Bang on cue, the BBC couldn’t let Christmas arrive without having yet ANOTHER go at the pesky Jews. Check out this outrageous item ran on Today this morning. It seems that Israeli security restrictions are causing no end of hassle for Palestinian Shepherds seeking to attend festivities in Bethlehem. (No mention as to why these security restrictions are needed, but then this is the BBC..). Also note the repeated use of the “Occupied” land meme plus the “illegal under International Law” trope. Pure Palestinian propaganda brought to you from Jew hatred central.
WHILST SHEPHERDS WATCHED…
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I heard this too.
Amazing tosh…words like “illegally occupied” ,”walled settlements” bandied around with the usual abandon and without any facts or contexts.
And that the shepherd of Bethlehem might be the last one because it`s not worth it, too hard and his son has a degree and won`t want to carry it on…a story anyone in the EU, and with a university-educated son would recognise!
Couple of points then…
1. Illegal settlements…1918,1948, 1967 etc…give us the facts please BBC before you come up with Yasser Arafats crib sheet.
2. Walled towns…any ideas why the Israelis might be needing walls to protect themselves?
3. University-educated son…let`s hope the BBC give us the figures on how many Jews/Israelis are leaving Cairo, Baghdad,Amman and Damascus with equivalent tertiary qualifications!
Maybe the Arab League could do with an Access Commissioner eh?…and maybe Israel ought to join the EU to ensure fairer coverage than this Beeb hatchet job afforded them.
God Bless Israel…God`dam the BBC( for the umpteenth time this year too!)
That is appalling bias.
It would have been more even handed had the half-wit interviewed the sheep !
Yes, BBC-NUJ still loves CUBA, and hates ISRAEL.
BBC-NUJ even gets the word ‘goodwill’ into this headline about Communist Cuba:
“Cuba to release 2,900 prisoners as goodwill gesture.”
But, of course, a certain Jew from America, Alan GROSS, is NOT to be released from his 15 years sentence in a Cuban jail.
From BBC-NUJ report:
“But US national Alan Gross, who is serving 15 years for crimes against the state, is not among those to be freed.”
[…]
“However, Cuban Vice Foreign Minister Josefina Vidal told the Associated Press that American Alan Gross – jailed for taking internet equipment to the Communist-run island – ‘is not on the list’.
“Havana’s refusal to free him has led to frozen relations with the United States.
“Alan Gross, 62, was detained in December 2009 while he was delivering computers and communications equipment to the Jewish community in Cuba. He was sentenced in March 2011.
He was working as a contractor for the US state department.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-16324331
I saw it here:
Bethlehem’s shepherds a dying breed
It’s that time of the year when we see all those variations of “Jews killed Jesus” – kudos to the BBC for finding one of the very few remaining Christians in Bethlehem!
The NGOs that Exploited Christmas – 2011
Denigration of Christmas and all things Christian, is part of the LeftLib programme.
Here IceCube does a complition of the news in NY Times in 0 AD
http://thepeoplescube.com/current-truth/christmas-in-history-first-media-reports-of-nativity-story-t1658.html
How the Jews steal Christmas: Ugly Guardian story evokes Jesus as an “oppressed” Palestinian
“When the Latin patriarch came to Gaza‘s Holy Family church to celebrate Christmas mass last week, he instructed a full house of Catholic and Orthodox families to pray for reconciliation. As the archbishop, Fouad Twal, stood at the lectern in Gaza City, Fatah and Hamas leaders were meeting in Cairo attempting to mend differences that have divided the Palestinian factions for four years and rendered Gaza a besieged Islamist enclave.
Of the 1.5 million Palestinians now living in the Gaza Strip, fewer than 1,400 are Christian and those who can are leaving. The church hopes reconciliation will bring them back.
There hasn’t been a Christmas tree in Gaza City’s main square since Hamas pushed the Palestinian Authority out of Gaza in 2007 and Christmas is no longer a public holiday.
Imad Jelda is an Orthodox Christian who runs a youth training centre in Gaza City. With unemployment hovering at 23%, he has seen young Christian men leave to study and work abroad in their droves. “People here do not celebrate Christmas anymore because they are nervous,” Jelda said. “The youth in particular have a fear inside themselves.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/23/gaza-christians-hamas-cancelled-christmas
Gaza is how far from Bethlehem, Mr Donnison.
Spare us the Shepherds.
As a Catholic, I resent the use of images and events from the gospels for propaganda purposes.
This is Christian suffering, not an old shepherd with a sentimental attitude to an outdated and uneconomic way of life being used for propaganda purposes.
The bias at the BBC compels them to demonize Israel at every opportunity, although the BBC disputes this.
The meme continues, as we’ve come to expect, in this BBC article
Bethlehem Christmas: Christians celebrate Midnight Mass
So a joyous celebration by Christians at the place recognized as the birth of their saviour. Anyone following the news in the surrounding Muslim countries, especially as pertains to attacks on Christians, will realize that it is only the close presence of Israel that makes this kind of open celebrations by Christians possible. Surely something that the BBC reporter would be aware of, and sharing in the Christmas spirit, would commend and laud Israel for.
Like Hell!
The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Fuad Twal, travelled from Jerusalem to Bethlehem to lead the Midnight Mass. He passed through the massive gate in the controversial Israeli security barrier that separates Jerusalem from Bethlehem.
Controversial only to all those suicide bombers and terrorists who have to seek other means to persist in their attacks. Any intelligent being can easily understand the necessity for it, and what led to its construction.
Patriarch Twal, a Palestinian who is a Jordanian citizen, has expressed concern for Christians in the current upheavals in the Middle East and asked them to support the moves towards freedom and democracy.
“Yes fellow Christians, support the Islamic version of ‘freedom and democracy’, which will mean you can expect further attacks and loss of your own freedoms and voice. As Christians we’ve learned to turn the other cheek, or basically try to appease our enemies, even when we know we’re getting screwed.”
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is attending the celebrations. He said: “I wish for the Palestinian people that next year will be the year of implementing peace in the occupied Palestinian lands.”‘
Occupied Palestinian lands’ includes the whole of Israel, but don’t expect the BBC to make that clear. Since Palestinians have never agreed to any deal that defines ANY borders, including the original UN resolution, what other Palestinian lands could he be referring to?
Once predominantly Christian, two-thirds of Bethlehem’s 50,000 residents are now Muslim. Some say the economic restrictions imposed by Israel are the main reason behind the exodus of Christians from the West Bank; others cite persecution by militant Muslims.
I wonder what the BBC would claim is the reason for so many Christians to be fleeing Muslim lands right now, where they don’t have Israel to blame. Perhaps that’s why they prefer to avoid mentioning it at all. One can just imagine according to the BBC equation the response Christians make to the dilemma of ‘money or their life’ – “take my life I’m saving”.
Merry Christmas and Chanukah everybody 🙂
25 dead in Nigeria church bombings
The intrepid mujahedin, keeping the world safe from tidings of comfort and joy. “Explosions Rip Through Churches in Nigeria,” from the New York Times, December 25:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/12/25-dead-in-nigeria-church-bombings.html
Do you think it would occur to anybody at the BBC that if Mary and Joseph came to Bethlehem today without an army escort they would be lynched?
How many shepherds are their roaming around England? Not profitable? Hard work? Housing taking over the remaining free grazing land? Higher education making other occupations available? Restrictions on the free movement of animals by local, national and EU regulation? Global warming reducing the grass? (I added this to keep in sync with other BBC narratives).
A Catholic Church in Nigeria has just blown up. I suppose it is reasonable not to jump to the conclusion that the Boko Haram Muslim sect is responsible before evidence is in or before someone takes responsibility (which doesn’t necessarily prove they did it).
I wonder how long after either the evidence or admission is in will it take the BBC to broadcast it?
I too resent the use of the end of a Christian image to somehow set me agianst Israel.
That we put at risk the livelihoods of Arab shepherds is a wrong that may yet be righted IF the Palestinians (and those who pull their strings) will let Israel exist.
The Israelis would not need that wall if there were not repeated attacks on a sovereign nation.
Maybe the Saudis could create a Common Agricultural Policy for the umma, so it would be economically viable for small shepherds to survive. Much better than paying for swords and textbooks on amputating the limbs of the apostate, as they currently are doing.
Funny that the BBC worry about there not being enough shepherds to stage their Nativity Christmas cards…they don`t seem to see Christianity as anything other than something to be”wiped off the face of the earth” for any other time of year than this!
Not specifically BBC but related.
Tired of cookie cutter Christmas stories? Checkout Reporters against whiny christmas stories in Bethlehem in Facebook. Tired of cookie cutter photographs? Video documents photojournalism ‘machine’s’ coverage of East Jerusalem and West Bank. Incidentally
It’s interesting to see some reports that have the exact opposite mood to that in the BBC/Guardian anti-Israel Narrative. If it’s as bad as Jon Donnison claimed, are all these other journalists lying?
Why should we care about that UN created terror state called “Israel” (name chosen to deceive people) that kidnapped Brit soldiers, murdered them and booby-trapped their bodies?
Why do you care “Alex”?
Is it perhaps because you hate Jews?
“Israel” (Eretz Yisroel) is what Jews have called their homeland for more than 3,000 years, with its eternal capital called Jerusalem (Yerushalaim).
What’s deceptive about that?