Congratulations should at least be extended to the BBC for their decision not to back down to pressure from the Hampstead set and unacceptable interference from Government Ministers over the Disasters Appeal Committee Gaza appeal. The appeal is composed of a number of charities who have been openly one sided and hostile to Israel over the years and have taken on the role of Palestinian propagandists rather than humanitarian charities over the course of recent years. There have been no similar appeals for other troubled war zones in recent years and I can find no explanation why this appeal is merely helping the victims of one side of this tragic war, rather than victims on both sides. Hamas also has a reputation for utterly failing to ensure that aid reaches those who deserve it. Unless guarantees can be made then about aid reaching its desired recipients then there is little reason that the BBC should be airing such an appeal. Of course, plenty of the oil rich countries in the Middle East could also be providing humanitarian and Iranand Lebanon could try helping Palestinian civilians with humanitarian aid rather than helping Hamas with increasingly dangerous and sophisticated weaponry.
So, well done to the BBC on this occasion. However, the idea that they have adopted anything like impartiality over this dispute is nothing short of a fiction. Their coverage in the past few weeks has been completely one sided – ignoring the fact that Israel’s action was provoked by countless missile attacks by Hamas on to Israeli territory. Nor has the BBC done anything to expose Hamas as an organisation with an extreme anti Jewish message, dedicated to the destruction of the state of Israel, as well as the destruction of the Western way of life and the democratic pluralism that makes Western liberal societies stand out. The record of Hamas in using women and children as ‘human shields’ has barely been mentioned by the BBC – often ready to parrot anti Israeli propaganda. Jeremy Bowen has not even tried to hide his sympathies in the past few weeks, often following Israeli statements with emotionally loaded proclamations such as “try telling that to these Gazacivilians.” If the BBC are so concerned about their impartiality maybe they should try publishing the report into the alleged bias in their Middle Eastcoverage that they commissioned in 2005? Despite the BBC doing the right thing over the DEC appeal, we should not pretend that their coverage has been anything other than one sided.
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Agreed entirely…and that’s rare for me..
What a breath of fresh air David and well done for saying it.
The BBC has, unfortunately, now strayed so far from Lord Reith’s ideas of impartialitity and non-political reporting that it is hard to see how this institutional bias can be reversed. The past 10 years have seen entirely leftwing governors and chief executives, so naturally the rank and file take on the same complexion. It will be interesting to see whether the Beeb notices that the Tories will probably win the next election – so far they are ignoring the possibility manfully.
Totally agree – but I for one have long since given up on the BBC offering anything like impartiality, still its blatent political bias only hastens the day when the license fee poll tax will come to an end.
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“There have been no similar appeals for other troubled war zones in recent years” Conflicts in the DRC, Darfur, Libera and Kosovo all resulted in DEC appeals similar to the most recent appeal for aid for Palestinians. But don’t let the facts get in the way of good rhetoric! TK