REPORT SLAMS BBC FOR SUPPORTING IRAN, HEZBOLLAH

Report Slams BBC Arabic For Supporting Iran, Hezbollah (BackSpin)

A soon-to-be-released report by Trevor Asserson slams BBC-Arabic's radio for biased commentary during the Second Lebanon War. YNet News explains:

The research team observed the station's main commentary program "Hadith al-sa'a" (Talk of the Hour) during the Second Lebanon War, and concluded that commentators supporting Iran and its views were given preference.

The station's commentators, the report said, did not even try to hide their clear sympathy for the Lebanese side and Hizbullah fighters.

Asserson's previous studies of the BBC are impressively thorough and online at his web site, BBCWatch.

BBC ADMITS INACCURACIES IN ISRAEL COVERAGE

BBC admits inaccuracies in coverage (JPost)
The BBC has apologized for significant errors in two recent news reports on Israel.

In a news item on March 7, following the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva attack, the BBC showed a bulldozer demolishing a house, while correspondent Nick Miles told viewers: "Hours after the attack, Israeli bulldozers destroyed his family home. Later, mourners set up Hamas and Islamic Jihad banners nearby."

The house, however, was not demolished; the BBC was embarrassed when news reports from other broadcasters showed the east Jerusalem home intact and the family commemorating their son's actions.

Last week, the BBC apologized live on its news program, admitting it had used footage of another house being demolished.

News anchor Geeta Guru-Murthy said: "Now, we would like to clarify a report we heard at this hour last Friday about the attack by a Palestinian gunman on a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem. In the report, the day after the attack, BBC World said that the gunman's home in east Jerusalem had been demolished by the Israeli authorities. That was not correct, and the images broadcast were of another demolition."

The fabrication was exposed by Boston-based media monitor CAMERA, which revealed that the images used by the BBC were similar to photos taken by the Palestinian news agency Maan from the demolition of the house belonging to Islamic Jihad leader Muhammad Shehadeh in Bethlehem on March 7.

In a second incident, in a news item entitled "Israel jets strike northern Gaza" on March 14 on their News Web site, the BBC reported that Israel was deliberately targeting civilians in an operation targeting Kassam rocket launch sites in Gaza, and claiming that the United Nations secretary-general had described it as an attack on civilians.

"The Israeli air force said it was targeting a rocket firing team... UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned Israel's attacks on Palestinian civilians, calling them inappropriate and disproportionate," the report said.

In a letter to the BBC, Manchester Jewish community member Jonathan Hantman wrote,

"It is one-sided for the report to describe Israel's operations as 'attacks on civilians' while not describing the Palestinian rocket attacks, to which Israel was responding, as 'attacks on civilians' or 'acts of terrorism.'"

Hantman also pointed out that Ban's attributed comments were made weeks earlier to the UN Security Council and not in reference to that particular attack. He added that it was also wrong to mention the UN secretary-general's condemnation of Israel without mentioning his condemnation of Palestinian rocket attacks in the same statement.

"Ban's statement, made some two weeks ago, did not refer to yesterday's attack and did not describe Israel's operations on Gaza as 'attacks on civilians,'" Hantman noted. "He did, however, describe Palestinian rocket attacks as 'acts of terrorism.'"

In his statement to the UN Security Council on March 1, Ban said: "While recognizing Israel's right to defend itself, I condemn the disproportionate and excessive use of force that has killed and injured so many civilians, including children... I condemn Palestinian rocket attacks and call for the immediate cessation of such acts of terrorism."

Apologizing for the error, the BBC said in its response, regarding the speech: "We accept we should have made reference to what [Ban] said about Palestinian rocket attacks as well as to the 'excessive use of force' by Israel. We have amended the report, also removing the reference to Israeli 'attacks on civilians.'"

MORE BBC ANTI-SEMITISM

"The Core Audience" (BackSpin)

There's a smarmy subtext to BBC producer Hilary Salmon's comments about an upcoming Passion show the Beeb is pesenting jointly with HBO. She told The Guardian:

[HBO is] more sensitive than we are to the Jewish angle. Many of its core audience are Jewish liberals who set the cultural agenda much more than here, so we had a Jewish consultant, as well as experts on the gospels. You had to be careful not to tie yourself in knots though.

Winston Pickett finds this astonishing:

[It] startles because of the ethnic-saturated stereotypes it contains, and because it presupposes a kind of wink-and-nod agreement by the readership of the publication in which it appears . . .

BBC, SKY NEWS ANALYST LAUDS MERCAZ MASSACRE OF JEWISH STUDENTS

BBC, Sky News Analyst Lauds Mercaz Massacre. (BACKSPIN)

Abd al-Bari Atwan, editor of the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi, wrote that the Mercaz massacre was "justified" because the seminary is responsible for "hatching Israeli extremists and fundamentalists."

Atwan (pictured) is a regular talking head for BBC and Sky News who generated outrage last year when he told Lebanese TV he would dance in Trafalgar Square if Iranian missiles hit Israel.

Send your comments to Sky News viewers' editor Paul Bromley - news@sky.com and the BBC Complaints website(direct your official complaint to News 24).

TO BBC ARE ALL ISRAELI CITIES "SETTLEMENTS?"

To BBC, Israeli Cities are "Settlements" (BACKSPIN)

In the BBC mindset, terrorists rocketing civilians in the southern Israeli city of Sderot are simply "militants targeting settlements." That is how BBC explains the situation.

A Jan. 28th aricle on BBC's Web site, "Fresh efforts to seal Gaza border" explained Israel's blockade on Gaza as follows:

Israel began tightening its blockade of the Gaza Strip after an increase in rocket attacks by militants targeting its settlements near the border.

Israel withdrew its military and civilian settlements from the Gaza Strip in 2005. Sderot--the prime target of Palestinian rocket and mortar fire--is a city in the western Negev, well within Israel's pre-1967 borders. Yet it is still a "settlement" to BBC journalists who consistently label Israeli settlements "illegal under international law". Does this mean that BBC now considers all of Israel to be "illegal under international law"?

Long Term Media Analysis: The BBC in 2007 (BackSpin)
Did the reporting at the BBC improve in the second half of the year? Find out by reading HonestReporting's latest long term media analysis.

HERE IS A SUMMARY OF THE CONCLUSIONS:

• In 2007, the BBC showed a greater interest in covering attacks in which Palestinians were the victims than in attacks targeting Israelis. The fact that only six articles were published about specific rocket terror attacks, despite the fact that the number of attacks increased dramatically in 2007, is a glaring omission.
  
  
• The BBC is hesitant to use headlines that treat Palestinian attacks the same as those from the Israeli Defense Forces. This, despite the fact that Palestinian attacks can clearly be defined as terror attacks against civilians, and the IDF actions are clearly targeting terrorists. There is a great difference between "Israeli Planes Strike Gaza Strip" and "Rocket Injures Dozens in Israel." 
  
  
• Anyone whose knowledge of the Israeli Palestinian conflict was limited to images on the BBC website would come away with the impression that Israel was almost always the aggressor and the Palestinians the victims.

EX-BBC JOURNO AT HOME ON IRANIAN TV

Ex-BBC Journalist at Home on Iranian TV (Camera.Org)
Tim Llewellyn, a former Middle East correspondent for the BBC who has criticized his ex-employer for not taking a sufficiently pro-Palestinian stance, has found a post more suited to his liking -- Iran's Press TV. He now hosts the Press TV program "Middle East Today."

As noted previously in Snapshots, documentaries by the Iranian satellite network include "AMIA," which purports to prove that Israel played a role in the 1994 bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish community center, an act of terror for which Iran itself is responsible.

In a 2005 interview with Electronic Intifada, Llewellyn openly identified with the Palestinian cause and excoriated BBC:

It doesn't tell the story: Which is that the Palestinians are occupied and are fighting for independence in the same way that practically every other developing country was fighting for independence in the 30 years after the Second World War ... The very fact that there is an occupation is a provocation.

Presumably, on "Middle East Today" Llewellyn will have the opportunity to "explain properly" suicide bombings, something he hinted he was never able to do on BBC:

Quite often people that carry out these acts are people who have suffered at the hands of the Israeli occupation in the most ghastly circumstances. But we don't hear that side of the story, certainly not in the BBC's or ITV's main news bulletin.

ISRAEL KILLS ONE OF BBC JOURNO'S KIDNAPPERS

BBC Journalist's Kidnapper Killed in Gaza Raid - Conal Urquhart
One of the kidnappers of the BBC journalist Alan Johnston was killed Wednesday when an Israeli missile hit the vehicle he was traveling in. Muqtassar Khatab, who appeared in a video making demands for the release of Johnston, was one of five members of the Army of Islam killed in the air strike in Gaza City. The Army of Islam held Johnston for three months. (Guardian-UK)

WHAT THE MEDIA REPORTED...AND LEFT OUT

In and Out (BackSpin)

We're struck by the MSM's choice of Mideast coverage this Labor Day weekend. See what got into the news and what was left out:

In: The NY Times examines how the Palestinians scavenge Israeli garbage.

Out: Qassam rocket strikes Sderot nursery school. AP was the only Western news service we saw pick up on today's outrage.

In: The LA Times's take on Israeli porn for peace. And this was a staff-editorial.

Out: The Sunday Times of London took a rare, in-depth look at what Sderot residents are going through, with every street a ground-zero.

In: A BBC photo essay on the Lebanese army's victory in Nahr al-Bared. Imagine the photo selection if Israeli soldiers emptied out a Palestinian refugee camp?

Out: Britain's ambassador to Israel had a friendly meeting with settler leaders, a first of its kind. According to the Jerusalem Post, follow-up meetings are in the works.

BBC OFFERS ADVICE TO PALI JOURNOS

YOU MIGHT THINK THIS ADVICE WOULD BE ALONG THE LINES OF..."DON'T KIDNAP OUR JOURNALISTS." NOPE.

BBC offers Palestinians 'support' (UK Telegraph)

The BBC has been advertising for a “Project Director, Palestinian Territories” to advise Palestinian journalists. On what? Impartiality?

The BBC is offering advice to Palestinian journalists

“And I thought WE hated the Israelis,” I can imagine Hamas journalists saying after an hour or two of Auntie’s “advice”.

Like me, you may have been unaware that building up broadcast media in the West Bank and Gaza was part of the BBC’s remit. But let me quote the advertisement:

“The Project Director will be responsible for managing and co-ordinating delivery of the Trust’s EIDHR-Dutch co-funded project in Palestine titled: ‘Support for the Palestinian Media Sector with Focus on Building Sustainable Mechanisms for Professional Development of Journalists and Media Professionals’. The project aims to increase the level of networking and dialogue between media professionals in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.”

The EIDHR, by the way, is some stupid European Union quango. You can find its documents on the internet. Unlike the Corporation’s own suppressed Balen Report into its Middle East coverage, about which it is mysteriously reluctant to “network and dialogue”.

SEE ALSO: Look Who's Teaching Impartiality (BackSpin)

Guess who's training Palestinian journalists. Might the Balen Report be part of the curriculum?

BBC STILL LYING ABOUT LEBANON WAR CASUALTIES

BBC still lying about Lebanon war casualties (Monkey Tennis Centre)
Of all the distortions, half-truths and outright lies the BBC has published concerning the Middle East, one of the most egregious is its accounting of the casualties in last year's war between Israel and Hezbollah.

This story about an Israeli Arab who has died from wounds he received in a Hezbollah rocket attack during the war (I won't even get into what that says about Hezbollah's disregard for the lives of the people it claims to be fighting for) contains the following line:

Most of the 159 Israelis killed were soldiers. More than 1,000 Lebanese, most of them civilians, also died in the 34-day war.

The above line, or some variant of it, is inserted like a macro into every story about the Lebanon war that appears on the BBC's website. However, the most basic research shows that the claim that 'most' of the Lebanese casualties were civilians isn't true.

Most estimates, including those from the Lebanese government, the UN and Human Rights Watch put the total number of Lebanese dead – which includes both Hezbollah fighters and civilians – at between 1,000 and 1,200. While the Lebanese government figures didn't distinguish between civilians and fighters, its officials have estimated the number of Hezbollah dead at around 500, a figure with which the UN concurs. Israel claims to have killed at least 600 Hezbollah, while other estimates range from 700 t0 1,000. Links for all of the above references can be found here and here.

It is, of course, impossible to ascertain how many of the Lebanese casualties were civilian and how many were Hezbollah, given that Hezbollah hid and fought among civilians, its fighters often wore civilians clothes, and many of its wounded fighters were evacuated to Syria.

However, what is clear is that around half of the Lebanese casualties were Hezbollah fighters; in fact, if the lower figures for total Lebanese casualties and the upper figures for Hezbollah fighters are nearer the mark, then the majority of Lebanese casualties were Hezbollah. What clearly isn't true is the BBC's mantra that most of the Lebanese casualties were civilians.

The point of this post isn't to rehash the wider debate on civilian casualties in Lebanon or any other war, which has been well aired. The point is to draw attention to the fact that, more than a year after the war, the BBC continues to publish claims about civilian casualties which it must know to be false, and continues to play down the losses inflicted on Hezbollah.

BBC COMMENTATOR CHEERS FOR IRAN NUKE STRIKE ON ISRAEL

Great Expectations (BackSpin)
View a great example of why we don't expect any better from the Arab media. Abd Al-Bari Atwan, editor of the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi told ANB Lebanese TV:

If the Iranian missiles strike Israel, by Allah, I will go to Trafalgar Square and dance with delight.

The Jerusalem Post got pathetic reactions from both Sky News and BBC News 24, where Bari Atwan is a regular commentator.

SEE ALSO: Sky & BBC Analyst: Celebrating Nuclear Genocide.

Related reading: Al Jazeera Editor Speaks Out

THE BBC'S SUBTLE BIAS

6 Month Analysis of the BBC: The Subtle Bias (Honest Reporting)

A long term analysis of the BBC reveals a subtle bias

BBC Reporting During the First 6 Months of 2007 - Summary of Findings:

• Headline selection for stories in relation to violent incidents is inconsistent.

• Greater attention is paid to Palestinian voices and opinions than Israeli ones.

This is the first in a new HonestReporting series that will analyze whether specific media outlets demonstrate a discernible bias over the long term. Bias in the mainstream media can sometimes be patently clear - deliberately manipulated or staged photographs, articles comparing Israel to apartheid South Africa, or sympathetic descriptions of terrorists, to name but a few. We try to respond to all of these cases, encouraging you, our readers, to contact the media directly and ask why the facts are not being reported accurately.

However, bias is often more subtle. There is nothing inherently suspect about a picture of a Palestinian civilian or a human interest story detailing the life of a Palestinian child. An account of a Palestinian shopkeeper's life can be useful in shedding light on how the conflict affects ordinary people. Articles and photographs can be 100% accurate and, taken at face value, are completely within the realms of professional journalism.

Yet, a closer examination of specific media outlets over a longer period of time can reveal troubling patterns which indicate a more subtle and potentially more harmful bias. When pictures and accounts detailing only one side of a conflict are given prominence on an almost daily basis, it is a classic example of a bias so deep that it colors a media organization's entire reporting.

HonestReporting's researchers recently completed a six month study of articles appearing on the BBC News website. We monitored 286 articles and pictures appearing on the BBC News website from January 2007 until June 2007. What we saw was a clear pattern of showcasing the Palestinian perspective, at the expense of Israeli voices.

Headlines and Grammatical Style in "Hard News" Articles

Finding: BBC headlines and text tend to use a style that describes Palestinian violence ambiguously while being much more direct in cases where the Israeli military is involved.

Editors often create extremely succinct headlines to refer to complicated stories. The headline can take a variety of styles. An "attack" can name the attacker, the victim, or both. The headline can utilize a strong, active verb such as "attacks", "kills", "shoots", etc. Or it can be more subtle i.e.: "man dies after attack." But is there consistency? The results of our study are revealing in that they show that there is a different style that is used depending on the subject of the headline.

For example, On May 7, 2007, the BBC covered Palestinians firing Qassam rockets into the Israeli town of Sderot. In response, the Israeli Air Force struck a car carrying two men on their way to launch more Qassams. The BBC article carried a strong, active headline: "Israel air strike hits north Gaza". It was only in the fourth paragraph that the Qassam attack that precipitated the airstrike was mentioned.

In isolation, the use of the active tense does not indicate any sort of bias. However, compare the above headline with a story from May 15, 2007 describing a Hamas attack which left eight Palestinians dead. Rather than a headline similar to the one from May 7, the BBC employed a softer approach with "Eight killed in 'ambush by Hamas'". The second paragraph details how "16 people have died (emphasis added) in Gaza since Sunday."

Other headlines that describe Palestinian-initiated violence were either written without naming the aggressor at all, or written in the passive tense: " Gaza unrest gains own momentum" (May 16), "Gaza erupts in renewed violence" (May 17), " Threatened at a Gaza roadblock" (May 18), and "Fresh violence hits Gaza Strip" (May 19). In many cases, passive language described the event in the opening paragraph ("At least 20 people have been killed"). The two reported cases (in May, 2007) of Palestinian attacks against Israelis featured similar headlines: "Israeli dies in Gaza rocket raid" (May 21), "Casualties in Jerusalem shooting" (May 26). Technically, these articles are not incorrect. If an Israeli died after a rocket attack, it is not wrong to use a headline such as the one above.

However, in the vast majority of articles reporting on Israeli actions, the headlines were more direct: "Israel launches raids into Gaza" (May 17), "Fresh Israeli air strike on Gaza" (May 19), " Israel backs tougher Gaza action" (May 20), "Israel hits Hamas politician home" (May 21), " Israel strikes at Hamas in Gaza" (May 23), "Israel renews strikes across Gaza" (May 26), and " Israeli raids follow PM's warning" (May 28). While all these headlines appeared during the month of May (a month in which there was a great deal of reporting on violent attacks), the pattern is consistent.

In fact, during the first six months of 2007, out of 26 articles reporting on violent attacks perpetuated by Palestinian groups (on either Palestinians or Israelis), the group responsible for the violence was mentioned in only 15% of the cases . By contrast, in 38 articles where an operation was carried out by Israel, Israel was directly named in 60% of the headlines.

Selection of Perspectives in "Soft" News

Finding: The BBC consistently highlights Palestinian perspectives at the expense of Israeli voices.

Another form of subtle, long term bias can be detected in "human interest" stories. For statistical consistency, we discarded all articles written in response to a specific news event. We also did not include articles that solely featured the viewpoint of a government official, either Israeli or Palestinian. Instead, we examined those focused on the Palestinian or Israeli "man on the street". For example, a January 19 article (" Frustration over Ramallah violence") gives the perspective of three Palestinians. Another January article ("Voices: Palestinian faction violence ") gives four Palestinian perspectives. In February, "Gaza viewpoint" interviews a Palestinian mother who describes the violence in Gaza. While she does not mention Israel in the short piece, it is linked to her blog, in which she makes clear her opinion that even the fighting between rival Palestinian groups is Israel's fault.

During this same time period, there are interviews with Israelis, but these are centered around issues not directly concerned with conflict (such as internal Israeli political events). In fact, the perspective of Palestinians was highlighted with far greater frequency than Israelis. Over the six month period, there were ample opportunities where a "Voices" piece could have focused on Israeli families living under constant rocket attack in Sderot, for example.

Conclusions

We wish to make it clear that we do not believe that any part of the conflict in the MidEast should be ignored. It is important that Arab and Israeli suffering be chronicled and that the public receives more, rather than less information. We are also not questioning the factual basis of many of these articles.

We do, however, believe that balance is an important component of professional journalism. When stories highlighting one side's suffering dominate news coverage, the balance is missing and the coverage, however accurate, ends up misleading the public.

We urge you to contact the BBC and demand more balanced coverage in its reporting of the Middle East.

We plan to continue publishing long term analyses of specific media to determine whether reporting is fair and consistent. If you are interested in sponsoring one of these reports, please click here.

MISLEADING BBC PICTURE SERIES ON SECURITY FENCES

Image is Everything (BackSpin)

The BBC features a pictorial series of the security fence taken over several years. The shots are by Kai Wiedenhofer. A few years ago, Wiedenhofer got into some trouble when photos ostensibly of the West Bank security fence turned out to be images of a different security fence along Israel's border with Egypt.

None of the photos in the Wiedenhofer's BBC pictorial reflect the fact that most of the security fence is actually chain link, like the Reuters photo (pictured left).

BBC EXTOLS "SCRAPPY" HEZBOLLAH

The BBC's Hezbollah lovefest (Elder of Zyion)
Jeremy Bowen, the infamous BBC editor who blames all of the Middle East problems squarely on Israel, has written another piece that glorifies terrorists, this time Hezbollah:

The mighty Israeli army, one of the most technologically advanced forces in the world, had been unable to stop Lebanese guerrilla fighters from Hezbollah firing low-tech missiles into the north of their country.

In more than a month in 2006 Israel's enormous firepower did what the UN estimated was $3.6bn of damage to Lebanon, including the destruction of 80 bridges, 600km of roads and 900 factories, markets, farms and other commercial buildings.

It killed 1,187 Lebanese, mainly civilians, and wounded 4,092.

But it could not stop Hezbollah firing its rockets, and it could not rescue the two Israeli soldiers whose capture by Hezbollah sparked off the fighting in the first place.

He gets this close to calling the scrappy Hezbollah terrorists "heroic" in the face of the unfeeling Zionist army machine mowing down only civilian infrastructure.

Also, the "mainly civilians" part, stated as fact, is not clear at all. Israel released the names and addresses of 440 Hezbollah terrorists killed during the war, and it estimates about 600 were killed altogether. Lebanon, on the other hand, counts all Hezbollah members as "civilians" in its counts of the casualties. At best, Bowen is being misleading, at worst he is a liar, and at any rate without his citing his sources we will never know where he gets his numbers from.

AS BACKSPIN POINTS OUT, HEZBOLLAH'S MISSLES WERE HARDLY, "LOW TECH." 1, 2, 3, and 4.

BBC PUTS ANTI-SEMITIC COMMENT BACK ON SITE

Your License Fee At Work (BackSpin)

First the BBC allowed anti-Semitic comments to be posted on their Radio 5 site. Following public outcry, the Beeb's moderators took the comment offline, explaining that "a member of our Moderation Team has referred it to the Hosts for a decision as to whether it contravenes the House rules in some way."

Apparently, the comment by Iron Naz wasn't anti-Semitic enough for the Moderation Team. Message 62 is back online:

Zionism is a racist ideology where jews are given supremacy over all other races and faiths.

This is found in the Talmud.

There is a law called Baba Mezia which allows jews to lie as long as its to non-jews. many pro jewish supporters will cringe at this being exposed because they know it exists, yet they keep quiet about it, hey frip, jla and co

The Law of Baba Mezia!! Tsk tsk tsk! Its in the Talmud

The British public pays for these so-called moderators through the license fee.

FREED BBC JOURNO HAS FOND MEMORIES OF GAZA

AFTER MONTHS OF CAPTIVITY (INCLUDING BEING OUTFITTED WITH A SUICIDE BOMB BELT), ALAN JOHNSON MISSES GAZA. I SUGGEST THE BBC SEND HIM BACK.

Alan Johnston: "I returned home with most beautiful memories of Gaza" (Elder of Zyion)

From Ma'an:

"It is lovely to remember and to be remembered, and tell your crew and students that I returned home with most beautiful memories of Gaza."

Those were the words with which BBC reporter Alan Johnston replied to a letter of congratulations that he received from Dr Yahia Al Sarraj, the dean of the Training and Practical Scientific College in Gaza.

The journalist, recently released from captivity having been abducted in Gaza by a radical Islamist group and held for over 100 days, added expressions of his pride of Gaza, its people “and the beautiful memories that Gaza gave to me during the last years”.

He concluded, "I spent 3 years in Gaza before my kidnapping, and I know very well the meaning of friendship and generosity that Palestinians have".

He expressed his happiness and stated that, when remembering Gaza, he will first remember the beautiful things which Gaza gave to him.

BBC'S HAMAS EMPLOYEE IDENTIFIED

BBC's Hamas Employee Identified (BackSpin)
Last month, the Jerusalem Post reported that an unidentified BBC employee who is also a member of Hamas was permitted to enter Gaza to seek Alan Johnston's freedom. Now, the London Jewish Chronicle has identified that person as Fayad Abu Shamala. If Shamala's name rings a bell, the JC explains why:

In May 2001, the Israeli Embassy in London demanded that the BBC investigate comments attributed to Mr Abu Shamala during an event organised by Hamas. According to the Hamas website at the time, a man of that name attended a Hamas ceremony in Gaza for Palestinian and Arab journalists where senior Hamas figures such as Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Ismail Abu Shanab were present. According to contemporary reports, the website quoted Fayad Abu Shamala as thanking “the Hamas movement for holding the exceptional affair, despite the pace of current events and the sensitive circumstances applying to journalists and media organisations, which are waging the campaign shoulder-to-shoulder together with the Palestinian people”....

Three years later, in December 2004, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted a Hamas cleric, Fathi Hamad, as stating that a “Hamas man” of that name “works for the BBC, and that way he writes the story in favour of Islam and Muslims”. At the time, Nigel Chapman, director of the BBC World Service, stated: “The allegation that Fayed Abu Shamala is a member of Hamas is without foundation.”

Reached this week by the JC, Mr Abu Shamala said it was “completely untrue” that he had been a member of Hamas.

BBC REFUSES TO DELETE ANTI-SEMITIC LIES

BBC Refuses to Delete Antisemitic Lies (LGF)
The BBC has officially decided that antisemitic lies are acceptable material for the BBC Radio 5 message board; Weasel Zippers has a screenshot.

The vile post in question is here, in a thread about the Channel 4 documentary “War on Britain’s Jews” that completely proves the film’s point: War on Britain’s Jews - Conversation.

Message 62 - posted by Iron Naz (U2460282), 3 Days Ago
Zionism is a racist ideology where jews are given supremacy over all other races and faiths. This is found in the Talmud. There is a law called Baba Mezia which allows jews to lie as long as its to non-jews. many pro jewish supporters will cringe at this being exposed because they know it exists, yet they keep quiet about it, hey frip, jla and co The Law of Baba Mezia!! Tsk tsk tsk! Its in the Talmud.

The BBC’s official response, at Harry’s Place:

“We have decided that it does not contravene the House Rules and are going to
leave it on site.”

While this kind of sick trash is just fine with the BBC, earlier this year they acted very quickly to ban links to Little Green Footballs, and had to be shamed into reallowing them.

UPDATE: The comment has now been replaced with the following message from the management:

This posting has been temporarily hidden, because a member of our Moderation Team has referred it to the Hosts for a decision as to whether it contravenes the House rules in some way. We will do everything we can to ensure that a decision is made as quickly as possible.

WHY DOES THE NYT CALL TERRORISTS, "MILITANTS"?

'Militant' media (JPost)
A New York Times July 6 report by Isabel Kershner had me mixed up. The headline read "Israeli Offensive in Central Gaza Kills 11 Militants" and the lead sentence began: "At least 11 Palestinian militants were killed in airstrikes and armed clashes during an Israeli Army incursion." It continued with these details: "Hamas officials said that seven of the dead were members of its military wing, known as the Qassam Brigades…The Islamic Jihad faction said one of its men was among the dead."

And to "balance" the information thus far provided, we next read that "Israeli military officials described the raid as a routine operation to root out 'terrorist infrastructures.'"

Why am I bewildered?

In the first instance, "militant" is used in the headline which is the main attention-grabbing element. It is also used in the lead sentence, the most important one, as any journalism student can tell you. But then the story acknowledges that 7 of the "militants" were members of Hamas's "military wing" and another was an Islamic Jihadist - individuals who generally specialize in anti-civilian warfare such as launching rockets into cities and blowing up buses.

However, when it comes to Israel's version, the term "terrorist" is in quotation marks, which means in the media lingo - don't believe them, that's only what they claim....

No matter how much we complain, the BBC, CNN, NYT and Reuters are stuck on "militants." They've taken a word that's synonymous with "combative" and employ it to describe those who specialize in killing unarmed civilians.

The right word is "terrorist."

In this way, the media is taking sides and corrupting not only language, but our minds. They are being zealously "militant" in perverting political and historical truth while inverting reality.