On Wednesday Owen Jones made a rather surprising claim in the Guardian (Jones never lets a bandwagon go by without jumping aboard)…that the BBC was pro-Israeli:
‘Israel under renewed Hamas attack’, says the BBC. More balance is needed
The macabre truth is that Israeli life is deemed by the western media to be worth more than a Palestinian life – this is the hierarchy of death at work
The media coverage hardly reflects the reality: a military superpower armed with F-15 fighter jets, AH-64 Apache helicopters, Delilah missiles, IAI Heron-1 drones and Jericho II missiles (and nuclear bombs, for that matter), versus what David Cameron describes as a “prison camp” firing almost entirely ineffective missiles. Twenty-seven Palestinians are reported to have died in Gaza – and, mercifully, no Israelis have been killed by Hamas rockets – and yet the BBC opts for the Orwellian “Israel under renewed Hamas attack”.
The BBC is a public broadcaster, duty-bound to provide balanced reports that accurately reflect the reality on the ground. It is failing to do so, and it is up to licence payers – to whom it is accountable – to demand that it does.
Incredible that Jones manages to ignore every other headline from the BBC or their continuous reports of Israeli bombardments of Gaza killing ‘Palestinians’…and oh yes…The Palestinians may have fired off a few ricketty homemade rockets into the deserts of Israel where absolutely no one was hurt.
So BBC…tell us who all those ‘Palestinians’ were…just how many were Hamas terrorists?
Why is it that it is always ‘Palestinian medics’ who the BBC report as the source of casualty figures…why not the true source…Hamas propagandists who control everything the media does and sees in Gaza? The BBC won’t use ‘terrorist’ but will use ‘medic’…adopting Hamas’ own preferred narrative.
Later in the day the BBC’s Kevin Connolly came on to the Sheila Fogarty show (51 mins 35 sec) to talk about events in Gaza….he told us that essentially Israel is to blame for the Hamas rocket firing…a response to Israel’s extensive search for the three kidnapped teenagers.
Connolly goes on to say that Hamas’ only weapon against Israel (and her aggressive, violent attacks on Gaza?) is these rockets…the subtext to that is that Israel is the aggressor and Hamas is almost defenceless against that aggression….which Connolly actually says later in the piece as he describes the bombing of a Hamas house which Hamas used as a propaganda opportunity….demonstrating Connolly thought the power of Israel against which Hamas is defenceless….which again puts the blame for the violence squarely in Israel’s court.
Connolly talks of the power of images in such a war and how they alter perceptions…Fogarty agrees that images have a huge impact on how we see situations….and tells us that it shows how important it is that journalists are there to bring us the truth about those images. Had to laugh about that considering the BBC’s past record on photos from the conflict.
Connolly today put that down in print.…but made a much more rounded effort in describing the motivations of both sides:
Gaza-Israel conflict: What can Israel and Hamas gain?
Note that he changes the words…whereas he said rockets were Hamas’ only ‘weapon’ in the radio report here he replaces ‘weapon’ with ‘tool’:
The only tool Hamas had at its disposal to respond to the round-up was rocket fire from Gaza – and those arrests were reason enough for that bombardment to intensify.
That changes the perception of Hamas…from being aggressive, even in what it claims is its defence, to a more technical, neutral term that removes that violent subtext.
Connolly still downplays the effectiveness of Palestinian rockets:
Lots of the rockets in Gaza are workshop weapons.
What he doesn’t mention are the thousands of highly effective missiles imported from Iran.
Connolly does at least admit that Hamas may be using civilians as human shields and a propaganda weapon, or is that propaganda tool?…
Hamas’s military leaders might be calculating that the sight of Palestinian civilians suffering under terrifying aerial bombardment will force the Palestinian Authority to show much greater solidarity and prompt Arab governments to show more support.
Hamas might reason that there were few advantages in keeping the peace whereas once hostilities have started it can demand concessions for agreeing to end them.
Connolly goes on to admit perceptions can be manipulated by Hamas….
Israel might argue that it’s trying to avoid civilian casualties while Hamas is trying to cause them. But television pictures of civilian dead in Gaza – especially children – will help shape perceptions of Israel round the world.
And he alludes to the possible terrors of Israeli civilians under rocket bombardment, but doesn’t go into detail…..
To the outside world the Gaza rockets may seem ineffective – partly because many are homemade and partly because they’re hopelessly overmatched by Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile defence system.
But Israeli civilians judge the rockets by the intent behind them and not by their military effectiveness. They are grimly familiar with the ritual of running for shelter with their children when they hear a 15-second warning. They expect their government to put a stop to it.
Connolly should perhaps give more time to reporting the effects of the missiles on Israelis:
In May 2007, a significant increase in rocket attacks from Gaza prompted the temporary evacuation of thousands of residents from Sderot.[157] According to the United Nations, 40 percent of the city’s residents left in the last two weeks of May.[158] During the summer of 2007, 3,000 of the city’s 22,000 residents (comprising mostly the city’s key upper and middle class residents)[citation needed] left for other areas, out of rocket range.
During the 2008–2009 conflict, a large section of the residents of Ashkelon, a southern coastal city put in range of Grad-type rockets since the beginning of the conflict, fled the city for the relative safety of central and northern Israel.[159] On January 10–11, according to Israeli media, 40 percent of the residents fled the city, despite calls by the Mayor to stay.[160]
In February 2009, the BBC reported that 3,000 of Sderot’s 24,000 residents had “upped and left.”[1]
A few quibbles with his web reportbut it was generally fairly balanced, his radio report seeming more inclined to play up the ‘defencelessness’ of Hamas against the military might of Israel…..ignoring the fact that all the bombing would stop if Hamas stopped rocketing or otherwise attacking Israel and agreed a permanent ceasefire.
And Owen Jones…he is of course just a professional contrarian who has to ‘protest’ every ‘right-on’ cause to maintain his leftwing credentials and keep the paychecks rolling in in exchange for his not so unique brand of leftwing demagogy.
Jones and the Guardianistas ignore the reality that if Hamas had the capacity it would wipe Israel off the map. So would Hezbollah and so would every Arab nation if it could.
Israel has a military that is powerful and effective. It is the only, repeat only guarantee that Israel has that it will survive.
It is all that stands between Israel and total destruction. Israel cannot rely on the West or the USA. It must depend ,in the last resort upon the courage and effectiveness of it’s young people. Never again means exactly that.
Owen Jones and the rest do not understand that there is a way to the world over and above their fantasy that we can all live in peace and harmony if only we are empathetic and reasonable.
That is not how the world works. it never has and sadly never will.
When Homer describes how Hector’s wife knows that it is only the courage of her husband and his men that keeps her child alive and her from slavery he is describing the world as it is always going to be.
If the will of Israel weakens it will go down. If we weaken our civilisation will go down too. Jones is a child with a child’s view of the world.
The Arab nations have tried 3 times to wipe Israel off the face of the map in full-scale wars.
I wonder if Owen Jones was ever acquainted with that fact as part of his Marxist education.
look at the facts here,owen jones is a biased bbc buffoon head who is pro hamas biased,who cares what he says,but the facts are clear hear to see.the idf are going out of there way to avoid civilian casualtys,i see it every night on the tv with these pin point precision strikes to take out the fascist hamas murderers and anti semites.the fact is hamas are hiding and firing there rockets amongst the civilian population. that the left and the likes of owen jones never mention when they attack isreals legal right to defend there under constant fire popualtion from rockets and scud missiles,simple as that,
More smoke: this is just another attempt to bolster the ‘BBC got it about right’ camp much like he did a couple of months ago with his BBC biased to the Right critique. That is more forgiveable when dealing in hissy-fit student politics but not so much when lives are at stake.
I presume the current thrust of showing to what lengths Israel goes to NOT to kill innocents has lead to a need by the lefty fools to increase the pro Palestinian message once more.
The most effective lie is the body count. It is never accompanied by the obvious explanation, that Israel invests multiple resources in protecting its civilians, but the ‘Palestinians’ invest only in offensive weapons and the defense for combatants. Gaza is full of bunkers, but all are reserved for combatants and closed to civilians.
Sorry about the typo. Can we have an edit button?
Jones is a tool.
As is Connolly.
And they are being used effectively by very nasty, devious old men.
Backed by women of the calibre of Mishal Hussain, who appear to believe not enough Israelis are dying to make the carnage they crave and create ‘fair’.
This is not Ender’s Game; it is real life.
HardTalk had Zeinab Badawi interviewing a Hamas spokesman. I felt she gave it a surprisingly good shot – stressing that if Hamas quit the rocket-firing there would be a stop to the IDF actions. And she got in the argument that Hamas actually celebrates the deaths of Israelis.
It became clear that he was forever avoiding the questions, was just spouting propaganda. Maybe Badawi coiuld have been harsher – but it was far more straight than most BBC treatments. I don’t think the Hamas man did his cause much good, he came across as a slippery nasty man. But it needs a sustained interview like this to expose the lies, not the quick soundbites the BBC uses to let Hamas promote its false arguments.
Elsewhere in the week Radio 4 Extra had a “Great Lives” programme on King Hussein of Jordan – a repeat, I think. Jackie Stewart the racing champion put the case for the King, but there was commentary by Patrick Seale of the Observer (who died earlier this year). Seale was known as rabidly anti-Israel, and he was very critical of Hussein for trying to keep the peace and control the huge problem of millions of Palestinian Arabs in his territories. For instance, he said the King “betrayed the Arab cause” by informing Golda Meir that Arab nations were planning to attack Israel. Typical of the BBC to bring on Seale as the commentator – I had the impression that Jackie Stewart could cheerfully have smacked him in his anti-semitic gob..
I think we all know that whenever, wherever Owen Jones piles into the pigpen to throw mud all around…we need to set our compasses at 180 degrees to whatever he advocates…and insist there is no other way than the very opposite of whatever Billy Braggs idiot nephew says.
The man is the Russell Howard of political comment-Johann Hari without the wit to plagiarise from his betters.
Hamas firing missiles at Israeli civilians with missiles protected by Palestinian civilians..Now correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t that a war crime?
As not reported by the news media particularly our very own BBC who are very willingly and knowingly broadcasting Hamas propaganda..
Yes
On many levels
Either Hamas is deliberately targeting civilians (war crime) or is delibereately sending inaccurate missiles into Israel (indiscriminate fire=war crime)
Placing civilians into danger by putting them around rocket launching sites (military target) is also a war crime
It should also be noted that under the Geneva Protocols if there is a definite military advantage in targeting a site you can do so, even if there are civilians close by as long as the loss of civilian life is not disproportionate when weighed against the military advantage gained
Of course that rule is also relevant to targeting military leaders
Anyone know how many rockets are going into Israel from anywhere other than Gaza?
Again as not reported by the BBC and other News organizations
Despite ongoing rocket attacks from Gaza leaving most of Israel’s population under threat, the Jewish state’s Rambam Health Care Campus is currently treating a number of Gazan patients including three adults and eight children, and three adults and two children from the Palestinian Authority.
In addition, Haifa hospital is hosting seven patients from the PA for treatment in outpatient clinics, and additional patients from Gaza are scheduled for treatments later this week.
According to Yazid Falah, the coordinator for Palestinian patients coming to Rambam, “Despite the security situation, and despite the fact that both sides are fighting, all continues as usual in the realm of medical cooperation. Even in times of war we continue to receive patients and give them the care they need – children and adults.”
Radio 4 Saturday morning circa 7.20 am (I know I should have still been asleep but between this and the report on Australian warming I just ended up livid).
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0495ds9
Firstly we were just told that rockets continued to land in Israel – no mention of numbers because we assume the poor Gazans have very few to fire. Then the number of Palestinans killed over the past few days (collective figures sound so much more impressive). 77% civilians by the way the UN calculated it – how the UN gets its data is not questioned (from Hamas for example?) Naughtie suggests that Israel says that the rocket launchers are ‘kept’ in civilian areas – I would suggest that this means that the rockets are FIRED from civilian areas – but ‘kept’ is so much more innocent. Naughtie then went on to say that people outside don’t realise how crowded Gaza is. I am sure that we have had information in the past (Pounce I think) to tell us that Gaza is not as crowded as we are led to believe. If Hamas really wanted to protect civilians they could always use the beach if all failed, unless of course it would help their cause to use, for example, a school for the disabled. We then hear heavy sighing from I assume Naughtie as Connolly explains the Israeli case. Connolly finishes with the words that ‘people will have to make up their own minds (about Israel’s explanation) ie implied ‘don’t believe Israel. Then talk of what international pressure on Israel but not the same asked about Gaza. The BBC biased? Well they don’t think so.
I’ve just been watching a video released by the Israeli authorities showing a missile attack upon a missile site belonging to Hama. The missile launcher was parked in a school playground, approx’ 15 mts from the school. A camera on the Israel missile showed it all clearly. I wonder if the BBC will report this? And have you notice how the BBC use the word “people” concerning deaths which covers over the fact that those deaths might be terrorist deaths?
The BBC really are a nasty piece of work aren’t they?
That “Gaza most crowded place on earth” is a piece of mischevious propaganda created of course, by an muslim researcher in a very liberal American university, and repeated robotically by Pally-supporters because it fits the narrative, not because it is true..
Gaza/Palestine is only the most densely-populated state on earth if you find ways to leave out at least fifty countries more densely populated. I think he managed it by removing skyscrapers, which intensify population per metre enormously (think Monaco and Hong Kong. Typical of the muslim “we are victims” meme while acting as the aggressor.
By Jones’ logic, the BBC should also be fairer to the Taliban and Al Qaeda who face the overwhelming conventional and nuclear forces of the US.
What is it about terrorism this knobhead doesn’t understand?
Master Jones is a bbc regular so it follows that he has had permission from someone in the bbc (or maybe he was encouraged by someone in the bbc) to stage an ‘attack’ on their bias. Of course this kind of legerdemain allows the sodding bbc to say that there are people who think they are biased in favour of Israel, despite all the evidence pointing in the other direction. I’m sure you won’t be seeing any less of Mr Jones as a result of his considered opinion, unlike for example Carol Thatcher who used the word gollywog in the Green Room and David Bellamy who has a sensible view on the changeability of our climate.
If I am reckless enough to throw a punch at Wladimir Klitschko and he hits back like a heavyweight who is to blame for my broken nose?