| Topic: | Re:Peaceful march of Jews in London to support Israel...... | |
| Posted by: | Steven Rose | |
| Date/Time: | 30/11/23 21:30:00 |
| The conflict in Gaza is tragic and people are naturally distressed by the scale of the destruction and the loss of life. But in my opinion the widespread criticism of Israel, borne out by the number of people who attended marches in support of the Palestinians, is influenced by the biased coverage in the media, particularly the BBC. 1) It is noticeable that statements by Israel are regarded as questionable unless ‘independently verified’, while statements by Hamas are accepted as true unless conclusively shown to be false and sometimes not even then. For example, at the beginning of the conflict BBC journalists based in Israel, Jon Donnison and Jeremy Bowen, virtually endorsed Hamas’ accusation that Israel had carried out a massive air strike on the Al Ahli hospital resulting in hundreds of casualties. The following morning Mishal Husain on the ‘Today’ programme aggressively challenged an Israel general to prove that Israel was not responsible. In fact the accusation was false in every respect. A conflagration had occurred in the carpark, not the hospital, which was virtually undamaged, the casualties were around 50 and, most importantly, the damage was caused by a malfunctioning Islamic Jihad rocket. The BBC’s false report was widely disseminated in the Middle East and among other things caused Saudi Arabia to break off talks to normalise relations with Israel, but the BBC has never apologised. A second example is the ‘attack’ on the Al Shifa hospital. The BBC repeatedly questioned Israel’s claim that the hospital was used by Hamas to cover military operations, even though as far back as 2015 Amnesty International has reported that it was used by Hamas for interrogation and torture. Even when Kalashnikovs, a grenade, military uniforms and a booby trapped vehicle were found in the hospital, not to mention a tunnel entrance discovered in the grounds, Jeremy Bowen repeated a claim by Hamas that this material belonged to the hospital security staff. A third example is the death toll. The BBC regularly reports figures given by the ‘Hamas Health Ministry’ on the number of people killed in Gaza. The total is never questioned and no attempt is made to assess how many of those killed are actually Hamas fighters. 2) While BBC journalists embedded with the IDF are careful to point out that their reports are subject to Israeli military censorship, the BBC never warns its viewers that journalists operating in Gaza are reporting from areas under Hamas control and are effectively subject to Hamas censorship. Their reports only show flattened buildings and distressed civilians. Hamas is never seen and never mentioned. It is as if they didn’t exist, Gaza being populated only by innocent civilians. |