It seems like only yesterday that I was sitting here having a bitter laugh at the book Bad News From Israel. Actually, it was only yesterday (or the day before.) Anyway, now the authors have brought out the sequel. “More” BNFI.
I’m mentioning this because even Rod Liddle thinks the proposition that the BBC is too pro Israel is a bit far fetched. Some people’s disapproval of Israel and Jews is so fierce that they consider the actual word Israel a personal affront. In that case, no wonder they think the BBC is pro Israel, since its fascination with disseminating the notion of Israel’s criminality means they mention it a fair bit.
Another thing that might inflame such people is sundry sightings of Col Richard Kemp on their screens as he is one of the military experts the BBC consults from time to time over matters military.
He was the military spokesman who went so decisively off message to vouch so authoritatively for the integrity of the IDF in the aftermath of the original Goldstone report into Operation Cast Lead in the full force of the anti Israel furore that ensued.
Here is his eloquent speech at a recent bicom conference in which he not only reiterates his support for the IDF, but very powerfully describes the media’s conspiracy to delegitimise Israel.
Bad News for the ludicrous theory of Greg Philo and Mike Berry, especially as we’re unlikely to see anything like this from Col Kemp on the BBC.
Wars With Words
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Kemp’s speech is excellent. Thanks for that.
The left calls the BBC jew supporters simply because they think that any criticism of Israel should always be at 110%
So when al beeb criticises Israel only a little to the left this is proof of al beeb being in the back pocket of teh juices!
And lets be honest here people…fuck me if the jews own the worlds media, considering how much the worlds media HATES the jews does anyone think that perhaps this is the worst purchase in all of history!!! 🙂
Mailman
Mailman,
Yes.
It is often the case with propagandists that they keep repeating the opposite of the truth and, if they tell a big lie often enough, many people will believe it. Such is the case with some on the Left and the BBC.
Whatever we say and however we complain, the anti-Israel propaganda is working. Here are just two comments form BBC’s comments at end of piece on Netanyahu’s speech to US Congress.
78. Pete Charles
9 Minutes Ago
I keep reading the Palestinians refuse to accept Israel. Which Israel do they refuse to accept. Is it the Israel that is the legally accepted version (pre-1967) or is it the Israel that continues to flout international law and ignore UN resolutions or is the Israel that continues to suppress Palestinians while taking more Palestinian land. Truth is, it is Israel that refuses a Palestinian state.
Comment number 77. David
10 Minutes Ago
Palestine does not exist; it is a series of ghettos controlled by a racist and extreme right wing Zionist Israel. The only real solution which will guarantee peace is a ONE state solution based on a secular and democratic state with all citizens both Jewish and Arab equal voting rights. The Zionist state is very close to the one which persecuted the Jews in Europe to the shame of Israeli Jews.
Of course the BBC don’t actually report Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech they report that ‘Palestinian officials have dismissed Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to the US Congress, saying it will not lead to peace.’. Barack Obama’s speech was reported straight and then the reaction but an Israeli Prime Minister must not be allowed to set any part of the agenda. The BBC are blatantly anti-Israel and they know that they can get away with it.
Jeremy Bowen on Netanyahu’s speech:
No chance of peace for Netanyahu to squander. But there was a choice between making matters worse, or better. He seems to have chosen worse.
Worse for whom? It’s not in Israel’s interest to appease terrorists. But of course, Israel’s interests aren’t Bowen’s concern.
Following your twitter link, I see that Jon Snow has recommended this peculiar Haaretz article. I read it a couple of times and I can’t really see what she’s saying. It looks to me like a combination of Obama-worship and a profoundly delusional denial of Hamas’s raison d’être.
Jon Snow would love it.
Here’s another of the Snow tribe, BBC regular Dan “The History Guy” Snow retweeting the thoughts of Times columnist David Aaronovitch (former BBC producer, occasional 90’s presenter of Newsnight, and the new replacement for off-message Michael Buerk as host of R4’s Moral Maze). Bowen, the Snows, Aaronovitch – all on the same page.
And check out Dan “The History Guy” Snow’s gushing appraisal of the Obama – Marr interview.
I love the bit about ” a secular and democratic state with Jewish and Arab equal voting rights “. Surely he must be referring to Israel ?
Then comparing Israel to Nazi Germany.
These people are , literally, mentally deranged.
Since they have no interest in the facts and the history, it is clearly they who are the new Nazis and I include the BBC in that.
If Benjamin could get Obama out of the USA in order to talk some sense into the States Legislatures, then truly “Mission accomplished”.
Given how the BBC presumably only put in the least favourable bits on its news last night-one can only imagine that he`s a rockstar too in media terms.
Looked to me that the US Congress was ecstatic…lots more standing ovations than Tony maybe?..let them count or go figure!
Yes, a good speech by the colonel. Sometimes one achieves clarity by turning the stuations around. For example, wht would the Turks have done if the Israelis had organised a flotilla to bring “aid” to the Kurds and then savagely beaten Turkish commandos who boarded the ships?
Let’s see: the death toll for a start, would have been far more than nine. And the rest would still be languishing in a Turkish prison with all the ships still in Turkey’s possession.
And the “international community” would naturally have no objections, lefty media, particularly the BBC, would not be bashing Turkey and clamouring for the prisoner’s release and certainly nobody would be giving a damn about the Kurds.
One rule for Israel, another rule for practically everyone else.
TooTrue,
Fair point, except the Turkish analogy is a bit more complicated. Would any Kurds in the Turkish military accept orders to board the Israeli ships, even if they came from Kurdish officers ?
There is a , not terribly funny, story about the Turkish officer who notices that a Kurdish conscript is a very good shot and says to him “you must be a terrorist ” to which the soldier replies “if I were a terrorist, I would be up in the mountains , not down
here “.
Are there any Palestinians in the IDF ?
Ye, it’s an imperfect analogy. Nope, no Palestinians in the IDF but there are some Israeli Arabs and Druze. Israeli Arabs are not obliged to serve in the IDF.
Well, I didn’t know there were Israeli Arabs in the IDF. That is interesting !
This is the best version of the full Netanyahu speech to Congress that I have found – video plus full text. As the link says – epic. Worth a full hearing. (And no teleprompter)
The endless applause by Senators and Representatives suggests to me that Obama is utterly out of step with the real sentiments of most Americans. How I wish that people in Britain could see it as clearly as Netanyahu states it. Bowen says that Netanyahu’s speeches make things worse – what nonsense. It is Obama’s vaciallation and spinelessness and obfuscation – and endless BBC anti-Israel propaganda – that pushes away the chances of a realistic peace. And the chances of a free Palestine going for prosperity rather than the decades of sick hatred of the Jews.
http://www.therightscoop.com/benjamin-netanyahus-epic-speech-before-congress/
Some vital information on Israel’s borders which we are inclined not to get from Islam Not BBC (INBBC):
“What are Israel’s defensible borders?”
(5 min video)
http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com/2011/05/what-are-israels-defensible-borders.html
On the Rod Liddle blog at the Spectator there’s an example of how certain people calculate this pro Israel BBC bias they’re so offended by.
A commenter, ‘Maggie,’ complains (erroneously) that on news24 the BBC devoted more air time to Netanyahu’s US speech than to “the Buckingham Palace speeches by Obama or the Queen,” something she thought was only of interest to 0.5% of the UK population. (Jews)
Rod Liddle, who, unlike Melanie Phillips, does participate in the comments section below his articles, begs to differ both with the assertion that the speech by ‘a foreigner’ got more airtime than the events at Buckingham Palace, and with her evaluation of their relative importance. He also points out that by REPORTING it (his caps) it doesn’t mean the BBC agrees with it.
He concludes: “Man in charge of controversial country receives standing ovation from most powerful state in the world. Good story, no?”
Not that Rod Liddle would make a good ally here at B-BBC. Earlier on he says (of the BBC): “My own view is that these days it is pretty much admirably in the middle, whereas until comparatively recently it seemed to me hostile to israel.”
The people who insist that the BBC is pro Israel regard any reference to Israel as evidence of favouritism unless it is overtly condenmatory. I can see there’s a case for turning that round and asking whether all reporting of Palestinian behaviour should automatically carry a health warning, like ‘Smoking Kills’.
I would be inclined to say, on the whole, it should at least do so more than it does at present, with its mealy-mouthed “Israel regards Hamas as a terrorist organisation.”
(I posted this on the Obama thread too.) I thought some of PM Netanyau’s speech must have had an effect on Pres. Obama. The way he spoke just now in the David Cameron/Obama news conference showed considerably more awareness of Israel’s difficulties than before. No mention of settlements being the obstacle to peace, and an almost sympathetic explanation of the impossibility of negotiating with people whose only reason for being is your elimination.
It was Cameron who let the side down, with his use of the word ‘borders’ instead of the more sensitive term ‘lines,’ demonstrating that he hasn’t done his homework. Presumably he has to think of the Muslim vote.
Here’s an open letter to Liam Fox from Denis MacEoin which is worth reading.
If anyone is as unaware of the case for Israel as Liam Fox must be, it makes you wonder why he even wanted to be thought of as a supporter. Keeping the world in ignorance is the biggest ‘recruiting sergeant’ for the Palestinian cause possible. (That’s why we’re here.)
Thanks for this Sue.
Am proud to say I know Denis-didn`t know he was this lucid and clear about Israel!
Fox is a politician-and he would have been well-meaning,but that`s nowhere near enough when lives are at stake.
As long as the Tonges and the PLO groupies and wannabes infect radical issues, then that Coalition of his won`t be of much use to anyone!
Still ,at least he`ll learn a lot if he reads this letter-I did!
Reactions to Netanyahu’s speech to Congress:
1.) ‘Jihadwatch’ –
“Spencer: Netanyahu Shines in Speech to Congress”
2.) Islam Not BBC (INBBC) -embedded with Hamas in Ramallah –
issues this critical report of Netanyahu’s speech:
“Palestinians say Netanyahu speech will not bring peace” *
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13534775
* On Hamas and ‘peace’:
“‘We are all Terroristinians now'”
http://www.melaniephillips.com/we-are-all-terroristinians-now
This was written by a pro-Palestinian “activist” for pro-Palestinian “activists”.
I’m sure it applies to BBC correspondents too.
Why Your Streets Are Full of Foreigners
[..]
“Palestine is the best-kept secret in the aid industry,” I am told by Emily Williams, an American project manager at a medical NGO. “People need field experience and Palestine sounds cool and dangerous because it can be described as a war zone, but in reality it’s quite safe and has all the comforts that internationals want. Quality of life here is so much higher than somewhere like Afghanistan, but we don’t tell anyone so that we are not replaced or reassigned.”
That quality of life is becoming rapidly more apparent in the “A” areas. In cities like Ramallah and Nablus, expensive restaurants and high-powered financial institutions are common now. Nightlife and entertainment is expanding to cater for international tastes.
At times these tastes sit uneasily with local values. More than once I’ve heard the fear voiced that our influence will damage the traditions of Palestinian society. Most internationals at least attempt to be culturally sensitive, but our differences can be striking. I can only imagine how West Bankers feel to see us breezing over to Jerusalem or even Tel Aviv, but these trips have an allure to visitors from the West, who can be somewhere more like home just half an hour away. In my experience, these guilty pleasures are also popular among young Palestinians with the necessary ID.
It is no coincidence that a rise in the number of international visitors here coincides with economic downturn in the West and a shrinking jobs market. With the proliferation of NGOs, the degrees that were just paper back home entitle us to prominent positions in growth industries.
For media professionals, there is a wealth of material to be uncovered here, along with the experience of working on such a major issue. Palestine has been a reliable source of news stories since the conflict began, and it receives forensic, albeit often misguided, analysis across the world. For Western students, Arabic language skills are becoming increasingly desirable and many English universities now arrange placements in exchange for volunteer work. Throw in a warmer climate, Palestine’s natural wonders and holy sites, lower crime rates, and a preposterously welcoming host population, and it’s little wonder that Bi’lin resembles a model United Nations on a Friday morning.
Yes it’s easy to be cynical about Western influence in Palestine, but no one should doubt the strength of feeling that exists around the world for this threatened land. That’s why the last flotilla to Gaza carried representatives of 40 states. It’s why Viva Palestina has bases in Malaysia, Turkey, Italy, Canada, the United States, and Britain. It’s why hundreds of thousands marched for Gaza in Copenhagen, Istanbul, and London, and why the boycott movement has grown powerful enough to shame and discourage collaboration with Israel. All these are grassroots campaigns with no state support.