The bias lies in the very first sentence.
“UN development projects in Gaza are being stalled by Israel’s blockade of the region.”
“UN development projects in Gaza are being stalled by Hamas terror threats against Israel”
Anyone catch posh Ed Stourton’s travelogue on that charming resort of Gaza this morning? (7.39am). I was touched hearing his all too evident admiration for the tunnelling skills of those fine Hamastan inhabitants although angered at the way in which the evil Jews have wrought all of this due to their “Operation Cast Lead” a year ago. Good old BBC – ALWAYS fair and balanced on this topic.
God, did you catch the BBC TV news at 6pm? We were treated to a full-on love-in for all those killed in Israel’s “bloody war” against the poor innocents of Hamastan. It seems that those evil Jews just wantonly slaughtered at will and little wonder the BBC seems determined to not let the moment pass. The shocking lack of any balance of this topic requires comment. Your thoughts?
I see the BBC has been doing it’s best for those poor innocents that support Hamas. It reports today that “the world” failed Gaza earlier this year. I agree. “The world” should have fully supported Israel as it sought to defend itself from the murderous intent of the Islamic Jihadists that constitute Hamas. But that’s NOT the line being retailed by the BBC this morning. No, you see the issue is that the bad Jews need to be pressurised much more for daring to defend themselves, or so says those impartial anti-Semites at Oxfam. The BBC is beside itself with joy at this seasonal message from the fake Charities although it does Israel two sentences to defend itself at the very end of the report. Meanwhile on Today, we had Hamada Abuqammar @ 7.19am relating just how tough life is for the poor people of Gaza, and explaining exactly why all those tunnels into Egypt are for humanitarian purposes. Hamas must love the BBC – if only they, rather than we, funded them.
Is the release of one thousand Palestinian prisoners in exchange for one young Israeli soldier kidnapped in 2006 a good deal?
Under the circumstances, and in the long run, maybe. Superficially though, one would have thought it looked a leedle, – how you say? – disproportionate. Never mind. We’ll soon be hearing the outcry about that from the BBC. Or not.
So the imminent swap – Gilad Shalit for Marwan Barghouti and nine hundred and ninety nine others– is good news. We want Shalit to be safe more than we mind returning one thousand criminals who are hell-bent on harming Israel.
The World This Weekend (hat tip Craig) featured a rather splendid profile of Barghouti, straight out of the school of journalism that regards certain terrorist atrocities as audacious, and euphamises certain terrorists as militants. So, to establish some weird sort of moral equivalence, three of Barghouti’s admirers were brought in to sing his praises; Ghada Karmi from the University of Exeter with its Saudi-funded Islamic studies dept., BBC’s useful Arabist Alistair Crooke, and Richard Burden M.P. Britain-Palestine all-Party group. Oh yes, and for balance, Devorah Chen chief prosecutor in Barghouti’s trial.
I forgot to mention that Barghouti was convicted of murdering several Israelis. –But that’s a mere detail of no consequence; in fact it’s quite an asset.
The man’s a hero, clean, honest and a patriot, some say he’s a bit like Nelson Mandela, and an ideal replacement for Mahmoud Abbas. He might unify quarreling Palestinian factions.
All Hamas wants is a little stake in power, yet it is treated as a pariah says Ms. Karmi. How fair is that? Poor Hamas. A pariah.
Brought to you by Brian Hanrahanrahan of the Britain-Palestine let’s all have a party Broadcasting Corporation.
Craig’s bias coefficient analysis thingy:
Ghada Karmi (pro-Barghouti): 2 minutes 9 seconds
Devorah Chan (anti-Barghouti): 42 seconds
Alistair Crooke (pro-Barghouti): 17 seconds
Richard Burden (pro-Barghouti): 1 minutes 3 seconds
Or
Pro-Barghouti: 3 minutes 29 seconds
Anti-Barghouti: 42 seconds
Interesting item from Katya Alder in Gaza here. The UN in Gaza is very worried that thousands of schoolchildren are living in homes and studying in schools in varying states of disrepair. Naturally Israel is to blame for this and Katja was able to provide those lovable inhabitants of Hamastan with plenty of opportunities to damn Israel. With this Israeli-induced cash crisis causing so much misery, I was a bit surprised that the intrepid Katja did not enquire what the locals thought of the decision from Hamas to impose Islamic dress code for girls in these deprived schools, presumably that’s one imposition that nobody minds?
The BBC is the main source of the misinformation that makes some people call all supporters of Israel ‘foam-flecked fanatics,’ and which makes us in turn think of those people as gullible fools. These wordbattles continue in the face of the mass of evidence piling up before your very eyes, evidence that some of you go to great lengths to avoid acknowledging.
Fanatical Islamists can hold meetings in Kensington Town Hall, people can write books filled with inaccuracies and propaganda, pockets of the UK can sprog radicals and recruits to Al Qa’eda, primitive cultural practices can be turned a blind eye to, and the majority will still fall for the BBC’s lulling reassurances rather than risk mentioning their concerns, and being labelled a phobic racist.
Compare two approaches to the recent activities of Hamas in Gaza. Not the crackdown by the virtue police enforcing modesty regulations upon ladies’ swimwear and shop mannequins, or the new ruling about ‘school uniform’ for girls, but the conflict between Hamas and another extreme, radical outfit that managed to cast Hamas into the absurd role of ‘more moderate.’
Think of this in the context of the BBC’s continual mantra that talking to Hamas will hasten the peace process. The BBC tells us ‘Gaza Islamist leader dies in raid,’ a strangely passive headline for a shoot-out between Hamas and the leader of Jund Ansar Allah, ‘Soldiers of the Followers of God,’ in which several people were killed and a mosque was damaged. What they wanted was an Islamic emirate, which on the face of it is what Hamas wants too. But they wanted it to be their Islamic emirate, and not Hamas’s, and they were keen to fight to the death; which they did. So everyone got what they wanted for the time being, and Hamas continues to fight against Israel which they will never recognise, no matter how much Britain, America, Mahmoud Abbas, or even the BBC, talks to them.
Ambassador Ron Proser (who spoke to John Humphrys this morning,) says of Hamas:
“sections of the media are determined to whitewash and legitimise it. They are joined by various politicians, commentators and activists, who argue that Israel and the West must talk to Hamas, so implying that it is on the verge of a switch to moderation.”
The BBC’s article, apart from a bizarre reference by Ismail Haniya to “Israeli Zionists.” portrays Hamas as reasonable people who ‘one could do business with”, Compare that with Ron Proser’s piece in the Telegraph. It begins:
“Earlier this month, Hamas launched a devastating bombardment of rocket-propelled grenades and machine-gun fire against a mosque in Rafah. The attack killed at least 22 Palestinians, including an 11-year-old girl. Over 100 more were injured and the mosque, which belonged to a rival Islamist faction, the Jund Ansar Allah, was left riddled with bullets. The adjacent building was destroyed. Yet Hamas’s disregard for the sanctity of a house of worship, and its contempt for the lives of neighbouring civilians, is unlikely to be the subject of any probing reports from Human Rights Watch.”
And criticism of them brands me as a foaming-at-the mouth phobic racist.
“That is one of the risks that you take,” she said, hoping for martyrdom, but stopping short of suicide.
Will they they arrest Clare Short, Michael Ankram and Fianna Fáil TD, Chris Andrews too? He knows all about ‘talking’, what with the NI peace process – oh wait.
The BBC has been strangely quiet about this, unlike several other news outlets, but
Sarah Montague is overtly in favour of talking to Hamas, – can’t wait for Today tomorrow.
Quite fond of getting onto all fours…
“Mr. Galloway kissed the ground after crossing into Gaza.”
“I have entered Palestine many times but the most emotional of these is after the 22-day genocidal aggression against the Palestinian people,” he told reporters, referring to the Israeli offensive which ended on 18 January which Israeli said was launched in response to rocket fire from Gaza.”
Making sure they mention the genocidal aggression etc. etc., they forgot to add that Gorgeous was donating direct to Ismail Haniya, leader of Hamas
“We are giving you now 100 vehicles and all of their contents, and we make no apology for what I am about to say. We are giving them to the elected government of Palestine,” Galloway said at a press conference in Gaza City.
Galloway said he personally would be donating three cars and 25,000 pounds to Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya as he dared the West to try to prosecute him for aiding what it considers a terror group.
“I say now to the British and European governments, if you want to take me to court, I promise you there is no jury in all of Britain who will convict me. They will convict you.”
Galloway made the announcement at an outdoor conference in the presence of several senior Hamas officials, and his words were greeted by shouts of “Allahu Akbar!” (God is Great).
Aid for Gaza =Aid for Hamas.
One of my fellow writers, Mike Cunningham, over on A Tangled Web has picked up on a piece by BBC Newnight by reporter/commentator/Hamas publicist Mark Urban. Urban complains about recent damage by Israeli rocket fire to war graves, including that of his great uncle, in in the British War Cemetery in Gaza. Mike addds “I wonder why he doesn’t also go to Hamas and demand some compensation from them. Compensation for having no doubt stationed their rocket, mortar and anti-aircraft gun crews in the same hallowed area, thus bringing down the wrath of Israel’s armed forces when they finally decided that enough was enough!”
