JEREMY BOWEN

I have to be honest and say that I did a double take when reading Jeremy Bowen’s twitter feed. I THOUGHT it has to be a parody but evidently not. Hamas must love him.

Over the years, we have covered many of the flare ups in this region and the BBC bias is truly visceral. Palestinians are ALWAYS innocent victims and Israelis are ALWAYS the aggressors. The script never changes. Never any investigation into how Hamas operate. Never any consideration of why Hamas rockets Israel on a daily basis. The three young Israelis boys kidnapped and shot to death now forgotten. Most times, I can brush off the BBC bias with the contempt it deserves BUT when it comes to this vile Palestinian propaganda machine, it makes me seethe with anger.

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239 Responses to JEREMY BOWEN

  1. phil says:

    I wonder if Bowen has ever mused on Twitter about how Hamas ensure their rockets don’t hit an Israeli home for disabled people.

       75 likes

    • Corran Horn says:

      This cartoon sums up the BBC middle east reporting and the mind set of propagandists like Bowen and the other left wing propaganda broadcasters when it comes to events in Israel and Gaza.

      hamas-attacks.png

         24 likes

    • joeb says:

      I joked on here last week that Hamas would say the Israelis had hit ‘The Orphanage for Cute Kiddies with Terminal Cancer’ next. I wasn’t far wrong, was I? They even put a wheelchair in the photo of the crater to hammer it home. Beautiful piece of ‘Pallywood’ work…

         7 likes

  2. respect says:

    The overreaction by Israel plays into Hamas hands. Almost as predictable as Germany doing well in the World Cup.

    Maybe Israel should talk a bit more because it has almost no support left even from people who want it to survive.

       12 likes

    • Leha says:

      Israel should do a Putin.

         23 likes

    • Chop says:

      Sorry….”Over reaction”

      Did I read that right?

      If France were to be launching missiles into say…I dunno, Southampton, on a daily basis, would you expect the Government to sit on their hands and do nothing? or would you expect them to go in, and kick the shit out of the aggressors?

      Hamas, actually, ALL Islam is at war with both Israel and the west…there are always innocent casualties of war, especially when cowardly shits like the Muslims use civilians as human shields for both weapons & “soldiers”

      There is no talking to these people, god knows the Israelis have tried.

      And the BBC know this, they know it damn well the filthy treacherous scum that they are…I wish a few stray rockets would land on television centre, see how cuddly they think Hamas are then.

         111 likes

      • Beez says:

        I had the misfortune of eating out in Rusholme, Manchester, last night. An area which has been ethnically cleansed. We are constantly told by the left that suggestions of mass-immigration are unfounded and wholly unwarranted. The BBC promulgates this idea. Anyway, i digress.

        As i drove through what can only be described as a the lefts ‘multicultural utopia’, i was surrounded by women adorned in burkhas who had palestinian flags draped across their shoulders.

        As i walked to the restaurant, i was constantly harassed by ‘locals’ carrying buckets, asking if i wished to make a donation for the ‘victims’ in Palestine. Understandably, there will be innocent victims of all ages affected by the relentless violence that is currently ensuing. But the sheer arrogance and hypocrisy of those in Rusholme , aided and abetted by the BBC’s propaganda, really did make my blood boil.

        Driving home, I actually sat in silence, pondering if the lefts traitorous actions are irreversible. I say with the strongest confidence, they 100% are.

           45 likes

      • Alan Larocka says:

        Their very own Frank Gardner was disabled by Islamofascists but still continues to shill for them.

           6 likes

        • joeb says:

          That is desperately sad. I have seen Gardener time and time again stand up for the very people who disabled him. He is truly a Stockholm Syndrome victim, and then some.

          Simply staggering. No actually, it’s not, not nowadays – I take that back.

             6 likes

    • Joshaw says:

      Article 7 of the Hamas Charter:

      “The hour of judgment shall not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them, so that the Jews hide behind trees and stones, and each tree and stone will say: ‘Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him,’ except for the Gharqad tree, for it is the tree of the Jews.”

         58 likes

      • john in cheshire says:

        Of course, that is quote straight out of the koran, so all muslims have to obey not just hamas.

           40 likes

      • pah says:

        I’ve never heard of the gharqad tree before so I thought I’d look it up on Google. The first hit was a blog on blogspot.com (thegharqadtree.blogspot.com) which really takes the biscuit. Its a top hate site so I have not linked it. If anyone out there wants to label Biased BBC a hate-site I suggest you first look at that one. Those people really know how to hate and make some of the more abject posters here look like saints.

        I have a bare patch of land at the bottom of my garden that could do with some shade – I know which tree I shall be planting now – the boxthorn!

           2 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Another one from the Mishal Hussain school of nice numbers, evidently.
      I’d be interested in what proportionate resp… sorry, reaction, would sit neatly in your notion of moral equivalence.
      Considering what is ranged around Israel, the notion of decades of eye-for-eye drip-fed exchanges may appeal to armchair box-tickers flitting between outrage causes, but militarily it doesn’t add up on the ground inside the target zone. It is also a level of attrition that will serve civilians poorly if Eliot Carvers in the media and their camp followers well.
      Maybe the time for talk was long past long ago, as it has become rather clear the old men have no interest in peace and never have.
      They have only endured this long thanks to the support of the calibre of statesperson the world now ‘enjoys’, plus propaganda on tap from ‘trusted’ global media playing idealistic semantic games with brutal reality.

         16 likes

      • joeb says:

        It appears that the media would be satisfied if an equal number of jews had been killed. That’s how they calculate whether or not a war is morally justified. Interesting…

           2 likes

    • Span Ows says:

      The overreaction by Israel plays into Hamas hands.

      Straight out of the BBC school of journalism: get the lie in first to set the agenda and frame the debate.

         56 likes

      • Corran Horn says:

        If I was in Benjamin Netanyahu’s place, I’d be pounding Gaza flat from the air.

        Once there was nothing but rubble I’d go in and blast the tunnels with of some kind of fuel-air explosive and destroy all the tunnels and it would turn any terrorists hiding in there into a mushy wreck.

        Or if they could, get some MOAB’s. I’d be dropping them like rain all over Gaza, after the first 4 or 5 I think Hamas may get the idea they are on a hiding to nothing and if they aren’t keep the rain going.

           3 likes

        • joeb says:

          Four or five MOABs would take care of an area around the size of twenty five football stadiums. Each is like dropping a single decker bus on a parachute out the back of a C-130.

             1 likes

          • Corran Horn says:

            I know, and once the place has been leveled the bulldozers can move in and push what’s left into the sea.

            Hamas are like an infestation and need burning out and if you have to take Gaza down to the bedrock to do that then do it, stop pussyfooting about and get them all this time, no cease fires, no talks, just the constant rain of bombs and missiles until there’s none of the vermin left.

            Once that’s been done maybe Israel can have some peace and the 70 percent of Sderot’s children that suffer from at least one symptom of PTSD, and the one-third of all residents that suffer from anxiety and have trouble functioning normally can have a chance to heal and relax.

               5 likes

    • hazel says:

      rubbish, Israel has plenty of support.

         16 likes

    • Errol says:

      That ‘over reaction’ that saw most of the rockets shot down? Hamas started it. All they had to do was nothing. But they chose to kill Israelis.

      Get that through your head.

         9 likes

    • joeb says:

      Well, what would you rather they do, in all honesty? A harsh piece of editorial in The Guardian? Yeah, that’ll do it!

         4 likes

  3. John Anderson says:

    Why is Bowen’s Twitter page headed by a photo of a large crowd of Arabs ?

       44 likes

  4. chrisH says:

    Frank Gardner, Alan Johnson?
    The BBCs Camel Corps can`t abase themselves enough to Islam…even when their own kind get taken hostage or maimed.
    No wonder then that Bowen, Knell and the like suck up to the PLO/Angry Brigade types-the BBC have been doing just that since Munich and Entebbe in the early 70s.
    Why then Israel expects any nuance or understanding from the serial Jew baiters in the BBC Cultural Commentariat(formerly known as news and current affairs) is beyond me.

       43 likes

  5. stuart says:

    these disgusting smears by bowen and co that the idf went out of there way to attack a disabled home is just pure sick inducing and a lie,what they did not mention is that the idf phoned up this home that was being occupied by hamas terrorists linked to isis and gave them 40 minutes notice that it might come under attack and to vacate this property straight away,the hamas terrorists linked to isis

    chose to keep these children in this disabled home as human shields hence hamas bear the blame for any deaths that occured,i wish jeremy bowen and co would report the true facts about what is going on and not this emotive clap trap that the idf are targeting civilians on purpose which is furher that the truth you could get,stop the lying bbc and tell the damm truth about this conflict betreen isreal and this terrorist group called hamas.

       51 likes

  6. 43 says:

    Makes you think who that tank round was for, the one that hit his taxi. I hope the guy who fired it was directed to the local branch of Specsavers.

    Israel and the Jews have learnt over many many years that they have to take control of their own destiny and world opinion will have to do one. I don’t have to quote examples.

       22 likes

  7. James says:

    The script never changes does it David Vance? Maybe you’re just an angry man.

       9 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      ‘We shall not rest until the BBC has been wiped off the face of the earth’.

      Uh! – how’s about that one, then?

         47 likes

    • The Butcher of Barking says:

      I know what you mean James. I am, on balance, a supporter of Israel, but the pro-Zionist agenda here is too strong to stomach.

      This site, which purports to highlight the left-wing bias of the BBC (and there is much of that), is tainted by the massive undercurrent of aggressive pro-Zionism. Israel can do no wrong here, even when settlers burn some poor innocent kid alive.

      This is not really a site about left-wing bias in the BBC. It’s a site about how David feels the BBC hates jews.

      No credibility here. Oh, and by the way, I’m a jew.

         13 likes

      • Hexhamgeezer says:

        Oh Yeah? Presumably the pork Butcher of Barking?

           25 likes

        • The Butcher of Barking says:

          Thanks for that. Amply illustrates the level of debate here.

             7 likes

          • John Anderson says:

            “the level of debate here”. There goes another person attacking all and sundry who comment here. Even though most of the comments are focussed directly on the BBC’s bias in failing to report that Hamas is entirely responsible for the current prob;lems, that Hamas actually wants this kind of situation – that it is the typical modus operandi for Hamas, trying to angle for “victimhood” when it has provoked the situation itself.

            That is a factual and direct argument. I make it because as a non-Jew I have seen 50 years of this crap from the Palestinians. And years of the BBC pushing the false-equivalence line, years of the BBC failing to provide all the facts, years of the BBC swallowing (indeed encouraging) false Hamas propaganda.

            So try dealing with the arguments – quit throwing ad hominem slurs around.about people at this site.

               61 likes

            • John Anderson says:

              and you are lying when you allege that Israel or people here are glad about the young Palestinian who was kidnapped and burned. The only people who have been celebrating deaths are the Palestinians – led by Hamas.

                 53 likes

              • The Butcher of Barking says:

                Where did I allege that anyone was ‘glad’ about that?

                   3 likes

                • Anat T. says:

                  Read your own comment: ‘Israel can do no wrong here’ etc.

                  Or is your comprehension of English as bad as the other one?

                     10 likes

                  • The Butcher of Barking says:

                    This is hilarious chaps – keep it up!

                       5 likes

                    • johnnythefish says:

                      What an unfortunate use of the word ‘hilarious’. You take life about as seriously as the Hamas savages you seem so keen to defend.

                         12 likes

          • Mat says:

            Bye then !

               7 likes

            • The Butcher of Barking says:

              Yes that’s right. If someone challenges the group think here they can just take the exit door and mind it doesn’t hit them on the arse on the way out. Typical echo chamber mentality.

                 5 likes

              • John Anderson says:

                You are generalising again. The groupthink is at the BBC – most of us here are criticising that biased groupthink. And what reason do you have to suggest that everyone here wants you to clear off ? I’d be contect with you trying to deal with the facts.

                Like the facts about Palestinians widely celebrating the kidnapping of the young Israelis. Can you deny that ? (OK – you do not suggest that Israelis were glad about the death of the young Palestinian – an incident widely deplored by the Israeli [people and Government.). Or like the central fact that Hamas started firing rockets from Gaza some weeks ago, with the IDF response being delayed until it was clear that Hamas would not put a stop to the rocket attacks..

                   32 likes

                • The Butcher of Barking says:

                  God man you should listen to yourself.

                  Here’s a tip – ‘Brevity is the soul of wit’

                     4 likes

                  • John Anderson says:

                    You keep your comments brief – by ducking the issues. Easy-peasy

                       27 likes

                    • The Butcher of Barking says:

                      I don’t think you actually understand the issues at all. You’re just a knee-jerker who response aggressively to anything you don’t like the look of.

                      Are you a jew (I am)? Have you ever been to Israel (I have)? Do you have relatives there (I do). Do you even know how the state came about (I do)?

                         4 likes

                    • John Anderson says:

                      You really are an idiot, Butcher.

                      Yes, I have been to Israel, including visiting Arab areas. But that is hardly the only test of whether one can comment on these issues.

                      And I have observed the politics of the Middle East for decades – probably far longer than you.. I have read widely about it, in books and in the media.

                      What I constantly see is the BBC omitting key facts and arguments. And swallowing propaganda lines for the likes of Hamas. I pay attention to what Hamas and PA interviews say – and I find most of them to be parroting fraudulent arguments, just like you appear to be doing.

                      The BBC’s pattern of reporting right now is pure bad journalism, pure bias. It is not “knee-jerk” to see this. The BBCWatch website gives it in real detail – and you refuse to deal with what that site says.

                      Once again – you are avoiding the arguments.

                         36 likes

          • Biodegradable says:

            So you’re a kosher butcher?

            In Barking of all places?

               8 likes

            • The Butcher of Barking says:

              My grandfather was a kosher butcher. I’m not. What does that have to do with anything?

                 2 likes

              • Biodegradable says:

                You claim to be a Jew to add legitimacy to your criticism of Israel. Shame on you!

                Your grandfather must be turning in his grave. May his memory be blessed.

                   26 likes

                • The Butcher of Barking says:

                  What?

                     2 likes

                • The Butcher of Barking says:

                  I am a jew! Are you denying me my Jewishness now to make a spiteful, childish point?

                     3 likes

                  • Biodegradable says:

                    I’m not denying your “Jewishness”, I simply wonder why, “as a Jew”, you criticise those who defend Israel. Do you think it adds weight to your argument, or perhaps saves you from those who would happily murder you simply for being a Jew?

                       26 likes

                    • The Beebinator says:

                      he’s not a jew. when ever u get into a discussion with a leftie and point out their rabid anti semitism, they always say im jewish or im half jew or my grandad was a kosher butcher. he’s full of shit, he’s about as jewish as the false prophet muhammad

                         21 likes

                    • The Butcher of Barking says:

                      @thebeebinator – you insulting idiot! I am a right-wing libertarian and a jew.

                         3 likes

                    • johnnythefish says:

                      You sound more like a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma, encased in bullshit.

                         12 likes

        • 43 says:

          Certainly not Glatt Kosher. Stay in Barking you KAPO.

             0 likes

      • Chop says:

        “even when settlers burn some poor innocent kid alive.”

        Has this been proven yet?

           11 likes

        • The Butcher of Barking says:

          Yes.

             2 likes

          • Arthur Penney says:

            And the Israelis have arrested the perpetrators – and Hamas has lauded the kidnappers of the three Israeli youths.

            Spot the subtle difference or are you left wing and rational thought beyond you?

               33 likes

            • The Butcher of Barking says:

              I’m a right wing libertarian. Of course you have already pigeon-holed me in your catalogue of deamons a some ‘lefty’ because I dare to disagree with the might David Vance. What a fool you are.

                 3 likes

            • Biodegradable says:

              The Israelis have arrested suspects. Innocent until proven guilty.

                 18 likes

          • Span Ows says:

            NO…Suspects arrested. Some may have confessed. Nothing proven.

               12 likes

          • Chop says:

            Ok, I have just been trawling the press for this story, and you are right, it would appear that the Israeli police have got an admission from 3 Israeli extremists.

            Swift work by the Israeli authorities…who would have thought murderers could be caught and convicted?

            So then, what has happened to the Palestinian extremists who murdered the 3 Israeli kids?

            Guess no-one in Gaza is interested in gaining a conviction for that?…Certainly not the BBC.

               31 likes

          • Biodegradable says:

            When was the trial of the accused?

               4 likes

      • Dave S says:

        Israel did not burn that poor young man. Individuals did so and will have to pay both to society and to their consciences. Punishment needs to be exemplary and harsh.
        When I listen to Hamas spokesmen and apologists it is always the same thing. We are not to blame for anything Israel or the West or somebody else is to blame. It is the liberal way. To avoid personal responsiblility. It is the way the liberal looks at the world and it is pathetic. Israel cannot win the propaganda war .The liberal dominated West is in thrall to liberal fantasy and needs a cause. At this time it is the Palestinians. Reality and truth do not come into it. Emotion and that liberal word empathy are paramount. No doubt the liberal will be suitably moved if Israel and the Israelis are swept into the sea.

           39 likes

      • Fixby says:

        ‘,Even when ” settlers ” burn some poor innocent kid alive. ‘ Have they been proved guilty? I haven’t heard that. Why not mention the three innocent Israeli kids who were killed as well?

           13 likes

        • The Butcher of Barking says:

          Oh for God’s sake listen to yourself. Who the hell do you think did it?

             1 likes

    • Biodegradable says:

      Maybe you just hate Jews, “James”?

         9 likes

      • The Butcher of Barking says:

        And here I am pilloried for ‘ad hominem’ attacks (of which I have made none). Your comment will no doubt garner a few likes.

           2 likes

        • Biodegradable says:

          That was my reply to James’ personal attack on David Vance:

          JEREMY BOWEN

          Do try to keep up!

             11 likes

          • The Butcher of Barking says:

            Yeah I kept up thanks but you accuse others (James) of hating jews. If that isn’t and ad-hom I don’t know what is?

               1 likes

            • Biodegradable says:

              But you’re OK with James ad-hom attack on David Vance?

                 11 likes

              • The Butcher of Barking says:

                Yes I’m ok with it because Vance has overplayed his hand once too often.

                   3 likes

                • Biodegradable says:

                  So, you are OK with ad-hom attacks, as long as they’re not aimed at you.

                     11 likes

                  • The Butcher of Barking says:

                    Well I’d be cool with ones aimed at you too.

                       3 likes

                    • Simon says:

                      I’m thinking someone who knows this site (references to David Vance) and has turned up claiming to be Jewish to try to get a leg up on what they want to say. He could be speaking the truth but I have found that a lot of younger types who post here and elsewhere have absolutely no problem with sprinkling their posts with white lies to try to get their points across

                         4 likes

        • John Anderson says:

          “pilloried”. What an absurd statement. You have been cricised, not made into some type of “victim”. Why are you whining so much ?

             12 likes

          • John Anderson says:

            “criticised”

               2 likes

          • The Butcher of Barking says:

            I’m whining? Ha ha – listen to yourself.

               1 likes

            • John Anderson says:

              You are doing virtually nothing but making generalising attacks on people who use this site, and then whining that people object to this. You keep avoiding the actual arguments about Hamas and the BBC. Pointing that out to you is not whining – it is criticising.

                 24 likes

              • The Butcher of Barking says:

                Well I’m using this site. Presumably only people who agree with you are legitimate users of this site?

                   1 likes

                • John Anderson says:

                  There you go, whining again. Nowhere have I suggested that you should not use this site.

                  What I keep suggesting is that you quit avoiding the issues of BBC bias on Israel and Hamas.

                     19 likes

                  • The Butcher of Barking says:

                    God! If there was a prize for whining you’d have a trophy cabinet groaning under the weight of your awards John.

                       4 likes

                    • John Anderson says:

                      Stop being a smart-aleck. I am not “whining” – I am simply asking you to deal with the issues of BBC bias on Israel and Hamas- and you are constantly ducking the issues.

                         19 likes

                • Biodegradable says:

                  This site is about BBC bias – you claim that the BBC is NOT biased and accuse David Vance of being “Pro-Zionist”.

                  Please explain how the BBC is NOT biased.

                  A visit here may help:
                  http://bbcwatch.org/

                     18 likes

                  • The Butcher of Barking says:

                    Ha ha ha! bbcwatch? The most pro-Zionist site around. Nothing on there BUT how awful the BBC is to Israel. You clowns make me laugh. So blinded by your own prejudice.

                       1 likes

                    • Biodegradable says:

                      You seem to use “Zionism” and “Zionist” as a pejorative. Strange that you describe yourself as a “right wing libertarian”. It’s sad that you find the BBC’s obscene bias against Israel to be a laughing matter, specially as you also claim to be a Jew.

                         26 likes

                    • Biodegradable says:

                      I’m still waiting for you to explain how the BBC is NOT biased in its reporting on Israel…

                         18 likes

                    • The Butcher of Barking says:

                      Columns too thin cant’t find reply link

                         1 likes

                    • Biodegradable says:

                      “Can’t find the reply link”. Is that your excuse for not explaining exactly how the BBC isn’t biased?

                      Use any other “Reply” link and enlighten us, do.

                         13 likes

                  • John Anderson says:

                    The recent posts on that website are an appalling indictment of the BBC. Lies by commission, lies by omission. I knew it was bad – but had no idea how low the BBC has sunk. It is acting like a propaganda arm for Hamas.

                       24 likes

                    • John Anderson says:

                      BBCWatch documents in detail, all its criticisms of the BBC, it provides links and references, chapter and verse.

                      All the Butcher does is bloviate, avoiding the specific criticisms of BBC bias on Hamas and Israel.

                         22 likes

  8. deegee says:

    Jeremy Bowen bears a deep grudge against Israel and is incapable of neutrality. He is totally unsuited for the position of Middle East Editor. I’m not suggesting he should be fired but clearly he should have been moved away from the Mid East beat years ago.

       44 likes

    • Leo says:

      No…absolutely he should be fired. He is in an influential position and is misrepresenting the situation by the usual BBC tactic of omission. This man should crawl back under the stone whence he came, the sooner the better!

         46 likes

    • Deborah says:

      I wonder why Bowen has been kept as Middle East Editor for so long. All around him seem to be changed regularly although perhaps not often enough; Orla was moved away from the ME, Mark Mardell is no longer to be the US correspondent and where is Alan Johnson? Is it Bowen’s links to the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas etc that the BBC thinks would not provide access for a less biased mortal? And what does it say about Bowen in the Balen report?

         38 likes

      • john in cheshire says:

        Mr Bowen is the bbc’s version of George Galloway. I suspect both of them have secretly converted to islam.

           30 likes

      • nofanofpoliticians says:

        1. He would be very expensive to let go (although probably with expenses quite costly to keep) although of course he could be on a service contract.
        2. His contact book is probably pretty good
        3. There is no obvious successor although they do supplement him with numerous lightweights from time)
        4. The BBC probably have no-one willing (and certainly none of those mentioned with the possible exception of Orla who probably wouldn’t be acceptable to the natives as she is a woman) to live and move around in a permanent war zone.

        Wasn’t Alan Johnson kidnapped (and rescued) not so long ago? He’s possibly a bit reticent about going back and finally, they tried to get Bowen onto the breakfast show a few years ago, but he was an abject failure, ultimately demanding to go back to the Middle East.

           9 likes

      • Biodegradable says:

        Alan Johnson is in Rome. His monotonous, droning voice suits his reports about the Vatican well.

           11 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        The professional corporate reasons for his retention on station in such a role are hard to understand for any medium seeking to maintain any semblance of neutrality in coverage.

           5 likes

  9. Turtle Power says:

    Try searching google for the several Christian groups within Gaza. If you won’t trust the Muslim voices or Hamas (rightly so, in that instance) Indiscriminate bombing, white phosphorous used. Innocents slaughtered. Search Twitter #GazaUnderAttack (strong stomach required) I wonder how comfortable cheerleaders will be after taking a few minutes to process the horror from the other side.

    Israel have the absolute right to defend herself but this is far beyond defence. I hope there is a realistic chance of peace because ALL human life is sacred.
    Many on this site speak of the barbarity if Islam and the inhumanity of terrorist atrocities. I suggest that high horse may be an uncomfortable ride if due attention is given to Israel’s action.
    Truly a tragedy. If Hamas where the only people affected I would support Bibi 100% but this is a slaughter of the innocents.
    More and more Jews, particularly within the diaspora are ashamed and are getting louder in their ‘Not in My Name’ declarations.

    One can only pray that humanity prevails.

       8 likes

    • John Anderson says:

      Go preach to Hamas, They started the present trouble, they could stop it in an instant. But it is their chosen deliberate policy to continue.

      And “Christians in Gaza ” That’s enough to make a horse laugh. The only Christians there are anti-Israel campaigners.

      Real Christians can see as plain as daylight that Hamas is a terrorist organisation, and that far too many Palestinians follow Islamist extremism or are coerced by Hamas to prefer death to life. Many of the Palestinians have forfeited any claim to sympathy – they are the cause of their own tragedy.

         43 likes

    • The Butcher of Barking says:

      I concur.

         1 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      ‘One can only pray that humanity prevails.’

      Not as long as Hamas, and a good slice of the Middle East in general, are committed to the destruction of Israel (which no doubt they will get around to having a fourth go at, once they’ve finished slaughtering and butchering each other and assuming they don’t in the process destroy their own countries first).

      OMG! I just mentioned the war(s)! Sincere apologies to any sensitive BBC types who might be present.

         5 likes

  10. Lynette says:

    Yes James the script doesn’t change because Jeremy Bowen and the BBC don’t let it. It would be great though if the BBC could give some credit to Israel’s amazing medical, technological , ecological and humanitarian work that can be found in the weekly newsletter http://www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com (enjoy back issues as well)

       32 likes

  11. chrisH says:

    A few posts above do worry me a bit.
    Maybe I`m missing something here-but this latest escalation began with the wicked murder of three Israeli lads who were hitching home from theology college.
    The rush of the BBC and liberal elite to play down these awful events, as well as the weasel words of Hams(as if they know any others) effectively set us up to realise that-yet again-Muslims are victims, even when Israelis are butchered.
    And that the whole liberal narrative is that of Hamas-to terrorise the Jews into leaving Israel, and letting themselves be gassed or drowned yet again.
    A little knowledge of who has long tried to get peace for itself out there, who is democratic and tries to obey the ruls of law as we know it is vital.
    As opposed to who specifically wants Jews dead, Israel gone and those so-called Palestinianrefugees disposed of with no passports and with compromises possible.
    For as long as it serves the Arabs and Islam to keep it all boiling, at least.
    Don`t pretend to know the whole of it-and there are atrocities and tragedies alright-but the PLO flag of convenience, and its willingness to bomb a sovereign nation from the houses of its so called civilians is a disaster for the Arabs.
    Yet its always and only Israel in the dock…the BBC/Guardians lack of balance and honesty is transparent-and always evident when it comes to this hardy perennial of a story.
    Hamas had no reason to abduct or kill Israeli teenagers, no reasons to fire rockets into Israel and no reason to want the Jews dead.
    Yet the BBC gives them all the excuses they need-because they want the Jews gone as well.
    Why don`t our friends above see that-obvious surely?

       35 likes

    • John Anderson says:

      and Hamas had started firing the rockets weeks ago, very soon after the 3 Jewish boys were kidnapped. It was a long time before Israel really started the response on the rocket sites of Gaza.

      When is the BBC going to report that rocket launch sites and storage sites and command posts are deliberately located by Hamas inside or next to blocks of flats, schools, hospitals, mosques ? Why is the BBC failing to use the proper description of Hamas – a terrorist organisation ?

         40 likes

      • Fixby says:

        Hamas have been firing rockets into Israel since the beginning of 2014 . In fact much longer than that, it is just the bbc don’t ever report on it.

           20 likes

    • The Butcher of Barking says:

      Well I’m glad you’re worried. Perhaps it might sink in that not everyone thinks as you do. I am not in the least worried that this site is an echo chamber where not dissent is tolerated. I support Israel, I dislike the leftist bias in the BBC but apparently I fail because I don’t fully support the blinkered pro-Zionist stance here. So be it.

         3 likes

      • John Anderson says:

        You are ridiculous to claim that no dissent is tolerated here.

           20 likes

        • The Butcher of Barking says:

          Well you don’t seem to tolerate it at all well John. You just go on the attack.

             5 likes

        • John Anderson says:

          and you are repeatedly FAILING to deal with the arguments about BBC bias, especially constant bias by omission.

             18 likes

          • The Butcher of Barking says:

            And you constantly change the argument. YES there at BIAS in the BBC – OK!

            Did I ever say there wasn’t? My point was that this site is a sham – it is only really concerned with anyone who dares to criticise Zionism.

               4 likes

            • John Anderson says:

              No – you have spent all your time here ducking all the arguments about BBC bias on Israel and Hamas. Which is nothing to do with the BBC;s general left-wing bias – it is to do with dishonest “joiurnalism”, including buckets of bias by omission of facts and context. Those are the issues you keep avoiding.

                 19 likes

              • The Butcher of Barking says:

                NO! You seem, in your fevered imagination, to have conjured an argument I never made! Of course the BBC has an anti-Israeli, pro-Palestinian bias – I never said it didn’t. It’s bloody obvious.

                My point was (in reply to James) that this site is massively pro-Zionist – and it shows.

                This site is not about a bunch of privileged, metro-centric, idiot lefties running the BBC with their diversity quotas (which is my gripe), it’s a front for Zionist ideals and Vance is in the vanguard.

                   4 likes

      • Biodegradable says:

        What’s wrong about being “Pro-Zionist”?

           14 likes

        • The Butcher of Barking says:

          Ah ha!

             2 likes

          • John Anderson says:

            What is wrong with being anti-terrorist ?

               20 likes

            • The Butcher of Barking says:

              Nothing at all. I’m totally anti-terrorism. Another spectacular non-sequitur from Mr Anderson bangs into the back of the net.

                 5 likes

              • John Anderson says:

                If you were ant-terrorist you would be criticising the BBC for the way it swallows Hamas propaganda and seldom points out that Hamas is a terrorist organisation.

                   20 likes

                • The Butcher of Barking says:

                  But I do. Have you got your head on strait Mr Anderson?

                     4 likes

                  • John Anderson says:

                    You have posted umpteen times on this thread, over quite a few hours. It was not until a few minutes ago – at 8.27pm after umpteen challenges – that you now claim to agree that the BBC has a pro-Palestinian bias.

                    Why on earth did you not say that before ?

                       18 likes

                    • The Butcher of Barking says:

                      What’s wrong with your head? I never once said the BBC wasn’t biased. I made no comment on the BBC whatever. I said this site is massively and unhealthily pro-Zionist. Is there something you are failing to grasp here?

                         3 likes

          • Biodegradable says:

            You claim to support Israel, so doesn’t that make you a “Zionist”.

            Still waiting for you to explain how the BBC isn’t biased when it comes to reporting on Israel…

               17 likes

            • The Butcher of Barking says:

              Oh God! Are you serious? Suggest you Wiki Zionism sonny.

                 2 likes

              • Biodegradable says:

                I’d much rather you gave us your own opinion. I don’t need to see what wikipedia has to say, I want to read what you have to say.

                By the way, do you usually call 65 year old men “sonny”?

                   23 likes

              • Biodegradable says:

                … still waiting for you to tell us how the BBC is not biased…

                   11 likes

                • The Butcher of Barking says:

                  The BBC IS BAISED! Ok? Where did I ever say it wasn’t. You have serious comprehension issues.

                     1 likes

                  • The Butcher of Barking says:

                    *BIASED* even

                       0 likes

                    • John Anderson says:

                      You are denying BBC bias over Hamas and Israel.

                         8 likes

                    • The Butcher of Barking says:

                      Bollocks I am! I’ve already said they are massively anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian. What’s wrong with you? THE BBC IS BIASED AGAINST ISRAEL – is that clear enough. The BBC wasn’t the point of my argument as you well know but keep on twisting it because you can’t bring yourself to explain the bias of this site. Pathetic.

                         4 likes

      • johnnythefish says:

        ‘….blinkered pro-Zionist stance.’

        Can you explain exactly what you mean?

           1 likes

    • Fixby says:

      Thank you ChrisH.

         7 likes

    • Anat T. says:

      ‘Maybe I`m missing something here-but this latest escalation began with the wicked murder of three Israeli lads who were hitching home from theology college.’

      Yes, you are definitely missing something here, and this is entirely the fault of the BBC who have been presenting it in this way.

      The IDF operation in Gaza has nothing to do with these murders, but rather with the escalation of the USUAL rocket fire for Gaza. I emphasize ‘usual’, because it has been going on for years.

         21 likes

  12. sandra says:

    chrisH,
    At last a succinct summary of the situation in the middle east. Many years ago, an ambassador in the ME told me that the ‘Palestinian refugees’ were approximately equivalent to the amount of Jews who had been forced out of Arab countries. I have no reason to disbelieve him. Thank you for saying what I feel

       11 likes

  13. Scott says:

    Interesting to note that the single tweet of Jeremy Bowen’s that DV singles out in his original post was one of several, looking at both sides’ responsibilities.

    By presenting one single tweet in isolation, he presents a completely false picture – albeit one which the lobotomised rottweilers on this site, the ones who are more concerned with being angry than being truthful, lap up all too readily.

    Poor Vance. Poor Biased BBC. You’d think if BBC bias were so prevalent, he wouldn’t have to be so brazenly dishonest. But no – he and Alan lie and cheat their way to try and justify their own paranoid conspiracy theories. And they get away with their lies, because anybody who stands up to them on this site will be shouted down by a group of morons who think that being aggressive from the sanctity of a pseudonym is a valid substitute for being a decent human being.

       10 likes

    • Biodegradable says:

      Plenty more examples of Bowen’s bias here:
      http://bbcwatch.org/?s=Bowen&submit=Search

         17 likes

      • Scott says:

        BBCWatch? A site that makes Biased BBC looks calm and rational? Ha.

           8 likes

        • Biodegradable says:

          But what about the facts, man?

             15 likes

          • The Butcher of Barking says:

            Facts are cheap here mate.

               3 likes

            • Biodegradable says:

              “You cannot reason someone out of a position he has not been reasoned into.”
                        – Jonathan Swift

                 14 likes

              • The Butcher of Barking says:

                And what in the holy fuck is that supposed to mean? Do you imagine for a moment that you were ‘reasoned’ into your current position of ignorance and bigotry? Don’t demean a great author like Swift by dragging him into your sordid argument.

                   6 likes

                • Span Ows says:

                  It is supposed to mean that as most of those vehement vociferous Hamas supporters have little or no knowledge of the history of the conflict or timeline of events; don’t know that the Palestinians have turned down EVERY peace option offered etc…..etc. So as they know none of this they are not in possession of the facts so have a bigoted stance, one not reasoned into, just a knee jerk anti Israel stance. AS such, reason and facts mean little to them.

                     20 likes

            • pah says:

              The more you have of anything then the cheaper they become. Economics Chapter 1.

              So you agree that Biased BBC has plenty of facts then?

                 2 likes

    • John Anderson says:

      How dare you claim to be a decent human being :

      http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_XHazOdNCzZ0/TIvCBRaxIPI/AAAAAAAAAMg/xxGwM6qZNKk/s1600/scottm.jpg

         9 likes

      • Scott says:

        Congratulations, “John Anderson”. You’ve played the same “Oh look, this is a get out of jail free card, I can be as much of a tit as I want” tactic for weeks now.

        I realise it plays well to those who are as single-mindedly oblivious to commonsense as you. The other thing you have in common with them? Your opinion of me is completely worthless.

           9 likes

        • John Anderson says:

          Don;t feed the jihadi-fancying troll

             14 likes

          • The Butcher of Barking says:

            Yeah especially as he is far to clever for you.

               6 likes

            • Plum says:

              Good comment Butch but watch out, Scott will be along here at any moment to remonstrate with you for posting using a pseudonym.
              Or will he?

                 10 likes

            • Span Ows says:

              I know it’s a simple typo but if you’re going to make comment on how clever someone is you should at least avoid spelling and grammar mistakes.

                 16 likes

        • The Butcher of Barking says:

          Yeah. Ad-homs are never resorted to in this Godly forum.

             6 likes

          • Mat says:

            Oh grow up ! this is a free forum so unlike the BBC you can not use it without penalty! so whats stopping leaving this place you so dislike?

               5 likes

    • thoughtful says:

      “a group of morons who think that being aggressive from the sanctity of a pseudonym is a valid substitute for being a decent human being. ”

      That’s a bit rich Scott given the number of times you’ve poured forth vitriol when you’ve been stuck for an answer.

      You still haven’t come up with a list of classic BBC programs which audiences would like to see repeated I notice.

         18 likes

      • The Butcher of Barking says:

        No shortage of vitriol from DV’s bunch of sycophants. It flows like a mighty ocean against anyone who doesn’t adhere to the last dot and comma of the Vance dogma. This site is a sham – it’s not really about the BBC at all.

           6 likes

        • John Anderson says:

          There you go with the ad hom stuff again. Some of us were using this site long before David Vance appeared. It was and is the only UK site I know where there is a wealth of detail provided on BBC bias. Why can’t you see that – there are varieties of view here, and it is cheap of you and our resident troll to try to characterise everyone as being in lockstep. We can think for ourselves, thanks very much. And you have been criticised today essentially for failing to criticise the BBC’s recent coverage of Hamas and Gaza.

             12 likes

          • Scott says:

            the only UK site I know where there is a wealth of detail provided on BBC bias

            Except there’s rarely anything in the way of detail. Vance and Alan regularly lie about BBC content in order to bolster their own conjecture, and when anybody points this out, people like you shout those dissenting voices down, wailing “don’t feed the troll”.

            Biased BBC is most definitely not about BBC bias – it’s about a sad group of little men fuelling their own egos. And no amount of weedy little maggots whining “don’t feed the troll” seventy-three times a thread will change that.

               10 likes

            • John Anderson says:

              Don;t feed the miserable jihadi-fancying troll

                 18 likes

              • Respect says:

                I think the joke has worn off and it makes you look a bit of a troll. Scott doesn’t hide his ID but you do. So are you not really condemning yourself?

                   3 likes

            • Deborah says:

              I object to being described as a little man.

                 10 likes

          • John Anderson says:

            Your first criticism of the BBC and Hamas was at 8.27pm, after umpteen challenges.

            Your first post had the line :

            ” Israel can do no wrong here, even when settlers burn some poor innocent kid alive” That was a filthy implied slur on people here, suggesting we do not deplore the death of the young Palestinian.

               14 likes

          • The Butcher of Barking says:

            There are practically no ‘varieties of view’ here. Don’t kid me. I have a load of gripes with the BBC – I won’t list them – they are endless – I wish the BBC could be abolished forthwith. However, you seem mentally incapable of engaging with the argument I proposed in response to Jame’s comment – i.e. that this site is massively pro-Zionist. NOTHING to do with BBC bias at (which I have already said exists – in spades).

            You’re like a demented parrot. You ask me to address arguments I have not made and yet you fail to answer any point I make. One last chance: Q: is this site pro-Zionist or not?

            Ball in your court Mr Anderson.

               4 likes

            • John Anderson says:

              This site is pro-Israel, and highly critical of the BBC;s coverage of the Middle East. Which seems to me from my independent reading and views over many years to be entirely reasonable. Flinging around words like “Zionist” is perjorative and does not help the debate. Just as flinging around the phrase “anti-semitic” is seldom useful. I do believe, from all their behaviour, that some BBC staff have an animus against Israel, that is reflected in their biased “reporting”.

              After nearly 3 hours of postings and umpteen challenges you finally say that BBC reporting on Israel and Gaza is biased. Why did you not say that from the outset ? And why do you casually dismiss all the criticisms at the BBCWatch website with the slur “Zionist”. We know that site is pro-Israel. But that does not mean it tells lies. Yes you scorn it ?

                 13 likes

              • The Butcher of Barking says:

                “from my independent reading” oh don’t make me fucking laugh!

                You seem to think you have made “challenges” whereas in fact, there was nothing to “challenge”

                I never said anything about the BBC and it’s (obvious) bias. You just chose that as the platform to attack from.

                You tried your best bullying and blustering tactics and you failed, You made up an argument that didn’t exist to deflect from my original and only argument. Now you decide my use of the word “Zionist” is somehow derogatory and ‘unacceptable’ – not fair play. Well tough cheese Mr Anderson. You’ve been a great cheerleader for the clowns on this forum but you’ve shown them up for what they really are. Well done!

                   7 likes

            • Roland Deschain says:

              I have a load of gripes with the BBC – I won’t list them – they are endless

              How very odd then that you’ve never bothered using this site for that purpose. It might suggest your endless gripes aren’t that much of a concern to you.

                 20 likes

              • Guest Who says:

                “How very odd then that you’ve never bothered using this site for that purpose”
                ***
                At least, not under the latest pseudonymous incarnation, no.
                Ironic too (I hope I have used the word correctly) that another weekend comes and another oddly familiar, wearily predictable denial of service assault gets mounted by a tag (possibly trio) team.
                If the hope was to clog out the BBC’s less than professionally stellar role in reporting this conflict and see it reflected well upon by its distraction teams, this may not have worked out as planned.
                Only surprised an attempt has not been made to protect Mr. Bowen by another ‘long term BBC bias veteran’ no one has ever heard of or from before serving up a false flag morsel for the gotcha boys to get into a manufactured hate site lather over.
                When if this is really their bag, such as BBC World FaceBook is a richer seam of bile, ably set up by BBC journalism.

                   13 likes

                • Scott says:

                  Ah, here it is: the usual Biased BBC conspiracy theorist nonsense that believes that people standing up to the wannabe bullies on this site must be in cahoots.

                  Whether it’s the mistaken belief that such posters are the same people, or person, posting under multiple aliases, all in the employ of the BBC, or both, the whole theory is founded in the mistaken belief that Biased BBC’s pseudonymous blowhards are so dangerous that they need some sort of coordinated counter-effort.

                  In truth, they’re not. People like Guest Who know this, but they don’t want to believe it: so they overcompensate, acting as if they are some sort of authority who must be listened to, rather than the sad sacks who deserve our pity.

                     6 likes

                  • Guest Who says:

                    “In truth, they’re not. People like Guest Who know this”
                    If you say so. Just not sure you saying it, and often enough, is quite as persuasive as you may hope.
                    “… deserve our pity.”
                    Just wondering who constitutes this group of ‘ours’ you speak for?
                    However, for such a non-threatening collection, an intriguing amount of time and effort does seem to be expended by some with odd notions of how to spend time productively if not here through choice.

                       2 likes

        • John Anderson says:

          You are the one throwing vitriol around. Just read what you wrote.

             14 likes

          • The Butcher of Barking says:

            Another statement empty of fact and of truth. You are the major purveyor of bile and vitriol here, John.

               6 likes

      • Scott says:

        You still haven’t come up with a list of classic BBC programs which audiences would like to see repeated I notice.

        And you never explained why I should stop laughing at your belief that you were in any position to make such a demand. It’s as if you believe that you have some authority – you don’t. You’re just another Biased BBC pseudonymous commenter with a deluded sense of their own importance.

           9 likes

        • Span Ows says:

          OK, imagine it’s not a demand and who cares if he has no authority; I suppose the request came in another context but why not write the list?

             14 likes

  14. thoughtful says:

    http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/bbc-israel-gaza-palestinian-mediacity-7412901

    Hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators are driving en masse to MediaCity to protest against the BBC’s Gaza coverage

    Basically cue the Fascists and their favourite brown eyed boys who won’t be happy with anything less with a total condemnation of Israel and a statement that the Jewish state should cease to exist.

    “A convoy – branded Drive for Justice – is making its way from Blackburn to Salford Quays emblazoned with green and red flags.”

    Taking a look at the gallery pictures will tell you all you need to know, but I fear that the BBC will just use it to insist they present a balanced outlook because both sides complain.

       14 likes

    • The Butcher of Barking says:

      What does ‘brown eyed boys’ mean in this context?

         1 likes

      • thoughtful says:

        It is a reference to the modern fascism which is making a strong resurgence again.

           13 likes

        • The Butcher of Barking says:

          I still don’t understand – could you kindly elucidate?

             1 likes

          • Span Ows says:

            A clue: are there any/many blue eyed Palestinians? Thoughtful is referring to the anti Jew rent a mob who are always quick onto the streets but are very selective about their causes: the Palestinian cause is their favourite.

            I hope this helps the your seemingly contrived obtuseness.

               13 likes

            • deegee says:

              Yes, Span Ows, there is a God are blue-eyed Palestinians. Some inherited the recessive gene from blue-eyed Crusaders; some may be the descendants of Europeans captured by Muslims (including from Britain) and sold as slaves; some may be the descendants of Roman citizens with citizens/soldiers of Germanic origin who controlled Israel/Palestine until the Arabs invaded and occupied it in the 7th century; some may be descendants of the Mamluks who controlled the area from about 1250 to 1517 and included a large percentage of former Georgian slaves; more recently there are the children of British soldiers/administrators, etc. from the Mandate Period and of Russians from when the Palestinians were students in Russia.

              That said, brown-eyed/blue-eyed boy is just an expression. Don’t read too much into it.

                 4 likes

  15. Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

    Trolls may be starved or shot, but never fed.

       14 likes

  16. Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

    Never fed.

       7 likes

  17. Big Al says:

    150 Comments !! WOW !!

       0 likes

  18. Dave S says:

    Israel does seem to arouse strong passions and it always puzzles me exactly why the liberals hold Israel to a much higher standard of behaviour that any number of other countries. A sort of inverse racism. The Jews should know better and act like liberal Europeans(nice people very empathetic).
    There are also on this thread a number of very personal attacks. This too is found whever Israel is the subject.
    I t seems very simple to me. Israel has faced continued existential threats to it’s existence,. If 1967 and Yom Kippur had not been Israeli victories there would be no Israel and the slaughter of the people would have been horrendous. Israel is always one lost war away from destruction. The Western liberal cannot grasp this.
    The Arab nations of the ME want Israel gone. They always have and always will.
    Israel has achieved great things. It has turned a small rather unpromising part of the ME into a modern democratic state in say two or three generations. It is an example of what intelligence and hard work can achieve. And what does it arouse but envy and loathing from it’s neightbours and irrational emotional hatred from Westerners.
    The ignorance of the Westerner is astounding. Jews never lived in the ME since Roman times, the Jordanians had every right to seize the West Bank . Israel must give land and accept indefensible borders even if it means destruction and so on.
    Israel cannot ever win against this. It’s very miltary strength is held against it. Do they really want defenceless Jews ? I wonder. Sometimes the Westerner makes me sick. Now I understand the Arab and Muslim hostiltiy that is part of life but from the Western liberal it is a form of madness and a sickness of the spirit.

       26 likes

    • The Butcher of Barking says:

      I was sort of with you until the last para. If it were not for the despised “Westerner” you would all be wallowing in blood and sand.

         1 likes

      • Dave S says:

        Please explain .

           5 likes

        • The Butcher of Barking says:

          Are you really so ignorant?

             1 likes

          • Span Ows says:

            No I am sure he isn’t but he is asking, in EXACTLY the same way as you did above. Just explain.

               15 likes

          • Dave S says:

            Away all day working. Your aggressiveness is part of your persona so I discount it but I would still like an explanation of “wallowing in blood and sand”.
            Many possible explanations occur to me but i would rather hear it from you.

               5 likes

  19. The Butcher of Barking says:

    I am a Jew who has no problem using the internet on a Saturday. I also live in East London, can you guess who I am Yet?
    P.S
    I have very big ears

       1 likes

  20. The 'real' Butcher of Barkinf says:

    Leave it out mate. If you think posting crap under my username is clever, then I’ve got a 12-inch cleaver I could introduce you to.

       1 likes

  21. The Butcher of Barking says:

    Mind you, I personally have no problem keeping it up, especially, when my hot Pakistani boyfriend (I call him my suicide bummer) lays on the slab and says…..Fillet.

       3 likes

  22. Merched Becca says:

    Then, I think that we all can agree – that Al Beeb is definitely Biased ?

       7 likes

  23. bogtrott says:

    once this site was good detailing BBC bias but now its more like the bias of the posters.Attacking the peoples views and not the BBC.Please clean up this site as soon it will be unreadable rubbish.The people know who they are who just lowers the tone of this site with nothing to say about the BBC bias.

       8 likes

    • Span Ows says:

      It still does detail BBC Bias in all of the blog-posts; what the comments say underneath is merely discussion threads and often off topic, as is the case with many other blogs. Many of the comments are merely replies and reaction to attackbots (a.k.a. trolls) that have absolutely no interest in the blog-post and merely wish to divert threads and often post insulting and rude comments in the hope of attracting similar comments from regular commentators in the hope that they can then use those abusive posts as evidence that the blog itself is unfit for purpose and should be closed down for racism /homophobia/ whatever.

         14 likes

    • Wild says:

      If you do not think the BBC is biased say so. Defend them if you are capable of doing so. If you think the BBC is biased, talk about the bias you have identified. What bias? If you have nothing to say except expressing your hated of the people who post on here (for whatever reason) then you have nothing to contribute so you might as well fuck off.

         11 likes

  24. Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

    Google translate is rubbish at presenting modern Welsh. It always betrays its use guys.

       3 likes

    • feargal the cat says:

      What is the translation in Welsh (past or modern) for, Jeremy Bowen is still a taxpayer-funded, vacuous teewat?

         0 likes

  25. deegee says:

    this site is massively pro-Zionist
    Hardly surprising that when discussing clear examples of BBC bias most of the commenters are on the opposite side of the argument from the BBC.

       9 likes

  26. deegee says:

    Dear Mr. Bowen,

    Seeing as you have taken up temporary residence in Gaza, could you please confirm or deny that missiles are fired in or very close to noncombatant locations? Haven’t seen any, does you Hamas handler not take you there?

    Could you confirm or deny that Hamas high command is under Shifa Hospital? Don’t know? Why haven’t you checked?

       17 likes

    • John Anderson says:

      Bowen has actually been filmed in urban areas and a rocket has been launched from very close by – but still he does not point out that it is a war crime to use civilians as shields. He has an agenda, and to hell with facts and morality.

         9 likes

  27. johnnythefish says:

    Can anyone name another nation on earth that is surrounded by hostile countries intent on its destruction? Remember: three attempts so far – ’48, ’67 and ’74 (not a lot of BBC people know that).

       8 likes

    • Merched Becca says:

      How about the UK ?
      Thats why I am going to vote UKIP in the next election.

         7 likes

    • ROBERT BROWN says:

      Er….1973 actually, Yom Kippur war, a very close affair indeed, 1200 Syrian tanks v 120 Israeli………the ‘Valley of Tears’ was full of Syrian wrecks……and attacked by Egypt the other end, with horrendous losses of aircraft to missiles…the USA resupplied and saved Israel…..the Israelis are heroes in my book, stuff the stupid, ignorant middle-class lefty pricks in this country, that’s 90% plus of the educational mob, media etc…..

         9 likes

  28. Lurker says:

    I am ex-BBC. I have also spent a lot of time in the Middle East.

    Before you leap to any conclusions about my political views on the basis of those two statements, please don’t. It’s not enough evidence to base anything on, and you will almost certainly be wrong.

    As somebody who has had dealings with, and lived among, people on both sides of this conflict, I have to say that the assertion that Hamas must love Bowen or the BBC is just laughable. The BBC is widely loathed in the Arab and Islamic world, commonly seen as a lickspittle of the imperalist West or a mouthpiece for Israeli opinions. In fact their view of BBC output is exactly a mirror image of those on the Right who think it kowtows to the Palestinians.

    The problem here, as in the wider conflict, is that both sides of the debate think the other is deluded or dishonest, without any possibility of there being any position in between. It is self-evident that the BBC pursues a pro-Palestinian agenda, you suggest, because you’ve compiled lots of examples of a partial narrative being told. Fine. But all over the Arab world every other news report and internet story is taken to pieces for exactly the same reason, with the opposite thesis. It’s like a mirror image of the world this blog inhabits, but one where the cast-iron certainty of pro-Palestinian bias is replaced by the cast-iron certainty of Zionist bias. Ah, you say, but OUR complaints are correct! We’ve got the evidence.

    Guess what? That’s exactly what the pro-Arab activists are saying. And they think you’re as wrong as you think they are.

    Both sides can’t be right. The truth is that neither is. Where you DO have a point is that London journalists (and I mean that in general, although it is particularly the case at the BBC) have a tendency to right-on middle-class liberal sentiments. From time to time that surfaces in the output (humanitarian crisis in Gaza? Hold the front page!) But the argument of this article doesn’t hold water. And the statement that in BBC reports ‘Palestinians are ALWAYS innocent victims and Israelis are ALWAYS the aggressors’ could only be made by somebody with the blinkers firmly over their eyes.

       5 likes

    • Biodegradable says:

      That’s the classic BBC defence; “if both sides accuse us of bias that means we’re not biased.”

      Sorry, no cigar :-/

         17 likes

    • AsISeeIt says:

      ‘Both sides can’t be right.’ Sorry ‘Lurker’ but that bit of hackneyed triangulation just doesn’t hack it as a dismissal of BBC bias. You forget that it implies one side is right and it certainly is not the Palestinians in this case.

         6 likes

      • Respect says:

        Both sides were wrong in Ulster. That’s how they managed to reach an agreement that was right for everyone except a few diehards.

           1 likes

        • Span Ows says:

          Not a fair analogy: the IRA didn’t want all Protestants dead not matter what. Or depending who you think ‘plays which part’, the UVF/ LVF and the UDA didn’t want all Southern Irish dead.
          It wasn’t elected governments…etc

             9 likes

    • John Anderson says:

      The website BBCWatch gives the most detailed forensic accounts of BBC bias on Israel. What they say seems very compelling to me. We KNOW how much the BBC chooses to omit.

      Can you please point to an equivalent website that gives FORENSIC DETAILED evidence of the opposite ?

         9 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      ‘The BBC is widely loathed in the Arab and Islamic world, commonly seen as a lickspittle of the imperalist West or a mouthpiece for Israeli opinions. In fact their view of BBC output is exactly a mirror image of those on the Right who think it kowtows to the Palestinians.’

      Ah, yes! which is why the BBC have such easy access – anytime, anyplace and with anybody, deep inside these Islamic terrorist areas.

      No, hang on – let’s start again. Taliban poetry readings, anyone?

         6 likes

    • pah says:

      Assuming what you say is correct then the following scenario is also possible:

      The BBC is biased against Israel but not as biased as Hamas & co would like.

         4 likes

    • Teddy Bear says:

      And the statement that in BBC reports ‘Palestinians are ALWAYS innocent victims and Israelis are ALWAYS the aggressors’ could only be made by somebody with the blinkers firmly over their eyes.

      Well let’s see just who has the blinkers, and why we’re not surprised you used to work for the BBC.

      Perhaps you can point to an article by the BBC where they report about Hamas firing rockets at Israel BEFORE Israel retaliates.

      Hadar Sela at BBC Watch does a sterling job detailing the consistent bias in this regard. I too have detailed this lack of balance here and here.

      Now before you ‘discover’ this particular article – Gaza rocket lands near Ashkelon in southern Israel, I should mention that <a href=http://www.thecommentator.com/article/2804/gaza_rocket_hits_israel_obviously_israel_s_faultthe Commentator picked up on just what was behind this surprising revelation.

      Try not to just dismiss the assertions made on this site unless you have valid proof. That’s why so far we’re not surprised you are ex BBC.

      I won’t hold my breath on you returning to this topic.

         5 likes

  29. Respect says:

    Both sides can’t be right. The truth is that neither is.

    Indeed. Unfortunately I doubt your very reasoned post will be given anything other abuse here. But it reflects my views including the metro-bias which ALL media are displaying. A look at ITN or Sky is pretty identical to BBC.

       5 likes

    • John Anderson says:

      There have been half a dozen responses so far – where is all the abuse ?

         6 likes

  30. TigerOC says:

    I understand what you’re saying Lurker but the real rub is that the BBC like most of the British News media is very selective about what they report and how its reported. Now many on this forum, like me, use news sources outside of the UK to get some kind balance as to what the truth really is. The key point is that the BBC is publicly funded by force of law but they have a political agenda. They can do whatever they want when some investor is funding them and I have a choice not to listen or watch their awful output.

    In the case of Israel nothing much is ever said until all hell erupts there. This is usually when Israel has had enough provocation and starts to sort things out its way. All the while a low grade conflict has been going on which is usually Palestinians firing rockets on a daily basis at Israel indiscriminately and the odd self exploding body. None of this is reported probably because it is so common that is the standard way of life there. I know this and so do many others who get news from alternate sources.
    When Israel retaliates it’s always the same; Oh look at the poor civilian injured and maimed, they didn’t ask for this. The UN and every other lefty organisation is calling for calm and peace. Where were they when the stuff was coming from the other side?
    As far as I know HAMAS was elected therefore the ordinary civilians put them into power and therefore support what they do.
    Easy solution; if you don’t like what your rulers are doing and they are putting you in danger then remove them. But the reality is that they support everything HAMAS does.
    There could be peace in the region. The Pales just have to stop armed attacks on Israel, accept the existence of the State of Israel and sign a Treaty to that effect.
    As someone said the other day; if a bunch of anti-British renegades started firing missiles at the UK from Calais and the French did nothing about it pretty damn smart what do you think our Government would do? Think they would erect an iron dome and hope for the best. I suggest that some pretty heavy force would be used in a real hurry.

       11 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      Well said. However, the ‘Palestinians’ have no interest in a 2-state solution, regardless of how many of their demands it gives them. Even Clinton realised that.

         8 likes

  31. Alan Larocka says:

    Jeremy Bowen is dogshit. Let that be the last word on that scumbag.

       3 likes