Category Archives: jeremy bowen

Scuppered

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Jeremy Bowen sets out to hammer home what the BBC has, for the last sixty years, been persuading us to believe. First he demonstrates that Jewish settlers are deluded fanatics who believe that the
occupiedterritoriesillegalunderinternationallaw have been given to them by God.

Then he spends considerable effort conveying that Palestinians are peace loving victims whose land (Muslim land) has been stolen by religious European and American Jews who habitually spew sewage over it. Olive trees, (lush) are introduced to convey pathos and wrest more sympathy from the listener, who will not be aware that Mahmoud Abbas the so-called moderate partner for peace said recently “I will never allow a single Israeli to live on Palestinian land.”
The BBC sets out to show that the negotiations have been scuppered solely by Israel’s refusal to extend the moratorium on building within Jewish settlements. The BBC deliberately gives the impression that this involves extending Jewish territory and contracting future Palestinian territory, when the truth tells quite a different story.

The anomaly regarding the religious connection to the area, (apparently ridiculous when expressed by Jews, but acceptable and incontrovertible when applied to Muslims) doesn’t seem to have struck the BBC.
Bowen portrays the Palestinians as if they were a genteel team from an English village protest group in a tussle with some fanatical Jewish zealots, armed to the teeth and bristling with aggression, over a bit of stolen property, when the reality is nearly the reverse of that. Their David is really Goliath, and their Goliath is radical Islam.

The BBC doesn’t want us to think of Israel as a liberal westernised democracy whose struggle for survival is seriously threatened by followers of Islam with its attendant duplicity and inherent antisemitism; not to mention being surrounded and outnumbered by the enemy and vilified by the BBC and therefore the rest of the world.

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BOWEN IN JERUSALEM….

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Anyone catch this report from Jeremy Al Bowen as he strolls around the streets of Jerusalam to “find out the mood of the public towards continuing peace negotiations”? Bowen parrots the Palestinian demand that Jerusalem  must also be it’s Holy City (as much as it is Israel’s) if there is to be peace – this equivocation is so ludicrous only Bowen could make it. If Palestinians wanted a publicist who can always be relied upon. Al Bowen fits the bill. I wonder did he wear a Keffiyeh when he filed his report?

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Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off.

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Constant repetition of a word or phrase can transform it from eloquent to hollow. However perfectly it encapsulates a situation, over-use will render it meaningless.
Trotted out over and over again, words like vilify, delegitimise, illegal war, international law, apartheid, and many more, lose their impact; particularly when they’re bandied about willy nilly by people who have no idea whether what they’ve said is justified, appropriate or the truth.

Peace activist, humanitarian aid, war crimes, obstacle to peace, Palestinians. Nazi. Fascist. Neocon. We’re all trapped by these words.
We say antisemitism, you say Islamophobia; we say terrorist, you say religion of peace; we say Islamic, you say unIslamic; we say legitimate, you say illegitimate; we say Israel, you say Zionist entity; we say biased, you say balanced. Tomato, potato, potahto, tomayto. Let’s call the whole Jeremy Bowen off.

From Our Own Correspondent, fully transcribed online, so you don’t have to listen to the lisp or behold the glistening brow.
The BBC’s chief Middle East Editor expounds on the rift between Netanyahu and Obama, between Israel and America. There are certain things only your best friend will tell you, Bowen opines. Being a little cruel to be kind, Obama whispers gently to his good friend that he’s not standing for much more of this Jewish lobby malarky. The Jewish lobby’s convention centre in Washington DC is bigger than.. than… than …. a football pitch, Bowen declaims. No! several football pitches. That’s how powerful the Jewish lobby is.

Not for much longer though, he speculates. Impertinent Netanyahu with his lectures on the Arab-Israel conflict, his deliberate insults to the VP, his Homes for Jews in occupied Palestinian territories illegal under international law, and his attacks on innocent Turkish peace activists. Jeopardising peace on earth, provoking the Muslims with his pesky Israel. This can’t go on, Bowen predicts. No more Mr. nice guy. That’s what will happen; verily I say unto my listeners.

Jeremy Bowen and his ilk have coined a whole lot of phrases, some of them have become meaningless, and some were meaningless in the first place. Without a hint of self-examination or self awareness the BBC happily lets the middle east editor insinuate about powerful Jewish lobbies. No sign nor hint of a recognition that the BBC is itself an enormous great lobby. The size of… of…. of… thousands of football pitches.

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JEREMY’S BACK

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It is not a good day at the BBC if they can’t snipe at Israel and so it is that B-BBC stalwart Jeremy Al Bowen does his usual routine here As ever the language is so loaded and dripping in anti-Israel sentiment that Hamas would struggle to be less biased than him. It’s outrageous the way the BBC foists this biased coverage of all matters Israel upon us.

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WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN

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I am not an unqualified fan of Melanie Phillips; sometimes she seems a tad too rigid and a tad too pious in her pronouncements. But her new book, The World Turned Upside Down, is a fascinating – and riveting – read for all those who wonder where the BBC’s Jew-hating, tree-hugging, anti-religious, industry-bashing, climate change fanatical, lefty-loving mindset comes from. Her central theory is that such causes are now espoused by BBC types because they believe that they are “liberal” – but in reality, the agenda of all of the various trendy “-isms” is authoritarian state control of a type best exmplified by Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia. And very relevant to the current Jew-bashing that is going on, Ms Phillips trenchantly reminds us in the book that in 2009, the BBC Trustees rebuked BBC Middle East “expert” Jeremy Bowen for claiming that the Israeli agenda in the six days war was not to protect itself from Arab aggression, but to finish the unfinished business of 1948 – to capture East Jerusalem. It’s also relevant to Mr Bowen’s latest reports of hate over the past few days that he received only a mild rap over the knuckles for this outrageous claim; clearly, the Trustees’ real agenda was to allow him to carry on regardless.

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Predictable Probe

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There are two sides to every story. With infinite nuances and variations, obviously.

For many years the BBC has listened more sympathetically to one side in the interminable Middle East conflict than the other. As the story has evolved and become more complicated, the BBC’s position has become more entrenched and also more incongruous, being that it supports democracy, liberty, gay rights and all things that make radical Islam such a strange bedfellow.

Jeremy Bowen has an agenda. We are told he still resents the killing, by an Israeli, of his Palestinian driver. He sympathises with the Palestinians, and finds most Israelis prickly and brusque. His fixers and enablers are Arabs.

One could well disregard all that, but his most egregious failing is that he has only a partial knowledge of history. He tries to appear fair to both sides, but he doesn’t know or won’t tell us that different but equally valid and credible versions of historical events even exist. He might omit a crucial detail that would throw things into a different light here; add a word there, and imbue his reports with subtly disparaging innuendos everywhere.

The recent BBC Trust’s decision to uphold two complaints against Jeremy Bowen, and to publicly censure him brought forth a petulant outburst from Jonathan Dimbleby. He blamed this outcome on the absence, on the day of the hearing, of Richard Tait, head of the BBC’s Editorial Standards Committee.

Now it seems, the BBC are going to investigate another complaint against Jeremy Bowen – with Mr. Tait as chair.

Richard Tait has already stated his position. He has the utmost faith in Jeremy Bowen. So we await the outcome with bated breath.

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Linguistic Limitations

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Apart from Jeremy Bowen’s pro Palestinian position, his grievance against Israelis, his reliance on Palestinian stringers because of his inability to speak either Hebrew or Arabic, and his lisp, one thing that annoys me about the BBC’s M.E. editor is the difficulty he has with his own language. This morning he chats with Sarah Montague about Obama’s forthcoming speech aimed at embracing the Muslim world. Struggling for a while with “ much looked-forward-to” he eventually found the word that had eluded him – “anticipated.” His vocabulary-light rhetoric is always peppered with “quite franklys” and “if you see what I means,” although I’m not sure he’s ever ventured a “to be Honest”
Anyway, he says that Netanyahu has his hands tied by the religious right, who have got it into their silly little heads that the land belongs to the chosen ones. Obama has the difficult task of convincing these religiously fanatical Jews to accede to Arab demands while overlooking entirely the intransigence, violence and genocidal intentions of his religiously fanatical Islamic brethren.
With next week’s ME visit by the One, ‘going forward’, Jeremy Bowen’s reports on the BBC are being eagerly – “much looked forward to.”

I’ll leave Justin Webb to everyone out there. Over to you.
(Too early for the Today link. Please, someone add it later)

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Same Old Same Old

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Q. What do you remember about the slap on the wrist given to the BBC by the BBC Trust’s Editorial Standards Committee?

A. Some of the complaints about bias in the Middle east Editor’s reporting were upheld.

All well and good. What has happened since? Has Jeremy Bowen changed? Has he been demoted? Has the reporting become less biased?
The Zionist Federation and the intrepid Jonathan Turner who tussled with the BBC for almost two years over this are not happy.

On April 16th they issued a press release stating exactly why they were not satisfied with the BBC’s response. Or lack thereof.

For example rephrasing of the web article was inadequate and not in accord with the trust’s findings.
The BBC recognises that ” there is no consensus view of history” and that “there are others who have different analysis – which of course they are entitled to.”
But Jeremy Bowen does not refer to the existence of “different analyses” Does he even realise there are any?

The Zionist Federation contends that the BBC’s biased reporting over the years has contributed to overt and covert hostility towards Israel and Jews, which has led to the racist acts against British Jews which they have statistically documented.

Even those who dispute that will wonder why so little has changed, and why Jeremy Bowen is still the BBC’s Middle East editor.

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Saved by the Click

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Today, today.
The Pope is in Jordan travelling with Jeremy Bowen. Or the other way around. Anyway they’re on a pilgrimage.
James Naughtie points out that there are Pitfalls For The Pope.
Not to mention pitfalls for Jeremy Bowen. He’s been smacked on the wrist for committing Bias.
“The Pope wants to build bridges” says Jeremy, “The Muslim Brotherhood want an apology for something or other that the Pope said once that made them angry.”
“Yes,” says Naughtie, “Too bad. And what will happen when he crosses the river and has to confront all those nasty Jews in Israel?”
“Click” says the radio.
“Oh dear,” says Naughtie” “That’s another fine mess technology has got us out of.”

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My Knee-Jerk Reaction

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What can I say? All pretence of impartiality has been abandoned. It’s unbelievable that Jeremy Bowen is the BBC’s Middle East Editor. What can the BBC be thinking of? If the BBC regards the hate-jamboree we’ve just witnessed on Panorama as acceptable broadcasting, no wonder people have uncontrollable outbursts in gyms. 

Jeremy Bowen is irresponsible, out of his depth, prejudiced, antisemitic and incompetent. His pornographic wallowing in human misery and his sneering dismissal of anything said by Israel comes close to deliberate incitement to racial hatred. The Israeli spokesman was a particularly unsympathetic character who looked, or was made to look, vengeful and cold.

 

Bowen’s references to ‘what happened in 1948’ were inaccurate and deliberately provocative, the disingenuous way he limply offered up ‘Israel’s claims’ just so that they could be dismissed, the complete absence of any reference to Hamas’s violence, repression and tyranny, and his almost pleading finale on behalf of the Hamas offer of a 10 year Hudna, they all…… beggar belief.

(new font; if wrong size will try to edit. Note. You can’t please everybody)

 

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