Posted on 07/26/2006 5:38:40 AM PDT by SJackson
Early media coverage of Hizbullah's aggression against Israel presented a generally sound picture of cause and effect, of the terrorist group's agenda and of Israel's right to remove the menace to its people.
The BBC, however, is a frequent exception.
Correspondent Nick Thorpe, for instance, in a report broadcast on July 15 and posted as well on the network's Web site - "Becoming Israel's greatest enemy" - opted for jarringly flippant characterizations of the present crisis in Lebanon, followed by anti-Israel distortions and platitudes.
An introductory account of the assault of Katyusha rockets raining down on northern Israel, and the less lethal Kassams plaguing the south of the country, are reported like a child's fable.
Thorpe says: "The Kassams mostly needle the Israelis, like pinpricks in the ankles of a giant, taunting him to stamp back with his big, US-issue army boots. The Katyushas are like poisoned arrows. They drive him mad."
Thorpe likes the image of Israel as a mad giant, saying later: "The giant is kicking out, then landing punch after punch on long-suffering Lebanon."
The fact that the allegedly "giant" nation is actually so tiny that its entire northern region and nearly a third of its population are being battered by Katyusha missiles is of no interest to the story-teller.
BUT THE Hizbullah-launched conflagration is only a backdrop to the central, indelible and preferred story, and Thorpe soon segues into his topic - Palestinian feelings and grievances. He notes:
"For many Palestinians there is proof at last that the state which has taken 78% of what they regard as their land since the foundation of Israel in 1948 - and every day seems to take a little more - can actually be beaten."
The 78% Palestinians "regard as their land" is, of course, not just the West Bank and Gaza, but encompasses the legally sovereign and internationally sanctioned State of Israel itself.
Thorpe is comfortable, though, casually repeating without caveat this irredentist position and - less than a year after Israel's withdrawal from the entire Gaza Strip - asserting absurdly that "every day" more land is seized.
CLICHES ABOUND. Driving in the West Bank, the BBC correspondent expresses understanding of "the resentment and the sense of oppression the Palestinians feel" as he witnesses "smart, middle-class Israeli settlements [that] have sprung up on virgin hillsides..." These, he claims, are "watered by springs often diverted from Palestinian villages."
Notably, Thorpe is imprecise here, omitting names of any such multiple Palestinian villages robbed of water diverted to neighboring Jewish towns.
In reality, West Bank Arab towns have, during Israel's administering of the area, enjoyed a dramatic improvement in water availability.
In the period, for example, from 1967 to 1995, West Bank Palestinians increased domestic water use by 640%, from 5.4 million cubic meters to to 40 MCM. This occurred as Israel connected hundreds of West Bank towns to its national water carrier and drilled or permitted Palestinians to drill scores of major wells as well as innumerable private ones.
Thorpe makes no note of these nettlesome details in scanning the hills of the West Bank.
BEYOND ALLEGED water and land seizures, the Israeli "occupier" has also committed other severe offenses, including erecting - for no apparent reason mentioned by Thorpe - "tunnels and fences" that "keep Palestinians away from Israeli roads, Israelis settlements and Israeli soldiers." (Terrorism is omitted entirely.)
This seemingly inexplicable, callous and exclusionary practice by the giant Israel has led to Palestinians being "increasingly confined by barriers and checkpoints into little reservations" and, Thorpe observes, "it is little wonder that Palestinians applaud Sheikh Nasrallah, the spiritual head of the Hezbollah, when he calls for the release of some of the thousands of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel."
Having sketched all these Israeli abuses, Thorpe moves to the concluding section of his account, describing a discussion with Dov, his "old friend" from Jerusalem who works to identify and counter threats to the Jewish people.
He queries: "On your travels, you must often be asked to justify Israel's policy towards the Palestinians."
When Dov replies that he does not "engage with" the issue, Nick Thorpe, BBC expert on Israeli geography, water, land policy, missile defense, history, political strategy and national survival, offers a word of instruction.
He writes: "I disagree, as gently as I can. Until there is a broad peace agreement in the Middle East, it seems to me, not imposed by Israel but agreed by all sides, I fear his people, and for that matter mine, will be targets."
NOTHING IN Thorpe's breezy rendition even hints at decades of Palestinian violence, anti-Jewish hate-mongering or rejectionism. Nothing suggests the self-inflicted disasters.
In a final touch of symbolism, the reporter describes a passing Arab villager "pushing a cart loaded to the sky with white eggs. In the other direction come lorries loaded with shells for Israeli tanks to launch into Lebanon."
As fatuous and simple-minded as this report may be, the animus toward Israel and gross disregard for fact are no joke, but rather all too emblematic of bias in coverage provided by Britain's government-supported network.
The writer is executive director of CAMERA, Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America.
The BBC, like PBS and NPR, given their political leanings could not exist in a true market place. It's only the extorted taxes of everyday people including millions of conservatives that keeps them afloat.
They seem impervious to any kind of reasonable oversight.
The left wing facists have sided with Islam -- and call Israel the "giant".
Disgusting.
The BBC coverage has been about as biased as any I've ever seen. And that's watching the US version. This week they've had that rabid American-hater Matt Frei anchoring. He asks the same hateful questions every night. Last night, an under secretary of state, Nicholas Burns, was ready for him and would have none of it. I had never heard of this man before, but he was great. Must have been a Bush appointee. I suspect that Mtt will be more careful who he questions on air from now on.
High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel.
also Keywords 2006israelwar or WOT [War on Terror]
----------------------------
Since at least the days of Lawrence of Arabia, Brits have loved Arabs. Brits have nearly always taken a dim view of Jews. Hope the British enjoy the fruits of their prejudices.
Animus toward Israel creeps into some BBC coverage
Some BBC coverage?
BBC is surprisingly shameless in its islamophilia. They're always fawning over some mullah or another. They're almost as bad as NPR...
Just out of curiosity, what is the cost to each resident of the UK towards this License Fee?
How far the Beeb has fallen.
The BBC - The British Broadcasting Communism. The broadcast networks in the UK are even more left wing than the networks over here
Israel is teaching the gangsta a lesson. The BBC and their spineless ilk, knowing they face no reprisals from Israel, choose to cheer the gangsta. I suppose that support and appeasement for a gangsta, to the leftist media, is better than a drive-by from a gangsta's posse.
I read the BBC piece myself. Seemed to me it was more about how Hezbollah is deliberately provoking Israel and Israel is falling for it. The fact is that nobody even talks about Hamas anymore, it's Hezbollah this and Hezbollah that and they love it. Israel just blunders around like a bear with a bad head.
I remember back in the day that Mossad had a rep for surgical precision - empty a clip into the back of some SOB's head in a dark alley and walk away. No fuss, no muss. And, here's the important part, no collateral. Now they carry out assassinations with F-16s and get all surprized when the number of terrorists skyrocket.
It's human nature to strike back. I know, believe me. There wasn't a day in the 'seventies that I didn't want the Irish Republic bombed back into the stone age for sheltering the PIRA. But I knew it wasn't real practical or even a good idea. Israel needs to realize it's being played and get smart. It's in the right in all this - Hezbollah are the spawn of Khomeini and would love to see the Lebanon turn into a theocratic sinkhole like Iran - but dignifying scum like them with the response you'd properly reserve for a stand-up fight between states is playing right into their hands.
The AL-Beeb never fails to be biased against Israel and never fail to support anyone and anything that wants to harm it.
The irony is that if Sharia ever took over in the UK, most of them would the 1st to be hung, or worse, due to it being riddled with queers/dykes/transvestites etc.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.