I lost count of how many times during the Egyptian revolution against the Mubarak regime people here pointed out how anti-Israel sentiment was a key issue in the country, and how this was constantly played down by the BBC. I’m sure any worrying here was summarily dismissed by defenders of the indefensible as being typical nonsense from “Israel Firsters” or the inane mewlings of people who see anti-Semitism everywhere à la Jerry Seinfeld’s Uncle Leo.
I’ve also lost count of how many times the BBC has tolerated the notion that Jews anywhere in the world must suffer for their support – or even assumed association – with Israel. We often try to point out the difference between criticism of Israel and demonizing it, and the latter is a problem with BBC reporting. The BBC even censored news of what’s happened to the Jews in Malmö, Sweden, where even the mayor says that whatever happens to them is deserved if they support Israel. The BBC has still never reported any of that. They’ve censored lots of news of violence against Jews in Europe, another example being the story of how the Dutch police had to start a sting operation where cops posed undercover as orthodox Jews as a way to catch the increasing number of people attacking them.
So imagine my surprise when I saw this “From Our Own Correspondent” piece about anti-Jewish sentiment in Egypt. In fact, I was almost as surprised as the BBC’s Thomas Dinham was to see evidence of the rampant anti-Semitism there.
How I was the subject of anti-Semitic abuse in Cairo
Relations between Israel and Egypt have become increasingly strained in recent weeks, and in the Egyptian capital there is a mounting sense of tension, including incidents of anti-Semitism.
Okay, let’s ignore the nonsense about how it’s only a recent thing. Give the poor Beeboid a chance.
Suspicion is a feature of everyday life in Egypt, and a fondness for conspiracy theories is as much a part of the landscape here as the constant traffic jams and their accompanying symphony of blaring car horns.
With the democratic certainties that greeted the immediate aftermath of January’s revolution having faded, however, the climate of mistrust and unease about the hard-won gains of the revolution is becoming increasingly palpable.
As disquiet sets in, so does the fear of foul play, backroom deals and, increasingly, malign foreign influences.
Back on solid ground here. This is the normal way of things in any Arab/Muslim country, as anyone who has spent more than five minutes anywhere in the region would know. To be fair, this kind of magical thinking – believing the most outrageous, quasi-supernatural causes for anything and everything – exists in many parts of the less developed world, from Africa to Asia. So good for Dinham for using those keen journalistic instincts to notice.
Dinham begins to relate his experience of sitting at a restaurant in Cairo, and beginning to notice the suspicious stares of the Egyptian men around him. A conversation soon starts, and he discovers they think he’s an Israeli. He doesn’t take it very well.
I was shocked. In nearly six months of living in Syria, where orchestrated hysteria about Israel is integral to the very identity of the state, I had never heard the accusation surreptitiously levelled against me.
Neither am I from Israel, nor am I Jewish, but as someone of unmistakably European appearance, I have found myself constantly associated with Israel in Egyptian eyes.
Dinham seems to miss the point here. Anti-Israel sentiment is spread in many ways in Egypt, not just by the government. And here it’s time to clearly separate the notion of legitimate criticsm of Israel from demonization. Most of this is demonization, not criticism. There’s the Muslim Brotherhood for a start. In fact, half the anti-Mubarak noise we heard during the protests was about how wrong he was for making peace with Israel. Assad and the Syrian government have never had to worry about that accusation, so there’s much less reason for people in Syria to be fretting over Israel the way Egyptians do, especially now. If he thinks it’s just the government who spread this stuff, he’s seriously out of touch.
So his story continues. A few days after this, a nearby bridge collapses, making a loud noise, and immediately the locals suspect foul play. Like I said, this is to be expected from people with this magical mindset. Dinham now expects it, too. But then he tries to play it down.
Israel is just one of a panoply of worries that exercise the conspiracy theorists that frequent Egypt’s cafes.
The standard fare of political gossip tends to revolve around the trial of [former President Hosni] Mubarak, internal corruption, and the causes behind the dire economic woes Egypt is currently experiencing.
A prosecuting lawyer at Mr Mubarak’s trial even introduced the novel idea that the ex-president had died years ago, and that the man on trial was none other than an impostor.
Again, this is typical of that mindset. The more wild and supernatural the idea, the more it spreads, and the easier it is to use as an explanation for just about anything. So Dinham doesn’t quite get this, and plays down the Israel angle.
I would hazard a guess that Israel struggles to make it into the top-five political issues discussed in Egypt.
“Political issues”. The problem is that the anger towards Israel is anything but simply political. Does he not realize this?
Israel has probably been less of a concern than the rising power of Shia Iran in the region, which apparently worries many in this overwhelmingly Sunni country, partly thanks to a constant stream of stridently sectarian rhetoric broadcast from Saudi Arabia.
Sounds like somebody has spent too much time speaking with the educated elite, and not so much with regular people.
In the Byzantine politics of the region, hearing strident opposition to Israel and its greatest regional foe, from the same person, almost in the same breath, is commonplace.
Again, magical thinking, not rational. This the result not of legitimate criticism of Israel, but of a relentless campaign of demonization, where Israel is the sole instigator, genocidal, always to blame, the root cause of all ills in the region. No surprise to us, but obviously very confusing to Dinham. So he’s been shrugging it off the whole time, staying inside the elite thought bubble. Until now.
Nevertheless, a strong and sometimes violent dislike of Israel is a fact of Egyptian life, something I was unfortunate enough to discover after a cross-border raid by Israel killed several Egyptian security personnel.
The Israelis had been chasing a group of gunmen who had attacked an Israeli bus close to the border between the two countries.
He’s not blaming Israel for starting it, for a change. He’s just saying the event was a catalyst for what was to come, which is probably correct.
While walking in the street someone pushed me from behind with such force that I nearly fell over.
Turning around, I found myself surrounded by five men, one of whom tried to punch me in the face.
Fortunately, Dinham had an intelligent response:
I stopped the attack by pointing out how shameful it was for a Muslim to assault a guest in his country, especially during Ramadan.
I applaud this. It makes a wonderful counterpoint to what I heard on the BBC News Channel back when Muslims in Paksitan Afghanistan started killing people out of anger against the idea that Pastor Jones in Florida was thinking about burning a Koran. At the time, Huw Edwards was speaking with some MCB mouthpiece about the incident, and expressed his concern that the response from the Muslims was less “nuanced” than some would like. The MCB guy said the violence was perfectly understandable because it was the end of Ramadan, and as people had spent the last month deep in prayer and spiritual contemplation that it was only natural that they’d want to kill. I’m not making that up, and we’ve heard that excuse a lot. So it’s nice to see a BBC journalist stating that violence in Ramadan is not acceptable. In any case, Dinham’s enlightenment continues:
Relieved that a seemingly random assault was over, I was appalled by the apology offered by one of my assailants. “Sorry,” he said contritely, offering his hand, “we thought you were a Jew.”
Too bad his colleagues aren’t equally appalled when this happens all over Europe.
Shaking his head in disbelief on hearing the news, an Egyptian friend sympathised: “That’s stupid, you are obviously not a Jew.”
The chilling implication I was left with was that, had I been Jewish, the assault would have apparently been justified.
Congratulations, Thomas Dinham. Welcome to the real world. We’ve only been saying this for years, while the BBC has tolerated it, played it down, and swept it under the rug. Let this be a lesson to all Beeboids. Jews everywhere are expected to suffer because of Israel, and the demonization of Israel is a direct cause of anti-Semitism and violence against Jews worldwide. Not criticism of Israel, mind, but demonization. There’s a difference.
It’s time the BBC was honest about it.
You can welcome this person to the real world, David, but how long is his realism going to last. I suggest for as long as it takes for him to be reunited in the bosom of his bbc brethren. A leopard cannot change its spots. One swallow a spring does not make and mental illness is not cured by one dose of reality.
You may be right, but sometimes those who have had scales ripped from their eyes make the best converts.
But do we know enough about Mr Dinham to judge where he’s coming from? Maybe he’s always viewed the world through spectacles untainted by the rancid evil that pervades so many of his colleagues covering the Middle East?
He wouldn’t be the only one. There are a number who to my ears do not dance to the tune of the Nazi Left under Sturmannfuhrer Bowen. James Reynolds springs to mind as a BBC reporter who does not follow the Islamonazi appeasing, Jew hating herd.
There is no point in expecting the Arab world to ever accept Judaism unless and until Islam becomes open to fearless analysis and interpretation, much as Christianity had to be hundreds of years ago.
The Jews have always known this as far as I know-as a Christian, I do know that the milksops like Williams are as dangerous to a “mature debate” about interfaith dialogue as any Torquemada.
Until Islam wakes up and shakes the ticks off its body, other faiths will not roll over the way that the BBC and the Libleft lickspittles do.
Their craven cringing round the likes of Hamza and Bunglawhalla might enable them all to inhabit their bubble,…but no Jew or Christian will give them an inch…let alone a millimetre.
Will INBBC now report also the continual Muslim persecution of Christians in Egypt (and globally)?
Raymond Ibrahim: Why ‘Christian’ Persecution?
Yeah, Racism is quite OK on the Beeb, as long as it is against Jews, Americans or White English Males.
I was about to post something on this, but I haven’t had time to finish it today.
This is more or less what I was going to say.
This is a strange one. I heard it last night on BBC World Service. “22 yr old freelance journo and Middle East enthusiast” Thomas Dinham in Cairo, under the umbrella of From Our Own Correspondent.
He’s a young chap who may be fresh out of university, but the audio report conveyed a credulousness that the written word does not.
He’s been in Cairo “bloviating” about the hatred for Jews he’s found in Egypt. He knows that antisemitism is a familiar feature of Syrian society, but discovering that it was present in Egypt with equal virulence took him by surprise.
”I was shocked. In nearly six months of living in Syria, where orchestrated hysteria about Israel is integral to the very identity of the state, I had never heard the accusation surreptitiously levelled against me.”
He found being mistaken for a Jew both alarming, and I thought something in his voice hinted he might also have found it a little bit insulting. Not in the written version, but something in the way he said “Neither am I from Israel, nor am I Jewish” made my ears prick up. I am prepared to accept I was imagining it.
He downgrades the problem of hostility to Israel to the bottom of the pile of troubles and tribulations faced by the new Egypt, but understandably, he still didn’t appreciate being mistaken for a Jew. But look how he reported this bit:
“Nevertheless, a strong and sometimes violent dislike of Israel is a fact of Egyptian life, something I was unfortunate enough to discover after a cross-border raid by Israel killed several Egyptian security personnel.
The Israelis had been chasing a group of gunmen who had attacked an Israeli bus close to the border between the two countries”
If he really believes that is a fair and accurate description of what happened, that makes me suspect that he‘s thinking: ‘No wonder the Egyptians hate the Jews. They crossed the border and killed several Egyptian security personnel just because some gunmen had attacked a bus!”
Does he think that the Egyptians’ hatred of Jews is a recent phenomenon, caused, or exacerbated by the incident? Many people, so enamoured with the Arab Spring, feel Mubarak ‘s departure liberated Egyptians who are at last free to let it all hang out. Democratically. They see it as progress.
“The chilling implication I was left with was that, had I been Jewish, the assault would have apparently been justified” he says, near the end. That certainly is chilling, but Thomas, if you were a real reporter you would have been prepared, and you certainly wouldn’t have caught by surprise, specially if you know you look a bit like a Jew.
Errm, Thomas Dinham said he was appalled that the explanation for the physical assault on him was they thought he was a Jew.
Frankly, I think it smacks of Egyptian cafe chair conspiracy theory to see anything in Mr Dinham’s piece other than abhorrence at the anti-Semitism he encountered.
His differentiation between the anti-Semitism rife in Syria and Egypt is that in Egypt, his experience is, its more ‘hands on’.
I know Thomas Dinham said he was “appalled by the apology offered by one of my assailants.” (Shocked at their antisemitism.) However, my feeling was that his surprise was remarkably naive.
Furthermore, the mangled description he gave of the ‘incident’ indicated that he held it partially or wholly responsible for the Egyptians’ anger, and their behaviour, albeit in this case unnecessarily violent and aggressive, was undertandable. And he seemed to be putting Egypt’s hostility towards Israel in some sort of context, “Israel is just one of a panoply of worries that exercise the conspiracy theorists that frequent Egypt’s cafes.”
“I would hazard a guess that Israel struggles to make it into the top-five political issues discussed in Egypt.”
He presented the ‘incident’ as though the Israelis killed ‘several’ (5) Egyptian security personnel for little or no reason (attacking a bus!) and not that the Israelis had been pursuing the killers of ‘several’ (8) Israelis including two children, on Israeli territory, by a group of Palestinians, some of whom were reputedly wearing Egyptian uniforms, or that the whole operation was aided and abetted by Egyptians who had initially turned a blind eye to the incursion.
By the way, comparing my comments with Egyptian cafe-chair conspiracy theory ‘smacks’ of moral equivalence. *DONT_KNOW*
So Errm.
Sue, good point on the “gunmen” and the “bus.” I didn’t pick it up because it fitted into the story flow. Dinham certainly should have mentioned that they killed eight Israelis. That wouldn’t have disrupted the flow. Also, if the BBC hadn’t been so allergic all these years to the ‘T’ word, Dinham would probably have used it instead of gunmen.
I don’t agree that there was anything special about the way he said he is neither an Israeli nor a Jew.
I have an idea he knows quite a bit of Arabic. I doubt the conversation in the restaurant took place in English and he spent six months in Syria. Also, one would have to have some grasp of the language to catch what the old man murmured to his friend.
As an aside, the “barely discernible” bit threw me. You can’t “discern” audio.
Too True,
“I don’t agree that there was anything special about the way he said he is neither an Israeli nor a Jew.”
No, I did say I might have been imagining it. But yet……If someone attacked you because they thought you were a Jew,……….supposing you WERE a Jew?
(It reminds me of Frank Gardner crying “Help me, I’m a Muslim!” in desperation when he’d been shot. People concluded that, a) He was merely being pragmatic, or b) He really was, or wished he was, a Muslim.)
Imagine if your attackers apologised, and explained that they’d attacked you because, say, they mistook you for a woman, you might say in the heat of the moment “I’m not a woman!” to stop any further attacks, but in recounting the tale afterwards when there was no urgency, you might describe the incident in terms of how ridiculous it was to hate *women* enough to attack anyone for being one. You wouldn’t necessarily need to deny or confirm that you weren’t one, or didn’t look like one, or never had been one.
None of that would have occurred to me if it weren’t for Dinham’s one-sided description of the recent incident, in which he made hatred of Israelis seem reasonable, just as nobody would have thought Frank Gardner was, or wanted to be, a Muslim if his reporting hadn’t seemed overly sympathetic to people who had put him in a wheelchair.
This was a subtle point, and I agree that I was unwise to try and make it here.
To elaborate, here’s your own comment from another thread:
“Just noticed this via another site:Anti-Israeli feeling rose after violence on the Gaza border last month.
It was nowhere near the Gaza border but hundreds of kilometres south near the city of Eilat. That was newsworthy in itself because of the unusual site of the terror attack. These BBC “journalists” are bloody clueless. And biased to the hilt.
Five Egyptian policemen were killed as Israeli forces pursued Palestinian militants.
No, they pursued terrorists who had crossed into Israel and murdered eight people, seven of them civilians, including two children. They were wearing Egyptian army uniforms and had infiltrated close to an Egyptian army post – which would help to explain the deaths of the soldiers as the Israelis pursued the terrorists.”
Here’s Dinham’s version:
“Nevertheless, a strong and sometimes violent dislike of Israel is a fact of Egyptian life, something I was unfortunate enough to discover after a cross-border raid by Israel killed several Egyptian security personnel.
The Israelis had been chasing a group of gunmen who had attacked an Israeli bus close to the border between the two countries.”
My impression is that when the Israeli killing of the Egytian border guards is brought up on the BBC it is given little if any context. Dinham gave it its context.
To refer to people who wax anti-Semitic as ‘conspiracy theorists’ is hardly complimentary.
Frankly Sue, your take on this leaves me completely bug eyed. Its complete conspiracy theory land itself paranoid enough for any Egyptian sook.
“My impression is that when the Israeli killing of the Egytian border guards is brought up on the BBC it is given little if any context. Dinham gave it its context.”
Errm, frankly H’pooter that’s nonsense. Dinham’s ‘context’ was misleading and his discription of the incident was incomplete and factually incorrect.
“To refer to people who wax anti-Semitic as ‘conspiracy theorists’ is hardly complimentary.”
Sorry, I can’t make sense of that.
“Frankly Sue, your take on this leaves me completely bug eyed. Its complete conspiracy theory land itself paranoid enough for any Egyptian sook.”
The last sentence is unnecessarily rude, and it’s ‘souk’ I believe.
You may find it rude if you wish, but I stand by it 100%.
To any sane, rational person, Mr Dinham’s repugnance for anti-Semitism is unmistakeable.
Thank you for correcting my spelling of souk.
I suggest you work on improving your response to criticism.
“I suggest you work on improving your response to criticism.”
Physician heal thyself.
Certainly a breath of fresh air from the BBC. I suppose this is why we dont hear much from Thomas Dinham, and I suspect we wont hear much from him again. Let’s see.
“Let this be a lesson to all Beeboids. Jews everywhere are expected to suffer because of Israel, and the demonization of Israel is a direct cause of anti-Semitism and violence against Jews worldwide. Not criticism of Israel, mind, but demonization. There’s a difference.”
I agree, but a lot of these nutters would hate Jews even if Israel didn’t exist. They’re the universal scapegoat for inadequates, scumbags and scheming powermongers.
Just listen to Jeremy Bowen and his cosy chats with Arab Dictators on how bad Israel is. If Assad falls in Syria it’ll be ‘Assad’ day for Bowen.
Unless his replacement is more Hitlerian.
Good post. I had to chuckle at this bit:
“Shaking his head in disbelief on hearing the news, an Egyptian friend sympathised: “That’s stupid, you are obviously not a Jew.””
Though of course it is tragic rather than funny that anti-Semitism is so rife in Egypt. I recall MEMRI had a piece a few years ago putting Egytian anti-Semitic cartoons alongside those of the Nazis. They were indistinguishable.
Israel’s peace partner.
I agree Dinham will probably not last long. Has departed radically from BBC group think and the unwritten rule of puting the Israelis in the worst possible light and the Arabs in the best.
Hmm, just listened tothe radio 4 version
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b014gdqx
while scanning the text from David’s link. There’s been a bit of editing and while some of the audio is not included in the text, the audio omits some of the text, for example this bit:
“Shaking his head in disbelief on hearing the news, an Egyptian friend sympathised: “That’s stupid, you are obviously not a Jew.”
The chilling implication I was left with was that, had I been Jewish, the assault would have apparently been justified.”
Also, in the audio there is no mention of anti-Semitism, as in the introduction to the transcript. Perhaps the editor feels that’s a bit too much of an emphasis on Egyptian anti-Semitism all in one go.
Especially since the BBC has probably never ever mentioned it before, LOL.
Meant to mention that the audio starts 12:15 minutes in.
DP, this info TT has brought to light is surely worth a part 2??
It’s absolutely scandalous.
Hippiepooter, this one has me baffled. On the one hand we get a most unusual and frank admission from the BBC of entrenched Egyptian attitudes in the headline –
“An everyday tale of anti-Semitism in Cairo”
– and in the introduction to the transcript:
“Relations between Israel and Egypt have become increasingly strained in recent weeks, and in the Egyptian capital there is a mounting sense of tension, including incidents of anti-Semitism.”
And on the other hand, the transcript omits Dinham’s most telling observation on anti-Semitism near the end of his piece, as I mentioned above.
Were it not for the headline and first paragraph, it would be fair to conclude that an editor had fiddled with the transcript in the time-honoured BBC tradition of minimising the faults of Israel’s enemies.
I would love to know who was responsible for editing what here. In any event, it is fair to say that this is radically out of character for the BBC, and especially for FOOC, which is practically always a medium BBC hacks use to pin their lefty rosettes to their lapels and prove their lefty stance on any issue under the sun.
I have an idea that Dinham has spent enough time with Israel’s Arab enemies to have a firm grasp of their attitudes to the Jewish state. But to come out and present them so unapologetically is simply extraordinary for someone working for the BBC.
I’ll be watching his career at the corporation with great interest, providing it extends beyond this week.