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Sunday 25 November 2012

A Middle East hospital bombed, 15 people killed and the BBC don't report it

On Thursday 22 November, at least 15 people were killed when Syrian government forces bombed an Aleppo hospital, rebel forces have said. The rebels claimed that 40 people may have been trapped in the ruined building, whilst the dead included at least two children and two hospital employees.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Network for Human Rights reported government forces had killed 17 people Wednesday in the Damascus suburbs.


Terrible loss of life and the hospital being bombed is a truly horrific story, yet not a word can I find on the BBC about the news. Indeed the last story to mention Aleppo is this one from October entitled 'Aleppo: Treating trauma on the front line. The BBC's Ian Pannell visits a hospital in Aleppo overwhelmed with trauma victims of Syria's civil war, where doctors work under fire to keep people alive.' I wonder if it was the same hospital?

What is most revealing is this. If this had been a Gazan hospital hit by Israel, can you imagine the amount of coverage the story would have received on the BBC. It seems that on the BBC Israel kills Palestinians is headline news, whilst Muslim Arab dictator kills other Muslims is not even worthy of coverage. Is this because a) the BBC are not interested in Muslim on Muslim violence, b) the BBC still think fondly of Syria's President Assad as someone who stood up to Israel, c) the BBC's hatred for Israel means that their news coverage is skewed? Of course more than one of the above options could be true.

So come on then Jeremy 'Twitter Q&A on Rosh Hashonah' Bowen, you're the BBC's Middle East Editor, why is the news that the Syrian government have bombed a hospital killing 15 people not headline news? What are your news priorities? Why is the Jewish state of Israel subject to more scrutiny and criticism than its Islamic neighbours?


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