This will be interesting... How will the BBC coverage of Rosh Hashonah and Yom Kippur compare with its coverage of Ramadan?

The BBC show great reverence across their programming and website for the month long Muslim festival of Ramadan and the explanations of its importance and significance are clearly explained. I wonder if the BBC will show as much respect this week and next as Britain's Jewish community first celebrate Rosh Hashonah (the New Year) from sunset on Wednesday to sunset on Friday and then Yom Kippur the day of atonement) 10 days later. I wonder if the BBC will explain the significance of both days to the lives of Jews around the world, why the New Year is celebrated on two days (not one), or will that linkage to ancient expulsion from Israel be too much against the agreed BBC narrative to be allowed a serious mention?

Will the BBC use the occasion of Yom Kippur to remind readers, listeners and viewers of 1973 when the massed armies of Arab countries invaded Israel on this the most holy day in the Jewish calendar, when all Jews should fast all day and spend the day in synagogue in contemplation and atonement for the sins of the previous year? Or would remembering that day be counter to the BBC's agreed Middle East narrative of evil Israelis and poor Palestinians?

Will the BBC show any footage of Jews at the 'Wailing Wall' in Jerusalem and if so will they explain what the 'Wailing Wall' is and how it comes to be that a Jewish monument of such antiquity (dating to before the birth of Christ) exists in what the BBC endlessly portray as Muslim lands? Will the BBC explain that Muslim invaders built their Al-Aqsa Mosque on top of the temple Mount so as to show their dominance over the Jews? Will the BBC contrast how the Jews have not destroyed the Al-Aqsa Mosque but left it in-situ and have not rebuilt their Temple over the top of the mosque? Will the BBC explain how whilst Muslims claim that Jerusalem is the third most holy site in Islam despite it not being mentioned even once on the Koran, it is the Jews most holy place and mentioned over and over in the Old Testament and the subject of one of the most moving expressions of hope in the Jewish calendar; when in the Pesach Seder night service Jews all wish that next year they will celebrate Pesach in Jerusalem - 'Next year in Jerusalem' 'L'Shana Haba'a B'yerushalayim'?

Will the BBC contrast the way that Muslims are allowed to worship at the Al-Aqsa Mosque right in the heart of the holiest part of Jerusalem with the way that Jews were banned from the Western Wall after 1948 despite the 1949 Armistice Agreement providing for Israeli Jewish access to the Western Wall? Will the BBC discuss why Israelis mistrust the idea of sharing Jerusalem with the Palestinians after their experience of Jerusalem being under the control of the real Palestinian homeland of Jordan between 1948 and 1967 when Jordan refused access to the Wailing Wall to Jews despite the attempts of the United Nations and other international bodies to attempt to enforce the armistice agreement? Will the BBC remind people of how Jordan refused to abide by the Armistice in this respect? Will the BBC inform people of how the Jordanians refused access to the Wailing Wall for anyone who could not produce a certificate of baptism?

Will the BBC ever discuss how the Jordanians used Jewish gravestones to line army barracks latrines and contrast that with the way that Israel shows respect to Muslim antiquities?


So to my Jewish readers I wish a hearty Shana Tova and a peaceful and secure 5771.