BBC amplification of organised anti-Israel delegitimising campaign

A headline appearing on the Middle East page of the BBC News website on November 30th informed readers that “Bedouins hold Israel ‘day of rage’”, with the sub-header reading:

“Bedouin Arabs living in Israel have been protesting in the Negev Desert and towns and cities over government plans to resettle them.”

Below that headline (and also at the bottom of the article itself) appeared a link to a ‘related story’ produced in January 2013 by Newsnight’s Tim Whewell which was discussed here.

The link in the headline leads to an article titled “Israel: Negev Bedouins’ ‘day of rage’ over resettlement plan“. 

The article opens:

“Bedouin Arabs living in Israel have been protesting in the Negev Desert and towns and cities over government plans to resettle them.”

So, in two headlines, a sub-header and an introductory sentence, readers have already been informed four times before they begin to read the article itself that the participants in (and by implication, the organisers of) the protests which took place on November 30th were Bedouin.

There is no doubt that some Bedouin were present at some of those demonstrations. However, at no point does the BBC’s report inform readers of the broader background to those protests, which are part of a much wider delegitimisation campaign – initiated, led and coordinated by non-Bedouin actors – which has been going on for some time. 

Details of that coordinated campaign have been published by NGO Monitor in a report titled NGOS AND THE NEGEV BEDOUIN ISSUE IN THE CONTEXT OF POLITICAL WARFARE. Further information on the propaganda surrounding the issue can be read in this article by Ben Dror Yemini. 

The distinctly jaded term ‘Days of Rage’ has been used to conscript supporters to similar protests on several occasions in the past. Among those making up the conglomerate of anti-Israel activists promoting these regular demonstrations are the International Solidarity Movement (which is linked of course to the same people who organized the failed flotilla publicity stunts), the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS), the ‘Stop the Wall’ organization (which was also involved in the ‘Global March to Jerusalem’ publicity stunt), the Communist Party of Israel and the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee (the leader of which also took part in the organization of the ‘Global March to Jerusalem’ and in the 2010 flotilla). As can be seen in the logo appearing on this campaign poster promoted on the blog of veteran anti-Israel campaigner Abir Kopty, advertising material for the campaign has been produced by non-Bedouin organisations such as the Haifa-based Baladna. 

Promotion of the November 30th ‘Day of Rage’ events outside Israel has also been carried out by known anti-Israel campaigners such as Yael Kahn (no stranger to the BBC), Ben White writing on the Hamas-linked MEMO site and of course the flotilla-participating, Hamas-supporting Palestine Solidarity Campaign. 

Hence, the BBC’s portrayal of these demonstrations as spontaneous protests initiated by Bedouin living in the Negev is – at best – a very partial representation of the facts. However, it can also be viewed as aiding and abetting a political campaign which now exploits the Bedouin issue for a much wider and older agenda of delegitimisation and that perception is reinforced by the fact that the BBC article links to an organised campaigning letter signed (at the click of a mouse on the PSC website) by a collection of known anti-Israel campaigners and former ‘celebs’ and published – naturally – in the Guardian. 

Beyond a few token sentences clearly designed to ‘tick the impartial box’, the BBC report makes no effort to inform readers of the actual substance of the proposed Prawer-Begin Plan. Neither does it make it clear that the majority of Negev Bedouin have already taken advantage of the incentives on offer to them and now live in planned communities where all the facilities and services can be provided. In fact, readers of this BBC article would take away the exact opposite impression.

“Before the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, groups of Bedouin Arabs lived a semi-nomadic life in the Negev but in modern times many have settled in what are known as “unrecognised villages”.

Because they have no formal planning status, they have no access to government services including supplies of electricity and running water. Some are no more than collections of flimsy shacks made from corrugated iron.”

Here is what one Bedouin has to say about the Israeli government’s plan to improve the living conditions and economic status of the Negev Bedouin:

The BBC article also promotes the myth of “Jewish settlements” often advanced by anti-Israel campaigners:

“However, the Bedouin and their supporters see the resettlement move as a smokescreen for a programme to cut the historic links between the Arab communities and their land, and to replace them with new Jewish settlements.”

The BBC News website editors would do well to heed their own Key Terms guide on the use of the word “Jewish” in this case.

“Jewish 

Be careful over whether you mean ‘Israeli’ or ‘Jewish’: the latter might imply that the story is about race or religion, rather than the actions of the state or its citizens.”

As it stands, the implication in the BBC report is that only Jews will be able to live in any “Jewish settlements” to be constructed in the Negev – an assertion which is patently untrue as Ben Dror Yemini notes.

“Any Bedouin who wishes to buy land there is invited to do so and is entitled to do so. Of course, that would cost money. In Meitar, for example, Bedouins from the surrounding area decided to buy plots of land. No one stopped them.”

Not only does this BBC article fail to meet basic editorial demands of accuracy and impartiality; it also seriously damages the BBC’s standing and reputation by displaying the extent of its self-conscription to the ranks of an organized political campaign which goes far beyond the issue of the Negev Bedouin. 

BBC explains why it did not report on toddler injured by stone-throwers

Typical of the BBC a arab terror attack on Israelis is not reported.  But.... Israel Gov. just think to build A Jewish Home....BBC reporters are the first ones to shout & complain.

On Sunday December 1st two year-old Avigail Ben Zion was released from hospital in Jerusalem where she had been treated for the fractured skull she sustained in the stone-throwing attack on her mother’s car the previous week. 

As was noted here at the time, that incident – like many other non-fatal attacks on Israelis – was not reported by the BBC, despite its having an office eleven minutes away from the site of the attack in south Jerusalem.

A reader who contacted the BBC regarding that failure to report the attack on a woman and three small children received the following reply:

“We do not report every incident in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. This does not in any way mean that we judge the attack which injured the toddler as not serious important [sic], but we cannot report every case where there is a casualty.  Naturally the story received coverage in Israeli media as one would expect, but this does necessarily mean we would report it too.”

The writer of that reply – and apparently the BBC in general – clearly does not grasp that the issue here is not one of how the BBC chooses to “judge” the seriousness or importance of an incident.  Such unsolicited judgement is neither necessary nor relevant to anything except the BBC’s own sense of self-importance.

What is relevant, however, is that the BBC is obliged under the terms of its charter – its constitutional basis – to fulfil the public purpose of informing and providing context to audiences in order to enable them to form informed opinions on “international issues”.

One such international issue is the talks currently going on between Israel and the PLO in the framework of the search for a peaceful solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. It is a subject which the BBC has covered extensively, producing numerous reports and backgrounders on the subject.

The issue of the rising scale of terror attacks against Israeli civilians even as those talks continue is, however, one which has been largely ignored or downplayed by the BBC. That means that its audiences have no appreciation of the influence of those quotidian attacks (especially those in which children are injured) on Israeli public opinion regarding the issue of the ‘peace process’ and are deprived of the context necessary to understand Israeli policy and actions – as they were, for example, at the beginning of Operation Pillar of Cloud in November 2012 because the BBC had previously under-reported the missile attacks on Israeli civilians living in proximity to the Gaza Strip.

Hence, the relevance of the BBC’s decision not to report on a terror attack against a toddler and her family at rush hour in Israel’s capital city is not to be found in the BBC’s assessment of that incident’s ‘seriousness’ or ‘importance’, but in the fact that by not reporting it, the BBC is failing to meet the obligations to inform audiences which are its very raison d’etre. 

source

BBC are at it again - They really can't tell fact from fiction or is it that their world view is a just a fair tale?

The BBC never cease to amaze do they? Terrorists in Gaza have 'Allegedly' shot down a drone and we say allegedly, by the way, because Israel strongly denies it.

But the BBC, always willing to believe a gang of terrorists, but seldom do they want to believe the the truth, even if it is from sources from a legitimate democratic ally. 

The BBC headline read 

'Israel denies drone was shot down'

Yes people that's the BBC headline - insinuating straight away to the reader that something is amiss and putting immediately the seed in people's brains that Israel has something to hide. 

The first sentence begins

' An Israeli drone has come down in the northern Gaza Strip, with Israel denying Palestinian reports that it was shot down'

Obviously the Palestinian reports must be taken seriously, a bit like the dimwits at the BBC took seriously reports during the Gaza conflict last year when the BBC looked stupid when more than one Palestinian report turned out to be bogus. Like a dead man on a stretcher who ten minutes later was seen laughing and joking.

The next sentence is interesting.

"The armed wing of Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, claimed it had shot down and seized the mini-drone"

The 'Armed Wing' of Hamas - Not the terrorist wing, but Hamas's 'armed wing' - insinuating to the readers that Hamas somehow is a legitimate government with their own military force.

 If it weren't for the fact that innocent Israelis have died due to these disgusting murderers the story could be laughable. 

The report continues:

"IDF clarifies, in contradiction to Palestinian reports, that a 'Skylark' tactical mini UAV system crashed earlier today in the Gaza Strip due to a technical malfunction, and was not shot down by Palestinian militants," an IDF spokesperson told the BBC on Sunday.

In 'contradiction' - so now Israel, a legitimate democratic country are 'contradicting' reports from a gang of terrorists who murder, rape, torture and break every concession, rule and have no regard whatsoever for human life or democracy.

This is a good bit

'But Hamas said fighters from its "military wing" the Izz al-Din Qassam Brigades, had downed and seized the drone'

So now it's Hamas's 'military wing' - Still no mention of the words terrorist.

We suggest that the BBC takes a step back and look at the situation in the Middle East more closely because from where this blog is standing they simply have no clue.