Imagine if

Imagine if an Israeli singer had been forced to cancel a concert in Israel because video surfaced of him performing in a Mosque. Imagine if another Israeli singer had been videoed at a Muslim wedding saying "Long live Hamas". Imagine the outcry on the BBC if they had to report that this second Israeli singer was now the subject of a campaign by his to have him put on trial and stripped of his nationality.

The BBC would be headlining this story and explaining how racist the 'apartheid state' of Israel is and how the actions of its people are abhorrent.


Unfortunately for the BBC the actual news story is about two Muslims not Jews. The wording of the article is quite incredible (my emphasis):

'The popular Tunisian singer Saleem Bakkoush has been forced to cancel a concert at the annual Carthage festival, after a video surfaced showing him performing at a synagogue.

Mr Bakkoush accused his rivals of publishing the tape to tarnish his reputation.'

What also struck me was the mealy-mouthed way the anti-Jewish history of Norrth Africa was brushed under the carpet.

'Tunisia is one of only two Arab states with a sizeable Jewish community.

But pro-Palestinian sentiments remain strong and the country has no diplomatic ties with Israel.

Despite the strong support for Palestinians in Tunisia, a sizeable Jewish community has stayed in the country, while the bulk of Jews of Arab origin left the region some 50 years ago.'

Let's examine those three sentences:
'Tunisia is one of only two Arab states with a sizeable Jewish community.' Why are there so few Jews in the many other Arab states? Were there never Jews there or did they all leave for some reason, and if so when?

'But pro-Palestinian sentiments remain strong and the country has no diplomatic ties with Israel.' Why no diplomatic ties, I thought the BBC supported 'jaw jaw not war war' at all times. If the BBC support the US and UK talking to the Taliban then why not criticise countries who don't formally talk to Israel? Or in BBC eyes is Israel far, far more evil than the Taliban?

'Despite the strong support for Palestinians in Tunisia, a sizeable Jewish community has stayed in the country, while the bulk of Jews of Arab origin left the region some 50 years ago. ' Why did 'the bulk of Jews of Arab origin left the region some 50 years ago'? Was it because they were ethnically cleansed when the State of Israel
was finally brought into being? Was it because many hundreds of thousands of North African Jews were cleared from the lands they had lived in for millenia? The interesting thing is that these dispossessed Jews do not live in 'refugee camps' on the money provided by the West but were absorbed into Israel.

It is peculiar how the two great transfers of people of 1947 and 1948 were handled and what resulted from them. In 1947 following partition around 7,226,000 Muslims went to Pakistan from India while 7,249,000 Hindus and Sikhs moved to India from Pakistan. Whilst partition was bloody, these millions of refugees were eventually absorbed into their new home countries.

In 1948 Israel was created and its neighbours tried to destroy it. Around 726,000 Palestinians left Israeli-controlled territory but rather than be absorbed into the neighbouring countries of Egypt, Syria and Lebanon they continue to live in refugee camps. Meanwhile around 850,000 Jews were forced out of the countries of the Arab world and absorbed into Israel.


Almost every BBC article on Israel and the Palestinians tells us of the Palestinians who were forced out of Israel in 1948 but the same emphasis is not given to the roughly equivalent number of Jews forced out of Muslim countries.

The BBC push their anti-Israel agenda at every turn - 'ethnically cleansing the truth, by whatever means'.



Thanks to 'piggy kosher' on Biased BBC for the spot and for providing the quote that ends my piece.