The BBC at work….legally obliged to be impartial…….and yet…..
‘According to Israeli government figures, 856,000 Jews fled Arab countries in four years after the state was created in 1948. Officials say they lost billions of dollars’ worth of property and assets. A new government campaign aims to raise awareness of their plight. More controversially it aims to equate it with that of the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees who lost their homes in Israel. It insists that both cases are part of the same core issue that must be addressed by any future peace talks. ‘
‘Controversial’? How is it in any way controversial except to someone who doesn’t want to diminish the Palestinian case? And that’s surely not a BBC reporter..is it?
Ahh….that’s why…..
‘Among the requests from both sides in the conflict is that we should more frequently recount its history in our daily journalism. We do not think daily news journalists have the time in their reports to go into such a level of detail, not least as there are two versions of the history.‘
The BBC’s and the Truth.
Wrote the following on the Ahmadinejad thread but I guess it’s more appropriate here:
Listening now to Yolande Knell, if that’s how you spell it, attempting to discuss Jewish refugees from Arab countries. [Starts at 06:00 minutes in on the clip titled 27 Sep 12 AM Middle East focus at UN]:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/globalnews#playepisode6
Whichever shmuck introduced the programme said Israel is muddying the waters of the peace process – by introducing the question of these refugees. Well, at least Knell started off by playing clips of refugees telling their stories, like the elderly guy from Iraq, who said they hated the Jews and burned their houses and killed them. True, and there are now a pitiful handful of remaining Jews in Iraq, perhaps a dozen.
Reminds me of a World Have Your Say programme a few years back on the same subjuect – probably the first time the World Service had ever reported on Jewish refugees. Claire Bolderson was part-hosting it, and she responded to an observation by a guest about the plight of those Jews by indignantly exclaiming that that was different – in other words, don’t mess with the Palestinian victimhood narrative, because it’s sacred.
What strikes me is how the BBC insist that the Jews “fled” those Arab countries.
Ready for Monday, some Gates for the Beeboids to leave firmly closed. Vazgate, Savilegate, Milibandbrothersgate, BallsvUnionsgate, Harmancontradictiongate, many gates but I guarantee they will not be opened for exploration or analysis as long as the Boaden lurks and Mark Thomson’s spirit lurks in the corridors. The Beeb are grateful, however, to their masters for holding their meeting round the corner from Salford. Saves on nights away for the luvvies
You’ve got to be joking: cross the turbid waters of the mighty Irwell, after dark? It would be irresponsible not to check into a five-star Manchester tavern, at the public expense. Elfin safety wouldn’t have it any other way.
Alan, it’s controversial because the Palestinians object to it – for reasons clearly explained in the article you linked to.
Why do you insist on posting such transparent garbage? Is it purely on the assumption that; “With a bit of luck no one will notice?”
Dez, your posts get more stupid all the time. I would give up if I were you before even your fellow-Beeboids start laughing at you as well.
And all of you got is lame insults.
“Demon called me stupid!”
Excuse me whilst I cry my self to sleep.
Haven’t you learnt yet, don’t feed the troll.
Sorry I should have remembered. But his post is particularly bonkers even for his low standards. (Or should that be high standards of bonkersivity?)
And exactly why do the Palestinians really object?
Could it possibly be to the fact that the Jewish refugees are no longer refugees but have prospered and help build Israel .
I wonder which figure is bigger;
The number of Jews in Arab run countries,
or
The number of Arabs in Israel?
I’ll say the second (and they get to vote too).
Anybody think it strange that the BBC’s Alan Johnston is the only Western journalist allowed to report from the Gaza Strip? No, I don’t either as the BBC are obviously regarded as an ally of the terrorist organisations that run the place.
“…Alan Johnston is the only Western journalist allowed to report from the Gaza Strip?…the BBC are obviously regarded as an ally of the terrorist organisations that run the place.”
Yeah because that must be why he was kidnapped by Palestinian militants, and why he’s currently living in Rome.
Oh… If only I could see what I’ve just written through the tears 🙁
“On 12 March 2007, Johnston was kidnapped by the Army of Islam. His captivity led to many protests worldwide. Hamas put immense pressure on the Army of Islam, including (according to a senior Hamas militant) the threat to hunt them down and kill them if they didn’t release Johnston.[15][16] On 4 July 2007, Johnston was freed. He was taken to meet Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh before leaving with an entourage of British diplomats to Jerusalem.”
Not exactly Terry Waite then
As for living in Rome:Having read “the force of reason” by Oriana Fallaci (a real journalist) that doesn’t convince me of his impartiality
Dopey Dez, read the link above – the one from your employers. They explain his unique position and that they always have someone, even if not him, who is allowed to report from the home of their terrorist allies.
Ah yes, Johnson! the only kidnapee in history to return fatter than he was when he was captured.
All that kouskous no doubt?
I can’t wait to hear what the other version of history is where these guys aren’t refugees.
It’s a typically idiotic BBC formulation meaning nothing more than stuff that helps the narrative is solid fact, while stuff that debunks it is just your opinion.
I was tuned into the World Service when Alan Johnston gave his first interview on being freed from his captors who were, incredibly, even more barbaric than Hamas.
Johnston cut the interview short, exclaiming breathlessly that he was going to have breakfast with the Prime Minister.
That would be Ismael Haniye, chief Gaza terrorist committed to the murder of as many Jews as possible and the long-term goal of the destruction of Israel.
During Johnston’s captivity, high-ranking BBC propagandists met with Haniye (I think Jon Williams was one) and the BBC used programmes such as Have Your Say to agitate for Johnston’s release, rather than allow people to have their say on the issue, and there were frequent descriptions of Johnston as a friend of the Palestinian people as HYS was flooded with people calling for his release.
It’s fair to say that the BBC devoted considerable time and energy to that end, which is understandable but for the fact that they overused and misused their publicly-funded facilities and staff to assist their own staff member. The issue featured frequently on the website, with one particularly-reprehensible article pleading with the kidnappers not to lower themselves to the level of the Israelis and let Johnston go.
One more point on Johnston: If he’d demonstrated any understanding of the Israeli side during his three years based in Gaza, or even had the gall to report in a balanced fashion, he would have been driven out of Gaza, or worse, ten minutes after he submitted the report.
Good old Andrew Marr eh?
He managed to go right through the ancient history of Empires that were led by the Assyrians(Sennacherib) and by the Persians(can I still say that?…well Cyrus anyway!).
Yet with no references to where he got his details from…it`s as if the Hebrew language of the Jews was the Phoenicians gift to Greece ,as opposed to a Judean/Israeli concept specifically developed to give thanks , praise and historical meaning to their uniquely powerful construct of the ONE God .
Now I`m clearly no expert-but if he used the OLd Testament for much of what he said, it would have been nice to have heard as much…it`s not as if we`ll be hearing much about the Jewsih bloke who used that Old Testament to enable me to worship that ONE God He is, near-on two thousand years later.
God Bless Israel-no alphabet, no bible, no Christ without you!
This linking of the two refugee populations is a double-edged sword as there are major differences between them and linking them implies that there was an equal injustice done to both sides. That’s far from accurate:
*Local Arabs (they were not calling themselves Palestinians then) who were driven out by the Israelis (yes, it’s fair to say that a percentage of Arabs were in fact expelled) were caught up in the turmoil of war in 1948.
*Jewish citizens of Arab countries were far from the theatre of war in Israel-Palestine and were expelled only because they were Jews.
*Conflict between local Arabs and Jews was increasingly bloody, with many fatalities on both sides, as Israel’s War of Independence loomed.
*Jews expelled from Arab countries were minorities in those countries, for the most part obliged because of oppression to be wary of standing up to the Arabs. There were pogroms and killing of Jews in these countries well before Israel was established and the violence and killing was entirely one-sided, with the Jews defenceless.
*It’s fair to say that the majority of Arabs left voluntarily, enticed by the leaders with the prospect of returning and claiming all the land once the Jews had been destroyed, or simply out of fear of what the Jews would do to them if they stayed. That fear was unwarranted.
*I have seen no evidence that fleeing Jews were asked by Arabs to remain in Arab countries. It was ethnic cleansing on a massive scale and today less than one percent of the pre-1948 population of Jews remain in those countries while almost all Arab countries are now completely free of Jews.
*In many instances the Jews implored the Arabs to remain in their homes and villages. Those who did and their descendants now number 1,25 million Israeli Arabs – 20% of Israel’s population.
The comparison between the percentage of Jews now living in Arab countries and the percentage of Arabs in Israel is one of the most revealing facts of the Israeli-Arab conflict. And while there is no doubt that a large number of Arabs want to return to what is now Israel, I know of only one Jew who wants to return to an Arab country:
http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/homepage/world-news/detail/articolo/9178
Problem is, having successfully ethnically-cleansed the last remaining Jew from their country under Gadaffi, they will not allow him back.
Re: It was ethnic cleansing on a massive scale and today less than one percent of the pre-1948 population of Jews remain in those countries while almost all Arab countries are now completely free of Jews. It should not be forgotten that all this happened three years after
it was said “Never Again”..
TooTrue’s bang on the nail, esp with the ref to Gadaffi’s ethnic cleansing of the Jews (as well as expropriating their property), a truth which is seldom reported.
By chance, Archive on 4 on Saturday had this:
Dear Adolf – Letters to the Fuhrer
Christopher Cook examines a unique set of recordings from the vaults of the American Jewish Committee that strove to define America’s war aims and values.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01n0spx
This was actually a very good programme, and Cook is a polished presenter, but it does bear out another fact, that while the BBC has nothing positive to say about modern Israel or modern Jewry, they just love dead Jews, oh, how they just love the dead ones.
They simply can’t give us enough programmes about heroic Jewish anti-fascism in the 1930s, the Battle of Cable Street, the Holocaust, you name it – but present Israel or today’s Jews favourably? Forget it.
This site is driving me more crackers than I was to begin with. Biodegradable – I responded to your comment by hitting reply, but the computer hung and in the end the comment didn’t go through. Then I couldn’t access the site at all for a while.
Yes to speak of Jews “fleeing” Arab countries is a half-truth and half-truths are often no better than lies. I doubt the BBC will ever mention the typical experience of Jews in Arab countries – the dhimmi status of those who are not Muslims, the mockery, the scorn, dispossession and vicious pogroms.
Miv Tucker,
Thanks for appreciating my banging away on nails. And yes, you are 100% correct about the BBC and the Holocaust. Reminds me of an old Jackie Mason joke about anti-Semites:
“They don’t hate all Jews, only those who are still living.”
Your humble servant.
PS – I’m glad it’s not just me that’s finding this website painful – nay, agonizing – to use.
Please try to sort it out, chaps.Thanks.
aarrrggghhh is all I can say. Visiting this site these days is like being stuck in traffic between a cement mixer and a garbage-removal truck.
Sorry, but I can’t tell what problem you’re having. Aside from the temporary database corruption earlier today, the other bugs with the comments seem to have gone away. What’s happening, exactly?
Thanks, David.
The site just crawls along – pages v v slow to load, and take an age to scroll up and down.
And I’m using a reasonably well-specified PC with a fast fibre-optic link.
That might be related to a WordPress issue. I’ve been having similar slowness in Firefox for a while now.
The Arabs, as with so many things can’t agee on how to describe the Jewish refugees from Arab countries. This is similar to their response to the Shoah-Holocaust.
The most popular current response is denial. The Jews were never expelled. Nor did they flee. Nor did they leave because they were Zionists. I guess they are still there or more likely never were there.
A less fashionable one is to claim the Arab Jews are natural allies of the Palestinians because their Arab ties are stronger than the false ties with the European Ashkenasi Jews. The apparent hostility they exhibit towards Arabs is only pretence to get in good with the Europeans.
A third one is to claim the Mizrahi Jews were tricked into leaving by the evil Ashkenazis. Why they don’t want to go back is never discussed.
The BBC, as premier Western propaganizers for the Palestinian case won’t take a stand and support any version of the events. It’s controversial not because there is any real doubt about the facts but because it undercuts the Palestinians.
In a similar way they won’t take a stand when yet another Arab proclaims the Jews were never in Israel. The correct response should have been ridicule.