote out of the blue.
Hmmmm!
On BBC News 24, the anchor woman was interviewing the Jerusalem correspondent. (I think) She kept on asking if he would agree that the woman’s injuries were surprisingly trivial under the circumstances. I have no idea what she was getting at. Surely she wasn’t implying that the victim was exaggerating, or hiding something?
A most peculiar line of questioning I thought.
I did not hear the liberal lady rabbi. But she seems from your accounts just like all the people from abroad we used to hate when I lived in Israel. They have no right to criticise until they go there, serve in the army, pay taxes, raise their children, run a business,vote in elections, etc. Apart from all that they just give fodder to the liberal loons at al-beeb.
Yes, Melanie and several other people have written about this phenomenon, particularly after Mick Davis’s recent outburst.
P.S. It’s not so much just their views that gets me. They can have whatever views they like. What I do object to is the continual promotion of them without the counter balancing view, which is impossible while most broadcasters, and consequently the majority of the public, are kept in ignorance of the historical background, and the current situation.
The desperate attempts to keep all discussion of the West’s problem with Islam within a ridiculous PC framework lest someone should be upset, provoked, or turned into the object of a phobia can only prolong this state of affairs.
Sorry for digressing Sue, but you might like to have a read of this.
So Israel was telling the truth about the number of Hamas fighters killed during Operation Cast Lead, and Hamas was lying. Hamas interior minister Fathi Hamad let the cat out of the bag last month, according to Haaretz. The Huffington Post is well aware of it, so why not the BBC?
Which means that the Goldstone report got it wrong when it accused Israel of targeting civilians and the BBC’s formulaic (& ghoulish) body count – appearing in article after article after article after article after article (“Palestinians and human rights groups say more than 1,400 Gazans were killed but Israel puts the figure at 1,166. Thirteen Israelis, including three civilians, were killed“) – needs updating to reflect the new situation, maybe something along the lines of…
“Palestinians and human rights groups say more than 1,400 Gazans were killed but Israel puts the figure at 1,166. An estimated 700 Hamas fighters were killed. Thirteen Israelis, including three civilians, were also killed.”
So Israel did hit Hamas hard, as they claimed, and the civilian casualities claimed by Hamas were massively exaggerated. All contrary to what the BBC was reporting at the time and ever since.
In the light of this new evidence, Jeremy Bowen says “zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz”.
(The only mentions of Fathi Hamad on the BBC News website relate to his sick daughter being flown to Jordan for medical treatment – a chance to blame Israel’s blockade – and an article from 2006 about Hamas launching a new TV station.)
Why isn’t the BBC reporting this?
Sorry again Sue, you spotted this story a month ago!
Keep up, lad! 😉
Even when there is no doubt that the dead were combatants the BBC clouds the issue.
Israeli air strike kills five in Gaza Strip
An Israeli air strike has killed five people in the Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian sources and the Israeli military.
The article makes it quite clear. That is, both the Palestinians and the Israelis admit it that they were combatants. Yet the impression of both the headline and first paragraph of the article and the connecting link (illustrated) is that Israel was indiscriminately targeting innocents. For many, that is as far as they will read.