A reader has asked me to draw your attention to something that the BBC is unlikely to explain.
A Qassam rocket has landed perilously close to a nursery school in a Kibbutz in the Hof Ashkelon area north of Gaza Strip, injuring a girl and an adult.
Squabbles amongst the leadership of the BBC’s favourite terrorist organisation have led to a new wave of provocative acts against Israel. I refer to escalating missile, mortar and raiding attacks, and what DEBKAfile calls “murderous kidnapping operations inside Israel”.
That, of course, was the widely reported incident in which an American woman was murdered and her companion was injured. Incidentally, on a previous thread, I commented:
“On BBC News 24, the anchor woman was interviewing the Jerusalem correspondent. (I think it was Jon Donnison) 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.”
Having read the report on DEBKAfile, which describes the incident as a botched attempted at a kidnapping, I think I see what she was getting at after all. Of a policy eerily reminiscent of the way our own police play down certain sensitive issues, I quote: “Israeli police officers spoke vaguely about exploring different paths of inquiry and cast implicit aspersions on her testimony.”
Casting implicit aspersions. That’s what the BBC did too, but why? Does Jon Donnison know more than he’s letting on, or what? Where’s Julian Assange when you need him.
According to DEBKAfile, Israelis are acutely aware of, and constrained by, the international outcry – “disproportionate force!” This now affects their response to provocation. At one end of the scale Israeli police play down the severity of incidents. At the other, it was these concerns that led to a policy of deliberately sending their precious soldiers into a war zone on foot rather than striking from the air, something that Col. Kemp pointed out repeatedly after Operation Cast Lead.
From DEBKAfile, another example:
“Monday, Dec. 20, saw not only a 10-mortar barrage from the Gaza Strip, but three Palestinians armed with long knives trying to assault an Israeli soldier at Givat Zeev. They fled when he cocked his sidearm.
The soldier took care not to shoot and injure any of his assailants – and so bring Israeli anti-terrorist authorities a valuable asset for interrogation – because he was afraid of sharing the fate faced by some of his comrades – trial by the military prosecutor and the media for responding with “disproportionate force.”
However, take a look at how the BBC reports this escalation of “tensions”. In an article by Jon Donnison headed “Israeli air strike on Gaza as tensions rise” he concentrates on Israel’s retaliation, and plays down the incidents that provoked it. For example:
“The rockets fired by Palestinian militant groups into Israel rarely cause injury or damage, but they do cause widespread fear.”
The rockets certainly cause widespread fear, but they do cause injury and damage, and I’m sure the militant groups would be delighted if they caused more. They rarely do only because the Israelis have taken the trouble to protect people. The kindergarten is a bomb shelter.
“They are not fired by Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls Gaza, but by smaller militant groups. Nevertheless Israel says Hamas is responsible because it controls the territory.”
“Israel says?” I think most people would say that Hamas does bear responsibility, unless they were trying to defend Hamas. And why “nevertheless?” Is Jon Donnison saying that he doesn’t think Hamas is responsible? By Jove, I think he is!
“The Israeli military says the air strikes were in retaliation for the firing of 13 rockets and mortars at Israel this week.
Israel Radio says the rocket fired by Gaza militants on Tuesday landed near a nursery school. No serious injuries were reported.”
No serious injuries, so that’s okay then.
The article concludes with the return, after a short absence from every single Israel-related BBC web article, of the death toll from Operation Cast Lead, and another statistical comparison of “Palestinian” and Israeli deaths and injuries, courtesy of the UN.
I do realise that the intricacies of power struggles within the Hamas hierarchy are of little interest to the BBC audience, but surely turning the incident upside down in your impartial report is going a bit too far.
If the bbc was at all concerned about the Israelis, they would mention Gilad Shalit from time to time. My thoughts are with him, particularly at this time of the year, and all other Israelis who have been abused and killed by the arabs in palestine.
Excellent as ever, Sue.
Here are the first 6 paragraphs of Donnison’s article (as of BBC timestamp 21 December 07:44) :
Israeli jets have carried out air strikes in the Gaza Strip, injuring at least two Palestinian militants, doctors say.
It follows a strike on Saturday in which which [sic] killed five militants.
This was the deadliest attack since Operation Cast Lead – Israel’s major offensive in Gaza almost two years ago.
BBC Gaza correspondent, Jon Donnison, says there has been a recent rise in tension along the Gaza-Israel border in recent weeks.
Israel says its latest air strikes targeted tunnels, a Hamas training centre and a weapons factory in Gaza.
The rockets fired by Palestinian militant groups into Israel rarely cause injury or damage, but they do cause widespread fear.
Is it me or is that sixth paragraph a non sequitur? He hasn’t even mentioned Palestinian rockets up to this point. He inserts the traditional BBC boilerplate (see Bowen, Sykes etc) about the ineffectiveness of rockets fired at Israel but – and here’s a new twist – he’s done so without reporting that any were fired in the first place. It’s almost as if these BBC Middle East correspondents have preconceived notions about what to write.
To be fair to Donnison he is only quoted within the article. Any generic Israel-hating BBC clone could have written that draft.
“Israel says its latest air strikes targeted tunnels, a Hamas training centre and a weapons factory in Gaza.”
I must admit I do like the double speak which the bBC uses in which to inform the fee paying public just what Israel is getting up to. In this case we only have Israel’s word that they bombed high valve military targets and that in turn alludes that they may actually be bombing schools, hospitals and other soft targets. Which unfortunately after years of bBC bias is what a lot of British people think that Israel is doing.Well seeing as the bBC hasn’t bothered its arse in telling you was actually bombed allow me to inform you:
The IAF strikes on the night between Monday and Tuesday preempted attempts by terrorists to insert terror squads into Israel in the vicinity of Sderot, Ashkelon, the Karni crossing and the Kerem Shalom crossing. The IDF terms this type of tunnel “attack tunnels.” The IAF attacked seven targets – the largest number of targets hit in one night in recent months. One of the tunnels was supposed to allow terrorists into Israel near Netiv HaAsara, and another near Miflasim and Kfar ‘Aza. These could have served for staging attacks against Israeli civilians. The two other tunnels could have served for attacks on IDF soldiers, like the one in which Gilad Shalit was abducted and two soldiers killed, near Kerem Shalom in 2006. Terrorists abducted Shalit through a tunnel into Gaza.The IAF also attacked a smuggling tunnel near Rafiah, a site for manufacturing weapons near Khan Yunes, and a Hamas outpost west of Khan Yunes. Two terrorists were hurt in that attack.All IDF planes returned safely to base and precise hits on target were reported.
Now here’s a little more additional info, as of last month the Israeli Air force inaugurated into service the ‘Small diameter bomb’ This bomb is accurate to within 5 meters. While weighing 250lbs it has the penetrative capability of a 2000lb bomb. While it was primarily designed to allow aircraft to carry more munitions, one side effect of that much smaller weight is less collateral damage. But for the Israel there is an added bonus you see for years now, the IAF has replaced the explosives in its bombs used for urban targets with concrete relying on pure kinetic energy (and a few lumps of concrete) in which to limit the blast radius. So while the bBC waxes lyrical about how Israel goes around bombing urban areas, what they fail to mention is that they have gone well out of their way in which to limit the damage. Unlike their brave Hamas fellows who aim blast rockets at Schools.
“This week Israel announced it was upgrading its tank force along the Gaza border.”
Reading that do you get the impression that Israel is getting ready to invade Gaza or something. I mean Hamas hasn’t any tanks so why would Israel upgrade its tanks force. Which without any further info from the bBC you automatically are led to believe they are placing more tanls on the border.Well here is what the bBC isn’t telling you:
The Israel Defense Forces decided on Sunday that it will begin deploying tanks equipped with an active armour protection system known as Windbreaker to the border area along the Gaza Strip.
And this was because:
Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi revealed on Tuesday that an anti-tank missile was fired more than two weeks ago at an Israeli tank on the Gaza border and penetrated its outer shell. “On December 6, a Kornet rocket was fired for the first time and hit an IDF tank and penetrated its outer shell,” Ashkenazi told the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, saying that the Kornet missile penetrated the tank exterior shell but failed to detonate inside it.- The deployment will begin next month following intelligence assessments that the threat of anti-tank missile attacks in the area is on the rise.
So what the IDF is actually doing is adding a special type of armour called reactive armour which when hit by a missile explodes outwards thus downgrading the effectiveness of the Anti-tank missile. Now seeing as the Main Battle tank for the IDF is already one of the most heavily armoured tanks in the world something must have happened for them to make this move. As the above article stipulates Hamas fired one of the most modern anti-tank missiles in the world at a tank a couple of weeks ago. Something the bBC hasn’t mentioned, neither do they mention that the only country in the region which received the missile (Kornet) Syria has also furnished Hezb-allah with it. That agitation by Syria/Hezb-allah and Iran in Eygpts backyard is one of the main reasons why Eygpt has been party to blocking Gaza these past 3 years. An agitation which while at first sight looks like an attempt to bolster Hamas, is actually targeted at the Egyptian public in which to bolster support for the Muslim Brotherhood.
Again something the bBC doesn’t want you to know.
Further to the above post, I was incorrect in stating that ‘Windbreaker’ was reactive Armour. It is actually the jewish name for the ‘Trophy’ Active protection system which is in a nutshell basically a shotgun fired into an incoming round in which to knock it out. But a lot more complicated. Here is the video on how it works.
“Israeli jets have carried out air strikes in the Gaza Strip, injuring at least two Palestinian militants, doctors say.”…. Israel Radio says the rocket fired by Gaza militants on Tuesday landed near a nursery school. No serious injuries were reported.”
Above the bBC leads with how an Israel strike had injured two terrorists, yet a rocket launched from Gaza injured how many? Well the bBC doesn’t say but it does report there were no serious injuries which most people would presume none. Which is what I initially thought.
Here is what the bBC doesn’t tell you about that rocket which landed near a school:
A Qassam rocket was fired just before 8 A.M. in the direction of an Israeli kibbutz right after the attack. It landed about 20 meters away from a daycare center, leaving four Israelis lightly injured and four in shock. A fifth Israeli, a teenage girl, was injured by shards of broken glass.
Get that while the bBC is more than happy to report on the condition of a couple of terrorists, they leave out that 5 people were injured by the rocket launched from Gaza and that one of them was a girl. Now when a child is injured by the Israeli/UK/US Military the bBC has no problem informing the world a child has been hurt. When Israel targeted an area outside a school the bBC pointed out a school had been hit. Yet when Hamas intentionally (lets be straight here Gaza is how big? And Hamas doesn’t know just which/what/when idiots are up to no good?) targets schools at 8am do you think they might be trying to kill a child? Well the bbC doesn’t think so, or should I say the bBC doesn’t want you to know that its favourite terrorist group is targeting children. I mean that just wouldn’t be cricket would it.
The Israeli military says the air strikes were in retaliation for the firing of 13 rockets and mortars at Israel this week. “
Again the bBC takes the angle that we only have Israel’s word that they bombed Gaza in retaliation for 13 rockets launched into Israel this week and since today is Tuesday, what the bBC should have said is that after 13 rockets were launched against Israel in 1 day, it struck back. However what that selective bit of editing doesn’t mention is that over the past fortnight over 40 rockets have been launched into Israel. 40 is a lot more than 13 and let’s be honest here, where do you draw the line in striking back. You have to admit in anybody’s book allowing another country to attack you for over a fortnight before striking back shows the restraint of a Monk. Problem for Hamas is that Monk is trained to defend himself. Problem for Israel is that when she does strike back, the bBC is there in which to ensure that Israel is vilified for doing so. Which is where Sue’s headline of a ‘topsy turvey tale’ comes in.
Thanks Sue. As unusual more informative than the 3 billion + BBC.
.. and Pounce!
In a more civilised age, under classical International Law, a militia — private or otherwise — launching missiles across an international border at targets in a fellow sovereign nation would be legitimate casus belli to go to war against the “hosting” country and continue until they had satisfaction.
The bBC,their so called defence experts and even when told where to look they still get it wrong
New Gaza war ‘a question of when, not if’
Earlier, Israeli defence officials said tanks fitted with a new missile defence system would be deployed near Gaza. The Israeli-developed active protection system (APS) known as Trophy is designed to destroy missiles like the Russian-made AT-14 Kornet, one of which hit a Merkava Mk3 tank on 6 December.
“Fortunately, it did not explode within the tank. It is a heavy missile that is among the most dangerous that we have seen on this front and was not used even during the Lebanon war,” Israeli Chief-of-Staff Lt-Gen Gabi Ashkenazi told a closed-door parliamentary session on Tuesday
Wow a day after a blog beat the world renowned bBC to the punch over how the IDF will be fitting out its tanks on the Gaza border with an active protection system. They get around to reporting the same facts. But hang on even then they can’t get it right. Have a butchers at the part I’ve underlined in bold. According to the bBCs defense experts this is the first time this heavy missile was used against the IDF I quote:
“It is a heavy missile that is among the most dangerous that we have seen on this front and was not used even during the Lebanon war,” Israeli Chief-of-Staff Lt-Gen Gabi Ashkenazi told a closed-door parliamentary session on Tuesday.”
Really, that’s not how everybody else is reporting what he said:
Israel:
“On December 6, a Kornet anti-tank missile fired for the first time in Gaza hit an IDF tank and penetrated its outer shell. Luckily, the missile did not explode inside the tank. We are talking about a massive missile, one of the most dangerous in the battlefield, which has already been used against the IDF in the Lebanon War.”
China
Australia
Yet again the bBCs so called defense experts get it wrong. But what makes it even worse is they didn’t even have to look the facts up, the gen they quoted had the answer in the speech he gave. Oh and for the bBC wankers who come on this board, Hezb-allah used the Kornet in 2006. But then after singing the praises of Hamas in the above article (And every article going) maybe the bBC wanted to promote the new toy ‘Hamas’ has , as a jew killer.
“The laser-guided missile – which carries 10kg (22lb) of high explosive – penetrated the tank’s armour, but did not injure its crew.”
Actually that isn’t what happened as the general related:
Ashkenazi told the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that the missile penetrated the tank’s outer shell but failed to explode inside it. There were no injuries in the incident.
Now I like the Merkava and I know a bit about it. Like how there have been 4 variants (on 4 now) with a 5th in development. How the Mk3 was found to have a weakness years ago after one was hit by around 7 Anti-tank missiles by Hezb-allh (Hezb-allah uses missile swarm tactics to hit Israeli tanks ) So the IDF retrofitted the MK3 with extra Armour and called it the Mark3 Baz here is a picture see if you can spot the extra and outer shell. Here is what a mark 3 looks like. Notice the missing outer shell.
In other news The Joint Committee for the Defense Budget, headed by MK Shaul Mofaz (Kadima) approved Wednesday the defense budget for 2011-12, according to the framework agreed by the government. Committee chairman, Mofaz, asked the committee members “to support the budget after receiving clarification regarding the ability to exercise their security needs with the given budget from the Defense Ministry and the Finance Ministry.