Hamas advised its supporters:

‘You must always cast doubts on this [Israeli version], disprove it, and treat it as false.’

Who could doubt there are many who have taken that advice to heart.

In this post we look at the numerous occasions BBC reporters mislead its audience with claims that the Israelis deliberately target civilians and that Hamas does not have a policy of using ‘human shields’.

This is what the BBC’s coverage of Gaza feeds into:

 

 

 
We know that ISIS are sending even blind Jihadis to fight the good fight.  That being so can there be any surprise to know that the BBC has also sent several journalists to cover the Middle East whose eyesight seem similarly limited….Jeremy Bowen in particular needing not just a white stick but perhaps a white flag as well.

It is all too easy to stand there and express outrage and horror at the casualties of war and dodge the abuse you might receive for reporting the truth about the Palestinians…it is a lot harder to take a stand and do what is right…Bowen takes the easy option and cheerleads for Hamas having very selective eyesight…always able to spot an Israeli war crime whilst never able to spot Hamas up to no good.

For example Craig at Is the BBC biased? has noted this from Bowen in the New Statesman:

I was back in London for my son’s 11th birthday party by the time all those people were killed in Shejaiya. But my impression of Hamas is different from Netanyahu’s. I saw no evidence during my week in Gaza of Israel’s accusation that Hamas uses Palestinians as human shields. I saw men from Hamas on street corners, keeping an eye on what was happening.

 

Remember :

‘You must always cast doubts on this [Israeli version], disprove it, and treat it as false.’

Who can doubt that Bowen’s book, War Stories,  was not a ‘Work of remarkable honesty’ as described by the Independent..Robert Fisk perhaps?

 

Clearly Bowen has not seen this well known video:

 

 

 

 

Nor has he read his own colleague’s assessment of Hamas’ motivations:

Here Kevin Connolly admits Hamas uses civilian casualties for political advantage….

Hamas’s military leaders might be calculating that the sight of Palestinian civilians suffering under terrifying aerial bombardment will force the Palestinian Authority to show much greater solidarity and prompt Arab governments to show more support.
Hamas might reason that there were few advantages in keeping the peace whereas once hostilities have started it can demand concessions for agreeing to end them.

Connolly then highlights the advantages of the dramatic exploitation of dead children to a cause….

Israel might argue that it’s trying to avoid civilian casualties while Hamas is trying to cause them. But television pictures of civilian dead in Gaza – especially children – will help shape perceptions of Israel round the world.

 
Bowen, and his colleagues, conveniently ignored this report where Hamas are shown to be urging Gazans to stay in their homes and  to ignore the Israeli warnings:

“Urgent call to the residents of the Gaza Strip” in which locals were told to ignore the calls and warnings made by Israel and the IDF. “To all of our people who have evacuated their homes – return to them immediately and do not leave the house.”
 “You must follow the directives of the Interior Ministry. This is psychological warfare, random messages to instill panic in people.””

 
But it isn’t just Bowen whose lack of knowledge or innate prejudices compromise his reporting…here BBC Watch  relates what John Simpson said to Israeli Minister Tsipi Livni:

“I have to say it to you in these terms: are you going to carry on killing civilians – including women and children in quite large numbers – until you get what you want?”

 

No problem there condemning Israel, in fact almost blatantly accusing Israel of targeting civilians deliberately….despite the accusation being completely false.

 

How different when it comes to Hamas….then saying such things is ‘controversial’ even when based on the truth…..here yet more expert comment on Hamas’ use of human shields, denied above by Bowen,  the BBC presenter also unwilling to accept this claim……..

Among the subjects still missing from the BBC’s coverage is some in-depth coverage of the topic of Hamas’ use of human shields and the way in which that deliberate policy contributes to the high number of civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip. Without that essential knowledge, BBC audiences will still be unable to reach informed conclusions regarding this particular international issue. One attempt to shed some light on that issue was made by Barak Seener of the Royal United Services Institute in an interview with BBC World News on July 21st – with a remarkable reaction from the presenter when presented with an expert opinion (which is presumably what the BBC sought when it invited the specific interviewee) on the realities underpinning Hamas strategy.

Presenter:
“That is obviously a very…ah…controversial thing to say and many people will refute that the leadership of Hamas want to see their own people, supporters, women and children killed…ah…unnecessarily…”

 

 

 

The BBC though isn’t so censorious when Hamas makes claims that are obviously wrong, such as Israel targets civilians… as above Simpson seems to agree with them…but here are a couple of examples where the BBC reports Hamas’ claims as if they are fact:

Here Yolande Knell not only doesn’t challenge a claim that Israelis deliberately target civilians but accepts it as true (via BBC Watch):

“This is a third consecutive war against Gaza since 2008 and Israel always, I mean, do target the civilians and they are in the eye of the storm.”

Possibly no coincidence that earlier a Hamas spokesman said this:

“There is no safe haven in this place and Palestinian civilians are once again in the eye of the storm and are paying heavily. Israelis.. are trying to pressure militant groups through targeting civilians.” ”

 

Bowen himself in his New Statesman article continues to peddle the myth and reports such things as fact:

Raji Sourani, the director of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in Gaza, told me that Hamas, whatever you think of it, is part of the Palestinian DNA.

I met Sourani first when he was condemning abuses by Yasser Arafat’s men. He has taken an equally tough stance on Hamas. Now he says Israel is violating the laws of war by ignoring its legal duty to treat Palestinian civilians as protected non-combatants.

 

 

 

Which senior BBC journalist said this?:
‘We cannot get across the view that Palestinians are a displaced people who are fighting to overthrow, as they see it, a brutal military rule.’
 
Who are ‘the many’  senior BBC journalists who say that:

‘They simply cannot get the Palestinian viewpoint acoss, the perspective they cannot say is that Israel is a brutal apartheid state.’

 

I’d say they are doing their utmost to get the Palestinian narrative across…shame they don’t bother with  the truth.

Here is Charles Moore in the Spectator:

Large parts of the Arab world — Egypt, the Arab League and so on — are fiercely critical of what Hamas is doing. This is hardly mentioned on the BBC, which can cope only with a simple story of Palestinians versus Israelis.

 

And here’s one we did earlier on Fatah’s opinion of Hamas:

Not All Palestinians Support Hamas…’Merchants of War’