Mustafa Barghouti was given a nice gentle time by Evan this a.m. Not that I prefer the Humphrys method of interrogation, which hardly gives the interviewee a chance to state his case.
But Mustafa was given free rein to spout a series of unadulterated porky pies.
“Is the ceasefire in effect?” asked Evan, nicely.
“Israel provoked the cycle of violence by attacking Gaza viciously. [it’s all Israel’s fault] ” replied Mustafa at length.
“At the moment you are respecting the ceasefire, there are no rockets being fired into Israel?” repeated Evan, to clarify that there are no rockets being fired into Israel.
“Gaza never fired rockets into Israel except as a response to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. [It’s Israel’s fault, oppression, segregation, apartheid, occupation, settlement activity]” replied Mustafa at great length.
“How much public support is there in Gaza for these rocket attacks? ventured Evan, who might think that rocket attacks are unpopular with the peace-loving Palestinians.
“All Palestinians are for non violent resistance. The rockets were self defence.” Says Mustafa, with a staggering disregard for the truth.Israeli spokesperson Avital Leibovich is talking from a tunnel. A BBC sound engineer is having a laugh.
“Are you respecting now the terms of the apparent ceasefire, that there will be no more assassinations in Gaza?” asks Evan, sounding slightly less nice.
“I believe your previous speaker did not give the complete facts, he said there were no rockets but as a reaction to Israeli attack. But last year 627 rockets were fired at Israel, the rocket launching has never really stopped. I can tell you that an hour and a half ago another rocket was fired into Israel.” Avital replied echoingly.
But Evan is more interested in how many Israelis have been killed.
“How many Israelis have been killed in the last few days? ” he asks, almost certainly aware, being a journalist who supposedly follows the news, that precisely none have.
What, none? That’s outrageous!
” Do you recognise how many Palestinians have been killed? You do recognise that Palestinians are dying on a much larger scale than Israelis?” He asks, leaving the audience in no doubt as to what he’s getting at. It’s disproportionate, which is just. not. fair.
Oh Evan, don’t you remember, in Operation Cast Lead at least 1,200/1,400/1,500 innocent Palestinians were killed, while only 13 Israeli solders ‘died.’ According to the BBC, the more martyrs there are, the more righteous the cause, no matter how the situation came about. So until the requisite number of Israelis are murdered, Israel can never redeem itself.
Its not fair that more ‘Palestinians’ are dying that Israelis claims the toady scumbag.
And WTF does the death rate have to with anything? The majority of the ‘Palestinian’ deaths were of terrorists launching rockets at Israeli civilians, aiming to kill civilians.
I heard the interview and could not believe my ears, from lovely silky lovey dovey to harsh sullen and sptiteful in an instant. And the rockets have never stopped, there was no ceasefire observed by the ‘Palestinian’ side and another load have been fired today.
The interview perfectly highlights the BBC hatred of Israel and its sympathy with ‘Palestinian’ terror gangs, who in their right mind would try to smear Israel on the basis of a body count? If hamas could kill more they most certainly would, that they cannot is a glowing testement to the IDF and the border security.
Galloway also tries to use the body count narrative to justify the Palestinian position. If only they would site their rocket firers away from civilian populations, if only they wouldn’t use their children as human shields, if only they didn’t strap body bombs to their people, if only they didn’t plant bombs in crowded places where it’s only their own citizens present, if only they didn’t inflate their own casualty figures.
If only they didn’t keep attacking Israel to provide a reaction. If only they did all that they would have no casualties at all.
Or if only they were civilised.
Agree. Your comment about the toneof voice used by Evan Davies is spot on. When we communicate, it has been found that a mere 10% of the message is in the “words”; 30% is in the tone (ie 3 x as much); and the remainder is in the facial expression and body language.
As an example if you listen to Peter Allen on 5LiveDrive you can tell very easily who he likes (Obama, Vince Cable) and who he disdains (Israel, UKIP)
It was just the difference in tone, but the difference in the amount of time given to each interviewee.
Not really. I timed it with the new-fangled stopwatch that I’ve just noticed on my phone. They had more or less equal time. It’s just that Mustafa’s air-time seemed longer, since his contribution was a continuous reiteration of the usual list of complaints against Israel, similar to the ones we heard from Mona El-Farra, which I mentioned yesterday.(Always to Blame thread)
That I did time; she was given longer than the Israeli spokesperson, and she evaded the questions in a similar manner.
The sympathetic questioning stands out, contrasting sharply with the brusque adversarial tone they use when speaking to an Israeli.
Since the BBC censored news of the rockets from Gaza until Israel hit back, the audience will come away with the impression that rockets from Gaza were fired only in self-defense. And until Davis or some other Beeboid openly asks how many Israelis ought to die before retaliation is permissible, the ghoulish Body Count Narrative will continue.
BBC audiences must have been shocked to hear about all those previous rocket attacks. Even though the lengthy blurb accompanying the audio clip gives both sides of the story, there was still no mention of who really fired first.
Also, it’s too bad that the Israeli woman didn’t ask Davis how many Israelis need to die before they can retaliate. I’d love for the BBC to have an honest discussion about that for once.
Like you, I’d like to see the Israelis publicly exposing the BBC bias. It shouldn’t be too difficult
It doesn’t have to be the Israelis. I’ve probably said it a hundred times by now, but I’d just like to see the BBC have an open, honest discussion about how many must die before retalliation is permissable. It’s a simple question.
I am waiting for the day that an Israeli spokesman asks “Why? if more Israelis die, will that make it okay in your eyes?”
Many moons ago someone on this site made an excellent observation about the lack of accuracy in the Pally rockets when they asked if it would have been okay to start shooting at their neighbours houses from the back window as long as they were a lousy shot.
Yes, Galloway’s problem (well, one of many) is that he just can’t abide the fact that he’s raised so much money for the little shits in Gaza and they just cannot kill enough Jews.
Nor, no boubt rape enough Western wimmin sympathisers. I bet that soild his cat suit every time.
‘What’s wrong with the idle little feckers’ he must ask himself as he trousers another donation?
‘At least Saddam knew how to kill …’
Palestinians are refugees because their so-called fellow Muslims wouldn`t let them in, and won`t let them in either…ever!
Not only that, but the Palestinians were specifically threatened and warned off “doing any deals” with the Israelis since the country was conceived and then established in 1948.
Simce then…crocodile tears from the neighbouring Arabs as these gulls of Gaza are trailed around like a bleeding stump of Islam. Saudi and Qatar etc have a few bob I believe…any chance of any of THEM actually giving a few rials to the Red Cross/Green Crescent…or is it always up to the stupid white West to stump up and then face sharia with a spit to the face as ever.
Someone tell the BBC and Guardian that the more crap they spread about Israel, the more many of us will be honoured to go there. Any country hated so much MUST be of God as far as I can see!
Palestine – the bleeding stump of Islam.
Perfect description cj, how the 350m arabs of the world blame 7m Israelis for all of their troubles. If only the Israelis would just “die”. Whoops, wasn’t that the Master Plan of some one else?
National Socialism and the Left: common bedfellows.
“How many Israelis have been killed in the last few days?” should read “How many Israelis did you kill?” I hate the passive tense.
Something to bear in mind the next time the BBC uses ‘Palestinian Medics’ to validate their death and injured tolls due to Israel strikes;
Palestinians say Gaza boy dies of wounds
Published March 14, 2012 Associated Press
A Palestinian boy accidentally struck by a bullet when militants fired in the air during a funeral died of his injuries Wednesday, family members and witnesses said.
Palestinian health official Adham Abu Salmia initially said that 8-year-old Barka al-Mugrahbi died of wounds sustained in an Israeli airstrike on Monday.
Israel’s military said it did not carry out a strike in the area then.
The boy’s relatives and witnesses later said the boy was marching in a funeral procession for a Gaza militant when he was struck in the head by an errant bullet.
At the time, gunmen were firing in the air, they said.
Since the boy was also in the procession when he was hit, the gunmen must have been in one of their tunnels when he fired.
So this is the schoolboy whom the BBC included in their casualty reporting during the recent hostilities, even while admitting on air that the circumstances of his death “remained unclear”.
Face it, defenders of the indefensible, the BBC most certainly reports unsubstantiated rumors when it suits their agenda. Deal with it.
Here’s the list of headlines for articles the BBC produced over the period of the recent conflict. Note nearly every one makes Palestinians the victim (see picture below).
I try to imagine what the genuine response would be to anybody who killed their parents, then sought sympathy for the fact that they were now orphans. Somehow I believe a certain amount of ridicule would be ‘normal’.
Yet the BBC are happy to keep lavishing care and concern for the ‘poor orphan’ as evidenced here:
‘Don’t wait for Gaza genocide’
Dr Mona El-Farra, vice president of the Red Crescent in Gaza, said that this is “not a war between two equal parties” and Israel is much stronger. She said that the Israeli air raids are continuous and targeting Gaza. The situation is “really horrible” in Gaza because these attacks come on top of shortage of medical supplies. “Don’t wait until another genocide in Gaza” she said, “many people are dying”.
How can the interviewer refrain from saying “then maybe you should stop firing rockets at Israel then to create this response”?