Category Archives: anti-Israel

You know when there’s a well-established mantra that’s invariably used to batter one’s adversary over the head with?
A notion that’s repeated over and over till thoroughly incorporated into the narrative, to be produced reflexively each time a certain something sets it off?

Well, when that thing is suddenly exposed as a bit of a myth, but the adversary doesn’t wish to concede or make friends, so they continue beating you with a new stick as though nothing has changed?

I’m talking, of course, about the accusation that follows the slightest mention of Israel; namely that Israel’s blockade has driven residents of Gaza to a state of malnutrition and starvation.

Ed Stourton seamlessly shifts the emphasis thus in his recent reports from Gaza on R4 Today and From our Own Correspondent. Which brings me to Alan Johnston. Reminiscing nostalgically, he says in his introduction :
“In the years when I was a correspondent in the Gaza Strip there was always one steady bleak trend; life there always got harder and harder, and for most Gazans that continues to be true.” (But not for all, as Ed will attest.)
“A major reason for this is Israel’s economic blockade. The Israelis say it’s aimed at weakening the Hamas movement, which controls the strip.”(They’re just saying that)
“ For years Hamas has launched rockets from Gaza targeting homes, schools and offices in nearby Israeli towns, and Hamas doesn’t only oppose Israel’s continuing occupation of the Palestinian territories, it also talks of ultimately seeking the destruction of Israel itself.”
( Hurry that past the listeners and they might think Israel still occupies Gaza and won’t notice the other bit) “So the blockade goes on, and Ed Stourton has been looking at the everyday impact it has on the streets of Gaza.”

Ed Stourton:
“The shops in Gaza City centre are so well stocked that the abundance is almost indecent!” […] “All of this in a place that is supposed to be on the brink of a humanitarian crisis because of Israel’s economic blockade.”
You said it bud. But although the ‘tunnel economy’ has allowed crooks and thieves to prosper, and cars and camels to be brought in, somehow Israel is to blame for the fact that Hamas won’t let poor people acquire the materials to mend their houses. (Because Israel says they might be used for military purposes.) Well, if the need for washing machines and fridges is greater than the need to repair their houses, whose fault is it that they haven’t bothered to smuggle in a few bags of cement too?
Whose do you think?
So the starvation/malnutrition mantra no longer holds water, and the charge against Israel is cunningly transferred from the original one to the updated crime of forcing them into corruption and profiteering. The prosperity of crooks and thieves, the abundance of which could also be described as indecent, seems somehow to be the fault of Israel.
*********

The blood libel that has been doing the rounds recently might have some foundation after all. Clare Short shouldn’t have antagonized those dastardly Israelis. Parts of her have been harvested and reallocated. Jane Corbin got the face, and Alan Johnston the voice.

How neat, alluding to the blood libel as “organ harvesting,” with its connotation of avarice and greed. Why not use the term as a euphemism for acquisitions of any type, not just stolen body parts. Anything one might gather in, so to speak, such as the groaning shelves of Gaza which are a veritable harvest festival.

A relatively minor molehill has made into a mountain by the BBC because it casts Israelis in a bad light.
Robin Shepherd sets out the case against the BBC with his usual eloquence. Seen in conjunction with the BBC’s habitual glossing over of anything that might reveal the extent of Palestinian, Arab and Muslim anti-Semitism and bigotry, this distortion of priorities typifies the prism through which BBC lviews the world, and chooses to feed to us. It illustrates why this website exists.

“I have remarked many times that the BBC continues to run a profile of Hamas which excludes all reference to the group’s Holocaust denial and its Protocols of Zion style anti-Semitism. Despite vast amounts of evidence of the daily assault on the Jewish people from “moderate” Palestinian leaders such as Mahmoud Abbas, who wrote a doctorate denying the extent of the Holocaust, that too is censored out of the reporting. In my recent book, A State Beyond the Pale I also provide polling evidence showing that negative sentiment about Jews even in “friendly” Arab countries such as Egypt and Jordan runs at 97 and 98 percent respectively. Again, such realities are simply not referred to.
Without being aware of such a fundamental issue it is simply impossible to understand the Israeli point of view, which is presumably why the BBC is so adamant that it will not report on it.”

I’ve been thinking about the influence the BBC still has over the general public. I hope it’s diminishing, what with other sources becoming part of everyone’s normal news-gathering. But for now it still seems hugely significant; even if it were to cease tomorrow, the residual effect would take time to wear off.

Monday’s Panorama was so one sided that I didn’t even attempt a point-by-point analysis, but chose instead to express my despair in the form of cookery.

Robin Shepherd took the bull by the horns in a more masterful fashion, setting out the programme’s flaws with his customary thoroughness and accessibility. For example he revealed that the individual who was supposed to represent the voice of impartiality and reason was in fact “Danny Seidemann, a well known (but not to British viewers) left-wing lawyer-activist.”
He also added the bits (in bold ) that Jane Corbin neglected to mention, vital bits that changed the entire focus:
“When the State of Israel was born in 1948 — following Arab and Palestinian rejection of a peace agreement accepted by Israel which would have seen the internationalisation of the city — Jerusalem was divided.
The West of the city became part of Israel and the East was controlled by Jordan — which expelled Jewish residents and forbade Jews from praying at all of the city’s holy sites.
In 1967, Israel annexed East Jerusalem after seizing the West Bank following war with its Arab neighbours. That war was caused by Arab governments and the Palestinians who had the aim of eliminating the state of Israel in its entirety and expelling its Jewish residents.”
When I saw the trail, before seeing the programme, I referred to the same bias by omission on the open thread, and asked:
“Does she think Israel started an unprovoked expansionist war in 1967? It looks like it. She must surely know that that is almost the exact opposite of the truth.”

Honest Reporting delves deeper, setting the record straight and unravelling the misconceptions that Jane Corbin was so eager to perpetuate. In summary, the distortion and denial of the Jewish historical link with East Jerusalem, the allegations of racism and ethnic cleansing in the housing policy, the facts behind the notorious Hanoun family eviction, the shooting incident, and various other notable omissions and half truths.

All of this is not so unusual for the BBC. Does it matter? There are after all, some saving graces. The Newsnight report from Sderot ( scroll to 27:25 ) that was more balanced, though someone mentioned that it took a member of the British Army to do that, and not a BBC employee. (I note that Paxo revised the obligatory Pali war dead figure down from the usual 1400 to 1300, presumably for one day only.)

But the general consensus that Israel’s legitimacy itself is questionable persists.
I wonder why the UK tries so hard to misrepresent a country that it ought to admire, why the BBC has orchestrated a delegitimising campaign that ignores Israel’s wonderful achievements and altruistic deeds, and distorts and twists everything it possibly can to depict it in a bad light, concentrates on its flaws and shortcomings, magnifying them out of all proportion while glossing over that of its – and our own – enemy.

Cookery programmes are still popular, and last night’s Panorama offered another traditional and much loved recipe for making Israel look really evil.

Ingredients.
Two or three bright-eyed fanatics.
One grey-haired self-hating lawyer with American accent.
One or two Chosen People, with multiple progeny.

Spicy Topping:
Assorted Palestinians. (select: sad, angry, wounded, bereaved, evicted from home, tearful child.
Before use, carefully remove all traces of religiously based anti-Semitism and murderous intent.

Garnish.
Available off the shelf: Ready-made clip of small group walking towards camera in religious fancy dress. Must include one large furry hat made from enormous car tyre.

Method.
Pre heat audience by drip-feeding propaganda for 40 years till boiling. Scrupulously remove and discard all historical context. Mix together, dish up and present, preferably by woman who has stolen Clare Short’s face.

If this is facetious, there is a serious side. Panorama used to be an important programme, a flagship BBC product. Now it’s superficial, sensational and slapdash. A microcosm of the BBC.

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.