Targeted Serenading

We’ve had many surprises this week. One was seeing Mark Regev in the studio, speaking without constant interruptions and contradictions. We had the usual anti Israel tripe from various talking heads too, endlessly bringing up the illusory obstacle to peace, Netanyahu’s refusal to extend the settlement freeze.
Eventually, Hamas’s mourning of Bin Laden’s assassination, or heroic martyrdom, was mentioned. Even the fact that the Arab Spring might not necessarily presage enlightenment and democracy as we know it was voiced, openly, on the BBC.

However, back to normal this morning with Thought for the Day (1:48:06) The Rev Angela Tilby’s words of wisdom addressed the intractable problem of Israel Palestine. Now that those two naughty boys Hamas and Fatah have made friends, she brayed, peace can happen at last. Doves and Hawks, she purred, are both vital to the process. Hawks, though annoying, must be brought in from the cold. We must not treat this as a playground dispute, she warned, unaware that that was exactly what she was doing.
Her two unconvincing reminders that Israel’s fears were rational stuck out oddly, as though they’d been squeezed into the script as an afterthought, having remembered the need for impartiality just in time. The final bit, about Daniel Barenboim’s Gaza gig and the wonderful peace giving properties of Mozart avoided mentioning the tricky subject of Hamas’s aversion to music.
But this isn’t about Today. Most people take its irrelevance as a given, something like being made to swallow a tonic that is thought to be good for you, but isn’t really.
It’s about the item that followed. Are targeted assassinations acceptable? Does Obama’s recent escapade set a precedent? Geoffrey Robertson QC had been listening to Thought for the Day, because he mentioned it to help his argument that targeted assassinations are never justified. What, he speculated, if Sarah Palin as POTUS decided to assassinate Fidel Castro, or Julian Assange? Or what if some Ayatollahs decided to assassinate Salman Rushdie? (What indeed.)

Danny Yatom, former Head of Mossad was on the line. “ Danny Yatom”, says Sarah Montague, authoritatively, “You think it’s better to kill them that remove them alive. “ “No” he replies from some echoing Zionist den, “It’s better to capture alive and obtain intelligence, but we are at war, and in that case, if you don’t shoot, you are shot.”
So our human rights lawyer can’t see the difference between random hypothetical murders of people that a head of state might disapprove of and Israel’s intelligence-led targeted assassinations of terrorists in pre-emptive self-defence in. a. state. of. war.
The USA should have got Daniel Barenboim to play Al Qaeda some lovely Mozart instead.

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22 Responses to Targeted Serenading

  1. cjhartnett says:

    I too have seen the long-suffering Mark Regev having to traipse around the BBCs water coolers trying(in vain) to talk sense amidst the pitiful Paxmans, Mairs-indeed anyone in Beebland.
    Yet even the patience of Job would not have spared Mr Regev had he suffered The World At One” with Martha Kaearney today!
    For those who want to see the BBC making up their closed minds into some confection for Tate Modern or Bedlam (before the bars close where Eddie,Jeremy etc get their scripts written for them in later rumblings I guess)-Marthas your girl!
    She gets first dibs at the pastel shades and the plinth, the soapbox or the bandwagons as she feels led…ye Gods!

    And so today-Rowan is cited as felling somewhat uneasy about-no,not about the strangulation of the notion of Christianity in EuroRegion Manche Nord-but about the killing of Bin Laden.Now had he been a Christian killed by the Umma,that would have been regrettable too-but understood as a cultural nuance no doubt.
    Is Pakistan an associate member of the E.U then?…send for Goldsmith or Robertson!
    Next up-the honest people of Pakistan would really like to see the pictures of Osama…no, wait-the BBC are of course neutral on this; But I don`t recall these self same people what they thought of the  terrorist attacks in Mumbai! Silly me!
    And theres more-the world renowned Uni of Galway tell us about international protocols and paradigms in regard of returning Bin Ladens body  back to the family-which one for Allahs sake?
    Don`t recall Martha seeking the 7/7 bombers bits to return for the same…you culturally insensitive poppet you!
    Presumably Roehampton Poly were all out protesting at the Toricutz when Galway Uni got the call…and who paid for that phone call to Ireland by the way?
    So in the first twenty minutes we get reams of left-liberal incontinent ramblings, yet nothing about the AV vote going on!
    Wonder why?
    Could Mark Regev be persuaded to host his own show at 1p.m instead of the quisling commentariat and their bearded wonders that are not trashing Millbank for the day?
    Hell Libby Purvis and her manicures commentaries would be preferable…well,maybe!

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    • john in cheshire says:

      Just as I physically dislike the boy children of the bbc; Humphrys, Davis, Webb, Naughty et al; I thoroughly dislike both Martha Kearney and Sarah Montague (I always want to call her Elizabeth Montgomery for some reason – her of Bewitched).
      I have never met, nor am likely to meet Mark Regev, but from the first time I saw him many years ago,  I instantly liked him. He is a beacon of light in a part of the world that is filled with satanic darkness. How he manages to remain composed in the face of such an onslaught by the massed forces of the bbc and the rest of the socialist media in our country is a mystery to me. That he does so is to behold a man with remarkable talents. Long may he continue to defend his beleagured country.

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      • john in cheshire says:

        And yes, I purposely misspell Mr Naughtie’s name. The verbose prat.

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        • Grant says:

          John,

          ” Boy children” is about right.  BBC presenters have an average age of about 14 3/4.

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    • Grant says:

      cj,

      I was just about to post about Beardie Rowan, feeling uncomfortable.  What the hell has it got to do with him ?  If he wants to get involved in politics , he should stand for election. Otherwise keep his stupid mouth shut. He should have his work cut out tending to his flock which are in dire need of care, instead of mouthing off on matters which are none of his business.

      On a similar note, I am reminded of the quote from Andrew Marr at the bottom about his “presbyterian upbringing”.  Slight chuckle at that !

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  2. peters says:

    The following article explores the very different reactions of the UN and the international community to two nearly identical events: the killing of Osama Bin Laden this week by the U.S., and that of Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin in 2004 by Israel.
    http://tinyurl.com/3zabk7l

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    • Charlie says:

      A very good point!

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    • TooTrue says:

      Yes, it is a good point. I recall that Turkey’s Erdogan was furious about the Yassin killing. Can’t have Jews killing Muslims, even if they are Islamic terrorists.

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    • john in cheshire says:

      And what about Yasser Arafat. Why has there been no investigation into his death (or if there has been, I haven’t read about it). Can we actually believe that he went to France and unfortunately died? I’m glad he died, but it wasn’t natural, was it? I remember the look in his idiotic face, as he entered the helicopter that took him away. He knew what was going to happen to him.

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  3. Backwoodsman says:

    I’d just like to echo the points ECHO has made so eloquently above ! Beeboids now busy building their regulation anti – USA slant into every story. Get some motor mouth self proclaimed civil rights lawyer to call for a UN comission into bin liners death, get weirdy beardy Rowan to put in his five pennorth. Then get some Paddy from boondock college , Galway , to have his say.  Anyone sense a familiar beeboid pattern emerging here ?
    By the end of next week, it will have become ‘many people believe the USA’s killing of bin laden was illegal.’ By next year, the ‘many people believe’, will have been dropped and another bit of left wing revisionism will be enshrined in bbc orthodoxy.

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  4. David Preiser (USA) says:

    I don’t know about Today, but I found Jeremy Paxman and the Newsnight producers to be massively biased against Israel in last night’s segment.  Regardless of how many times Regev pointed out actual facts about Hamas, their goals, their behavior as a ruling party in Gaza, their lack of democratic ideals, and their praise for Osama Bin Laden, Paxman refused to allow it as anything other than Israeli opinion.  Regev quoted Hamas leaders, yet Paxman said that was only his opinion.  How can this be defended as impartiality?

    The Fatah mouthpiece put up a smokescreen about how Hamas promised to abided by Fatah’s temporary toothless agreements with Israel, and Paxman allowed it to stand and didn’t ask what they would do if elected to rule the whole show next year.  That would have been the real answer, the real issue Regev and Netanyahu are talking about, yet the BBC isn’t interested in allowing that discussion.  Instead, Paxman’s and his producers’ agenda was to portray Israel as the sole obstacle to peace and make the audience think that Hamas had magically turned over a new leaf.

    Paxman repeatedly denied, and allowed the Fatah guy to deny, that Regev was speaking the truth and spun every statement of fact as mere opinion.  This isn’t impartiality, as that would have required Paxman to either challenge the facts or let them stand, rather than tell the audience that it’s only an opinion and not necessarily true.  The Israeli mouthpiece was challenged by Paxman, but the word of Fatah was taken as Gospel.

    Pathetic, and not surprising in the least.

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    • john in cheshire says:

      I tend to make a distinction between intelligence and education. There are many people who are educated. And quite a few who have attended prestigious schools, colleges and universities. However, they are not necessarily intelligent. I put the likes of stephen fry, jeremy paxman and germaine greer in the category of educated idiots. There are many more; Mr Cameron is another, Clegg, Prince Chuckles yet another. But of course, they’re too stupid to know their limitations. And they’re all surrounded by sycophants who continually tell them who wonderful they are. Unfortunately, the bbc is full of the educated stupid and their sycophants. Hence normal people begin to doubt their own commonsense, because these educated idiots speak well and sound so convincing. There needs to be a movement to neutralise this cult of superiority because of good speech.
      In one respect Stalin had a good idea; periodically he purged a layer of society – scientists, teachers, government lackeys. It made them fearful. And although that might not have produce better public service it was a good thing. Fear is missing from those who set out to rule over us and that is a bad thing. If the bbc feared us, they’d be more careful who they employed and what lies they stuffed down our ears.

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      • Grant says:

        John,

        I have posted this before, but I remember my late father telling me this when I was a little boy.  He was right  !!!

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  5. sue says:

    More about Geoffrey Robertson, radio 5 live and OBL here.

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  6. ltwf1964 says:

    just as an aside,I read that tory boy(with a very small “t”) Cameron has threatened benjamin Netanyahu with recognising a self-declared “palestinian” state at the useless Nations in September if israel does not begin peace talks with the psycopathic Hamas and slightly less psycopathic Fatah

    or should they now be known as FATASS since they kissed and made up?

    I think that one will stick

    FATASS it is!!

    naughty naughty Cameron……you’ll pay a heavy price if you mess around with Israel

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    • john in cheshire says:

      I hope so.

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    • Grant says:

      Cameron, Clegg and Miliband are at that difficult stage in life where they are struggling to move from nappies to short trousers.
      Have any of them had a real job or done anything real in their sad little lives ?
      And Cameron is lecturing the Israelis.  My God, I am almost at screaming point !

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  7. TooTrue says:

    They were going on about a marathon in Gaza the whole morning on the World Service and for all I know are still going on about it. I turned the thing off. Jon Donnison “reported” on it and they had Chris Guiness on as well. The marathon was mostly for children, running in relays. Seems there wasn’t much else of importance going on in the world. Gave the BBC lots of time for trivia, especially if it could be used to slap Israel around a bit.

    Donnison was his usual cliched, PeeCee, lefty self but Guiness was interesting in that his vitriolic attack on the Israelis – comparing The savage and lengthy blockade to those of World War II – had a hint of desperation to it. Hmmm, things are changing fast in the area, with Hamas going through the farce of pretending to civilise itself and the Gaza-Egypt border opened. Perhaps Guiness senses that his Israel-bashing will be threatened by these new factors: Hamas will soon demonstrate that its toying with peaceful democracy is like Neanderthals trying to learn table manners, and with the border to Egypt open, the comparison of Gaza to the Warsaw Ghetto is even more absurd than it ever was.

    Anti-Semitic Israel bashers will have to adjust their prejudice to suit the new realities. Problem for them is, they can’t.

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  8. Advis3r says:

    Interesting about the Gazan marathon in which apparently there were 9 runners – you can search the BBC website in vain for a report  on Jerusalem’s International Marathon held earlier this year. The comment by Guiness is classic –  “You have the London Marathon, the Sydney Marathon, the New York Marathon and now the Gaza Marathon,” said UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness.  He could not bring himself to mention a marathon which took place in the neighbouring country such is his hatred for israel the sooner UNWRA is wound up and the loathsome Guiness becomes an unemployed statistic the better.

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  9. sue says:

    I was going to say that Huw Edwards was more respectful (yesterday afternoon, BBC News24) towards Mark Regev than the average British news anchor tends to be. I was thinking particularly of Jon Snow and the ridiculous interview when he told Mark Regev that the Turks were about to send warships to Israel. He had to take that back later, but that bit is always left out of the videos.

    While I was looking on Youtube for videos of Mark Regev’s interviews on UK TV I was appalled at the hatred in the vile comments and captions. They’re awash with anti Israel propaganda. There are some terrible examples of Jeremy Paxman being rude and uncouth with that supercilious expression on his face.

    Now that practically everybody concedes that there is a connection between Al Qaeda, radical Islam and terrorism, they still won’t join the dots as far as Israel is concerned and recognise that they are facing something beyond the rational.

    Cameron is said to have joined in the chorus of ostriches who insist that the Hamas/Fatah coalition must be taken at face value and has promised to back the UN unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state, it’s a deeply worrying development, but not unexpected.

    The UN voting pattern reminds me of the Eurovision Song Contest. About as unpredictable as it is impartial. Where is Terry Wogan when you need him?

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  10. JK says:

    Slightly off topic, but I was on a flight to Tel Aviv from Heathrow yesterday. The flight was full of the usual average Jewish / Israeli mix, Hassids, standard religious with skull-caps, non religious, lots of screaming badly behaved kids, and there were also 2 thin white balding men, having a very open public display of affection, with each other. And I thought to myself, ‘self’ ‘there might be many ppl on this flight who don’t agree with their lifestyle, but I am proud that there is only 1 country in the middle east those 2 can be openly gay and safe’.

    Certainly not in Gaza or the West Bank, and you wont hear that on the BBC

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  11. Grant says:

    JK,

    I have never been to Israel, but I guess the Israelis have more important things to worry about than whether someone is gay or not.

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