Israel, Gaza and the world media

The bias shown against Israel over the recent attacks on Hamas in Gaza has been quite incredible, and in the vanguard of the attacks have been the vile BBC. You can find plenty of examples in my blog, do have a read.

On Friday morning I had the grave misfortune to be stuck in traffic, because of the snow, and listening to the Radio 4 Today programme when Sarah Montague "interviewed" Israeli spokesman Mark Regev. I have rarely heard an interviewer show such contempt for the interviewee nor to come quite so close to losing their "cool"; Sarah Montague's "militants...... for want of a better name" was a classic moment. This "interview" left me very angry and I don't like posting when angry. Do listen to the interview for yourselves, you can find it for the next few days here at 08:37.


If you are interested in seeing how the world media (including the BBC) misreported the Israel/Hamas conflict then Honest Reporting have an excellent report which is well worth reading in full; here's an extract:

"Portrayed as the epitome of courage under fire, Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert appeared on television screens around the world and in the pages of many newspapers, including the BBC, CBS, CNN, ABC, AFP, Independent, Sky News, and New York Times.

Working at Gaza's Shifa Hospital, Gilbert tells news organizations of the "horrors" inflicted by Israel, including unproven accusations that "Gaza is now being used as a test laboratory for new weapons."

But was Gilbert a neutral and objective observer? What the media didn't tell you was his involvement in solidarity work with Palestinians since the 1970s and his membership of the hard-left Norwegian communist party Rød Valgallianse, which disbanded in 2007. He has criticized international aid organization Doctors Without Borders for refusing to take sides in conflicts. Dr Gilbert is employed by NORWAC, whose partner organisations include Hezbollah's Martyr Foundation."

All of these lies aimed at vilifying Israel do have the predictable effect of increasing hatred of Jews in the west and so of anti-Semitic attacks; and as I have blogged these attacks are real, nasty and increasing in frequency. The BBC of course would prefer to downplay these attacks by "radicalised" Muslims and others on British Jews whilst continuing to warn of the dangers of a "backlash against Muslims". The truth is unpalatable to the BBC and of course unrepeatable by them; the chosen "narrative" must be disseminated.