Author Archives: Sue

Pathos in Gaza

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Who commissioned Katya Adler’s pathos extravaganza that BBC News24 has aired several times today?
What news value does it have, apart from being a gratuitous reminder of Israel’s oppression of the Palestinians, just in case we forget about all that for a second?
Now that there aren’t any juicy war crimes to salivate over, did the BBC’s Middle East Editor brief Katya to seek out a cute enormous-eyed child to tug at the heartstrings merely to rekindle dying embers of indignation over Israel’s brutality, fearing the public might be beginning to lose interest?

If the BBC ever commissioned a proper and a thorough examination of how the Palestinians’ suffering came about, and who is responsible for prolonging it, the BBC might begin to claim some credibility.

Or if they stopped implying that children governed by ‘democratically elected’ Islamist Hamas would have a normal childhood if only Israel would stop preventing it. But they insinuate that Israeli oppression is the only thing stopping Gazan children from having a normal childhood when they must know very well indeed that indoctrinating them with hatred of Jews, glorifying child martyrdom and engulfing them in a repressive Islamist medieval straightjacket is a million miles away from any Western perception of normality.

So Katya and Jeremy, you’re pretending. You’re selecting. You’re projecting. You’re using sentimentality and half-truths to twist and poison. For what? Do you think it will bring peace? I don’t even think you do.

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Arrested Development

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The BBC is eerily silent on the subject that The Times and Telegraph both think worth reporting. That is the admission, boast even, by Hamas operative Diya al-Din Madhoun – nice name – that Hamas was responsible for persuading the British courts to issue an arrest warrant for Tzipi Livni for war crimes, should she be bold enough to venture upon British soil.

The BBC are, on the whole, admirers of Hamas, so one might expect them to publicise this, even if only because they might see it as small success and victory for audacity, which they are equally fond of.

Ron Proser has an article in the Telegraph in which he decries the lamentable hypocrisy of the British, and the double standards that are generally applied to matters concerning the Middle East, democracy and terrorism.

Some of the comments below the Times article illustrate what Mr Peres calls “ a hostile majority public opinion,” the effect of 40 years of brainwashing dished up to the public by the BBC.

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Gentle Persuasion

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Anti-Zionists have persuaded the BBC to alter a report about a row at the meeting held at the School of Oriental and African Studies, (SOAS) in which the guest speaker was South African trade unionist Bongani Masuku.

Mr. Masuku has been condemned for hate speech by the South African Human Rights Commission. The SOAS audience consisted of pro Palestinian left wingers who wanted to confer chummily amongst themselves and share their outrage at the way Israel treats the Palestinians.

During the audience question time, up pops Jonathan Hoffman, vice chair of the Zionist federation, whose courageous personal appearances at hostile gatherings have earned him a reputation as a ‘hard-line Zionist’ and damned nuisance.

His question was simply “Why has this man, condemned for hate speech, been invited to speak at this place?” Admittedly, he read out the charges against Mr. Masuku first, which the audience found rather unpalatable, and this, combined with the fact that they disliked Mr. Hoffman and his well-known views, caused the whole audience to begin jeering and heckling. The chairman, Mr. Tom Hickey, then took over, warning them not to answer Mr. Hoffman’s question, or listen to anything he might say.

The BBC, uncharacteristically, reported this incident thus:

“Raheem Kassam, of student anti-racism campaigners Student Rights, said: “The overpowering racist jeering as displayed by some audience members at the event is a stark and chilling revelation of what can happen when extremism is allowed to take root in universities.

“This man was first shouted down, then ignored by the event chair and panellists.
“Why? From what we hear shouted when he is speaking, because he is, ‘Jewish’, and ‘not welcome here’.”

However, a few individuals didn’t think much of that, and emailed the BBC to complain, whereupon the BBC cut that out altogether and amended the article so it was more in line with the BBC worldview, along the lines that anti-Semitism is the sole prerogative of the SS., and it died out in 1948.

Funny how impossible it is for some people to get the BBC to alter things, while for others it’s as easy as writing a couple of emails.

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A Great Deal of Murdering

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What are things coming to? ‘CoJo’ aka BBC College of Journalism. Where? Who has to attend?
Not ‘JoGo’ and ‘PaRo’, the hosts of BBC radio London, obviously.

We’re all used to the Guardian’s overwhelming disdain for Israel. Michael White, their political editor knows a thing or two, and he doesn’t care who hears him say it.

If you trained as an actress and played Carol Sands in Crossroads as well as Rodney’s date in the second episode of only Fools and Horses, you’d be eminently qualified to go ‘mmmmmmm’ in agreement while Mr. White is saying something ““extremely serious and baseless.”

Are you sure? Never mind, if that little something is about Israel, who cares?

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Comment is Free But is Ignorance Bliss?

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If anybody who shares my interest in the BBC’s bias against Israel is reading this – as they say on Amazon – you might also like ……CifWatch.
CifWatch’s raison d’être is to draw attention to the anti Israel and anti-Semitic flavour of the online Guardian’s, ‘Comment is Free’. (Cif)
CifWatch commenters and posters document, then knowledgably and authoritatively rebut, anti-Semitic slurs that abound on Cif.
Recent CiFWatch posts by commenter AKUS give an outsider’s view of the British media and the ‘Brainwashing of Britain’
CiFWatchers must be aware, and indeed some of them have pointed out, that the BBC has a far broader reach, and necessarily influences a wider spectrum of the public, but the Guardian’s malevolence grates on this pro Israel and mainly Jewish online community more than the BBC’s seems to. If only it weren’t so virulently anti Jew and anti Israel, the Guardian might be their newspaper of choice. They remember with sadness the days when it was known as the Manchester Guardian and was highly respected. Perhaps they see the BBC as a lost cause, with a passive, easily brainwashed audience.
The Guardian isn’t hampered by a charter or any other inconvenient obligation, so it can more or less let rip and pander to an Israel hating audience if it so wishes, whereas the BBC has to restrain itself. The BBC is at least obliged to appear even-handed, but its underlying agenda often seeps through.

This morning for example there was an item on the Sunday Programme R4(0.19.50 in) about the multi faith celebrations in Haifa. A feel-good item one would think. Then just as you begin to feel good, Hugh Sykes chips in at the end with a reminder about the settlers who vandalised a mosque. Report it, okay, but put it in context, and don’t bring it gratuitously into an unrelated report lest the listeners might stop hating the Jews.

I don’t think the BBC’s bias is always deliberate. Ignorance has permitted myth to replace fact. Shoddy research, laziness and incompetence have worn away at the truth over many years, and these imperfections compound themselves as they bed in.
Now – we have what we have. One undoubted result is appalling ignorance from many who should know better; it produces characters like the gentleman outside the Baptist Central Church in the video that I linked to recently. Not the runny nosed John Sullivan, but the other one, the well-spoken John Benyon, who seemed blissfully ignorant about the organisation his church was hosting.
The virulence with which people express their indignation is matched by the ignorance in the endless strings of comments highlighted by CifWatch. What could be a clearer demonstration of the extent of the damage done by the brainwashing of Britain?

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If Only

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Reproduced fully and without further comment by Melanie Phillips is a superb speech made by historian Andrew Roberts at the annual dinner of the Anglo Israel Association.
It is lengthy and all encompassing, touching on every aspect of the predicament of Israel and Jews, with particular emphasis on the Arabist sentiment that influences Britain’s conduct in Middle East affairs.

I have long been fantasising about a television series of the calibre of The World at War that would set the record straight. Now here’s a man that could make it.
If only.
If only the ignorance that abounds in Britain – perpetuated by the BBC – could be swept away by this man’s enlightening words there would be no need for me to keep troubling you with my constant whining about Israel and the Jews.

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Half the Picture

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We are often mocked by our critics for drawing attention to bias by omission, but when it amounts to downplaying the implications for Israel of Iran’s nuclear programme, it’s a significant omission, indicative of a significant bias.

Just Journalism points out that while this topic is covered fairly extensively by the serious press, the BBC gives scarcely a mention to background essential for understanding why Israel might feel particularly threatened. Hat tip Deegee.

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Pro(sperous) Palestinians

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Melanie Phillips links to a report in the Wall Street Journal by Tom Gross. It’s about life in the West Bank and Gaza. No, it’s not the usual tale of hardship and deprivation.
She ends by asking “When we will get to hear about this on the BBC?” Well, probably never. All we’ll get is endless stories about settlers, olive trees and illegally occupied land.
With the BBC for an educator is it surprising that a virulent streak of anti-Semitism prevails?
I see Rowan Laxton is back at his desk at the FCO.
And this clip is all over the web.
If it weren’t so shocking you’d have to laugh. The man bears an uncanny resemblance to Brian Murphy.
“Everybody in Britain can see what a nasty unpleasant type of people Jewish people are in English.”

(Breaks into song.) ”It’s in-dic-ative that the Jews are vin-dic-ative, so if you’re living in English…. You can….. fuck off back to Israel!”” Tap dances off stage, right. Not really.

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