Martin Bright tells us what we know to be true already….‘Supporters of Israel are losing the battle of ideas in the UK. This has probably been true for some time, if only they would admit it.’
A major part of this failure to get across the truth can be laid at the BBC’s door who continually concentrate on the negative about Israel. Israeli military operations are always violent, aggressive, out of proportion whilst palestinian attacks are ‘in response’ to Israeli aggression.
Once the BBC ventures into Israel itself and casts its eye over Israeli society again all they look to highlight are the negatives….we have had a programme on the Orthodox Jews who are pretty fundamentalist…and now we have Panorama looking at Israeli ‘Price Taggers’ (Monday night..tomorrow) settlers who refuse to give up settlement land…..
‘Their weapons are firebombs and spray cans, and they have been branded Jewish terrorists; Panorama has exclusive access to the so-called Price Taggers, the Israeli teenagers who have sworn never to give up the land God gave them. They believe every Palestinian attack and every attempt by the Israeli government to hand back land should be met with an act of revenge – a Price Tag. Israel says it is determined to tackle what has been described as this enemy within, but do the authorities have the ability or the will to stop them?’
No problem mentioning the ‘terrorist’ word here…nor ‘Jewish’ in conjunction with that.
Who needs the Elders Of Zion when you have the good folk at the BBC damning Israel’s every move? What next? Israeli dog bites Arab…was it trained to do this as part of an ethnic cleansing operation to force Palestinians out of israel?
ah the Palestinians …
Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland are illegally occupying “Scandinavia” you know – until they get out, there will be no peace either
Scandinavians DEMAND country back etc !
Palestine just an area of land in the Middle East occupied .
by SEVERAL countries.
the price taggers they have a point,
while your at it, get all those pesky villagers away from Dale Farm eh!
Yep, just like those Anglo-Saxons who ethnically cleansed the Welsh…..who, er, ethnically cleansed the Beaker People 1000 years earlier.
‘…and they have been branded Jewish terrorists’.
By….? An unknown source, known only to those who dwell within Broadcasting House. For in these circumstances, unless you are Jewish, thou shalt be known as ‘militant’.
‘they have been branded Jewish terrorists’
First thing that struck me too.
This is pure one-degree-of separation semantic territory on a ‘crtitics are saying, sources claim’ basis.
On a factual basis beyond the skewed moral equivalences and professional weasels, while firebombs are lethal and obvious methods of terror and are unacceptable, how have they been deployed and with what result? Meanwhile… spraycans… really?
Have we not seen many stout defences of why the words murder or terrorist cannot be deployed by the BBC, yet, when it suits, a way round is suddenly found?
This is pure double standards.
Is the BBC’s Middle East editor somewhat stacking the deck by deciding to take questions live on Twitter on Rosh Hashonah one of the holiest days in the Jewish calendar? Rosh Hashonah is a day when all religious Jews and most not that religious Jews will be in synagogue and not looking at Twitter or the BBC website.
Either Jeremy Bowen doesn’t know that today is Rosh Hashonah, being more concerned with Muslim/Arab affairs and religion than Jewish/Israeli matters, or this was a deliberate move to avoid receiving hard questions. Whatever the reason it is a fine example of the lack of sensitivity to Israel and Jews regularly shown by Jeremy Bowen and the BBC.
Remember this is the same Jeremy Bowen who the Editorial Standards Committee of the BBC Trust published a report into three complaints about in April 2009. The complaints included 24 allegations of breaching BBC guidelines on accuracy and impartiality of which three were fully or partially upheld.
If you think that I am being over-sensitive and that the chosen date doesn’t matter or is a coincidence. Ask yourself if you think that Jeremy Bowen would have held a similar exercise during Ramadan?
On Yom Kippur (the holiest day in the Jewish calendar) in 1973 the armies of Egypt & Syria with support from elsewhere attacked Israel, deliberately choosing the day when they hoped Israel’s defences would be at their weakest. Is Jeremy Bowen simply following anti-Israel tradition?
‘BBC’s Middle East editor somewhat stacking the deck’
Bless. It’s like a hi-tech version of ‘Beware of the Leopard’. (There is a certain additional ironic aspect to this clip that may amuse or enrage… depending).
Losing the battle for ideas eh?
Seems to me that Israel is losing any claim on the public space at all.
Next time you go to any council-run “celebration of diversity” type event-see if you can find the Israel flag…you can bet there`ll be plenty Muslim nation ones, the obligatory fantasy one for Palestine…and even South Sudan or Vanunu will have more prominence.
You see-the Israel one will provoke the Islamic lefty types that “run” these events…so no mention of the only democratic state in that near God-forsaken region.
You will do well to find any figures on anti-Jewish attacks too…not quite racist hate crimes these for some reason.
Maybe once all the Jews are made homeless, they can claim Roma type status-which is what the Islamolefty lot would give those they can`t drown in the Med.
The likes of Bright are provocateurs-and I for one will be attending the next Christians for Israel meeting…and urge all friends of Israel to find a forum that shows solidarity and puts the likes of Bright in their place…day trip to Mecca, and see which “tribe of Abraham” actually DO practice hospitality…it`ll be the Jews as ever!
Price Tag eh?
Only the BBC would think that a Jessie J price of cod-urban tripe constitutes a political movement.
Israeli Minister Moshe Yaalon, Israeli Major General Avi Mizrahi have both used the words terror and terrorists to describe the kinds of incidents carried about by fascist-type jewish settlers as reported upon by Panorama. Of, course, they could be anti-semites or maybe even Nazis.
I saw part of this and it was almost MonyPython-ish. For a serious reporting programme and agency to call kids terrorists for spraying slogans on walls, you had to pinch yourself to check for reality.
The fact that kids with stones, knives and guns on the other side of the wall are called ‘freedom fighters’ is very revealing!
Panorama did not go far enough – these ‘kids’ and their adult kind commit far more serious crimes than graffiti, stones etc. How about arson, land theft, wounding, destroying Palestinian water sources, petrol bomb thrown at Palestinian taxi (just a couple of weeks ago). These racial supremacists will stop at nothing to force Palestinians from their own lands. Israel not interested in peace – wants all the land. A rogue, criminal state.