Author Archives: Sue

Jon Donnison has a scoop. “Stop Press! No Change!”
He’s bursting to tell us that the UN says there has been ‘no material change for people in Gaza since Israel was “easing” its economic blockade of the Palestinian territory’.

As if that wasn’t enough of a sensation, John Ging, head of UN operations in Gaza has more astounding revelations.
“There’s been no material change for the people on the ground here in terms of their status, the aid dependency, the absence of any recovery or reconstruction, no economy,”

Jon Donnison must have been keen to get that off his chest. Not quite so keen to tell us about John Ging’s little problem with his personal protection, however, which is slightly more interesting than the ‘no change’ story, by anybody’s standards.
There are quite a few things that Jon Donnison finds too dull to pass on. For example the revelation that Hamas had admitted that 600-700 of its men were killed during Operation Cast Lead.

No change at the BBC, though. At every opportunity since Operation Cast Lead the BBC website has given fluctuating figures (ranging from 1409 to 1166) for what they call ‘Palestinian deaths’ but are always careful to mention that three of the 13 Israelis who died were civilians.
Here, they’ve got three sets of figures, the highest is from the Pali Human Rights Centre.
(total=1409)
Of those, 326 are supposedly children under 17, and 916 are “civilians”. An NB says 250 “Hamas Police Officers” are excluded from the figure.

This doesn’t appear to add up, but never mind, because now Hamas admit that they lied about the civilians; so Israel’s claims about that were correct after all, despite what the UN and Richard Goldstone would have us believe.

Anyone who cites the UN as a worthy judge of Israel’s conduct, take a peak at the countries whose reps spoke at a meeting this month.
“Egypt, Qatar, Tunisia, Malaysia, Morocco, Sudan, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Iran, Jordan, Libya, UAE, Algeria, Lebanon, Yemen, Nigeria, Tanzania, the PA – and Israel.”

Impartiality in their genes? I think not. And to the BBC none of this is news. So no change.

Another episode in the everyday story of the Balen Report.
Last time they decided that “the information sought was held by the corporation for the purposes of journalism, it was effectively exempt from production under the Act, even if it was also being held for other purposes.”
When applied to the BBC, the Freedom of Information Act doesn’t mean ‘Freedom’ or ‘Information’ – it just means ‘Act’.

We’ve been despairing over the BBC’s Middle East reporting for donkey’s years, but it’s still pretty shocking to read what Israel’s outgoing press officer Danny Seaman has to say about the difficulties of dealing with both foreign and home-grown journalists.(Hat tip Elder of Ziyon)

Woe betide an outsider who joins in criticism of a beloved family member, because the same words assume a different cloak when the critic lacks intimacy, understanding or underlying affection for the subject.
However much one may deplore our current society’s mad morals or the leniency of our judiciary, running off to complain about these things to a bunch of hostile individuals who are vigorously pushing for Sharia or the end of democracy would not be the wisest move. Similarly, Israeli journalists should realise that criticisms suitable for internal debate turn toxic when picked up by ill-intentioned outsiders.

Too many left-wing Israelis, particularly recent émigrés from the UK, ferret out weaknesses in their new country and present impassioned articles to UK newspapers like the Guardian, which are on permanent standby, like a pack of vultures, ready willing and able to exploit every last drop. Much as both parties might like to pretend they are working for some greater good, the media’s misplaced moral posturing and the journalists’ betrayal simply amounts to malevolent meddling.
But worst of all is the foreign press. The sad fact is that reporters nowadays are basically ill-informed. They come with preconceived ideas, and are resistant to curiosity or objectivity. They know what story is required, and they are there to provide it. If they did not do so, their editors would find someone else who did.
Danny Seaman:

“Part of my problem with the foreign press – and I’ve been accused of being combative and feisty in fighting them – is that you have journalists coming in here not having the faintest idea of what is going on.”

“The narrative has shifted. They’ll adopt the Palestinian narrative. That has become the bon ton. They’ll talk about “the Palestinian right of return.” There is no such thing. They talk about what the Palestinians call “Israel’s violations of Oslo.” What exactly are they talking about? They have no knowledge about the facts.”

Israel has made many blunders in its dealings with the foreign press, and most of all this has resulted in allowing the Palestinians to triumph in the propaganda war. Anyone who doubts this should read “The Other War.” by Stephanie Gutmann. Reporters themselves and their bosses back home have already made up their minds whose word to believe and whose word to surround with scare quotes.

This could have been aimed specifically at the BBC:

“The media outfits that employ them are giving them automatic backing. And when the media doesn’t exercise its checks and balances, they’re failing in their job.”
…Israel is always active. Other things just “happen.” Missiles “rain down” on Israel. But where Israel is concerned, and I’m quoting from some media reports, they even adopt Nazi terminology: “Israel’s blitzkrieg.”

Always using negatives and very aggressive terms.

“By contrast, the suffering Israel endures is always caused by some obscure [force]. It’s never quite clear what’s happening, and who is responsible. The number of ways that Israel is depicted negatively is, astoundingly, much greater than with Hizbullah. Hizbullah is a terrorist organization! It is considered so by every country in the world, including the United Nations. [Yet I found foreign media] to be taking their word, their narrative as fact.”

Lazy, ill-informed journalists regurgitate myths and lies. The BBC was once regarded as the world’s most respected news organ, today’s BBC rests on those laurels.

My previous post was rushed to press in order to keep up with the rolling news, but there is more to be said. Bias by omission is almost accepted as a given, we breeze past it, forgetting that the BBC holds back a significant chunk of evidence it has deemed inadmissible, and consigned to room 101.

Politically incorrect things, unmentionable lest the illusory thought crime known as Islamophobia be committed. It is too risky to talk about anything that emanates from the immutable word of Allah.

Many people would rather not know what motivates the Arabs’ hatred of Israel. They blame Israel for constructing obstacles to peace without understanding that, for the Palestinians the obstacle to peace IS Israel. Some people say that Israel’s insistence on remaining a Jewish state is an inherently racist concept. That misguided theory is for another day.
The BBC always keeps an eagle eye out for fragments of news they can embellish to enhance the illusion that Israel is racist.
That must be why the BBC found Wednesday’s disturbance in Israel so newsworthy, while home-grown demos, some of which end in violence and vandalism, are played down or ignored.

For example a B.N.P. (I know, I know) Youtube clip entitled “The UK Muslim march the BBC didn’t let you see.” features a Hitler style rally in which Lauren Booth addresses a menacing crowd, inciting them to join her personal vendetta against Tony Blair and rise up against Israel and the police. She can be heard screeching inexplicably “We want Israel out of this country.” There are numerous examples of other rallies, speeches and treacherous behaviour on our doorstep which is far more relevant to us than a skirmish in Umm al-Fahm. Booth is a deranged self-publicist, but she has the backing of the Muslim world, and I guess her recent conversion to Islam gives her diplomatic immunity.

The BBC is overjoyed today because there is a disturbance in an Israeli-Arab village. What’s more, it’s a deliberately provocative incitement by a hardline right wing group, reminiscent of the Orange marches in NI.

Last year on a similar occasion a clip on the BBC website featured Katya Adler in a fetching baseball cap, ducking the occasional missile, saying that all the Palestinian residents want to do is live in peace alongside their neighbours.

This time, no Katya, but more of the same.

Meanwhile back on BBC News 24, we’re given the background.

An extremist Rabbi was murdered in Manhattan. His party (racist) was outlawed by the Israeli government. There’s a resurgence of such (racist) sentiments in Israel, and right wing (racist) Israelis are trying to carry out their annual supremacist march, provoking clashes in Umm al-Fahm, an Arab village in the West Bank.

There’s a handy reminder of the proposal (racist) by right wing hardliner Avigdor Leiberman, requiring all Israeli citizens to swear an oath of allegiance (racist) to the Jewish state.

Unfortunately though, the violence seems to have subsided, but the BBC is anxious to squeeze every drop out of the story.

But wait. Rupert Wingfield-Hayes is on the scene too. He’s saying there is an Islamist resident in peace-loving Umm al-Fahm. The BBC anchor is telling Rupert that the right-wing Leiberman and his ilk are after booting all the Arabs out of Israel. Rupert is attempting to elucidate. It’s not quite like that, he tries to explain. They think there should be a transfer of Israeli Arabs from Israel / West Bank to Palestinian /West Bank in a future Palestinian state.

But the BBC is very keen on tolerance. Obviously everyone everywhere should be free to vent their spleen, even if it means tolerating those who would happily stop you venting yours. Literally. So Israelis should be like us, tolerant and accepting of hostile groups in their midst. (Which they actually are) They should even be tolerant and accepting, as the BBC is, of the quaint and quirky (if a tad racist – it’s their culture innit) diktat that no Jew will ever be allowed to live in a Palestinian land.