Posted by: "a b"
kalamd...@yahoo.com
kalamdari
Mon May 31, 2010 10:09 pm (PDT)
Freedom Flotilla and the BBC's Shame
by Muhammad Idrees Ahmad
The BBC proves its despicable subservience to the Israeli propaganda
machine once again. Before it was shamed by Al Jazeera and others into
covering the Freedom Flotilla massacre, it reported the story as a mere
claim by Hamas. Here is how it first appeared on the BBC's website:
BBC News – Israel intercepts Gaza flotilla, says Hamas
The Palestinian movement Hamas says the Israeli navy has intercepted a
flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian aid to the Gaza strip.
The massacre soon became the top news story on Google News and Twitter.
The BBC could no longer maintain the pretence of ignorance. It finally
reported on the massacre as a matter of fact, but appended this line:
"Hamas, a militant palestinian group that controls the Gaza strip, has
fired thousands of rockets into Israel over the past decade."
The victims weren't innocent, you see. They were on their way to aid
these terrible people who fire `thousands of rockets into Israel'.
That's all you need to know. And if you mention those hundreds of
thousands of bombs, missiles and rockets that Israel has shot into
Gaza…Why, you must be an anti-Semite!
I took the risk, and sent in a complaint. I am assuming I wasn't the
only one questioning the relevance of the line to the report because it
was swiftly removed. In its place, it posted a short video segment in
which the reporter went out of his way to `stress' that according to
the Israeli military no one was killed. He then went on to excuse the
killings because `clearly when you have as many as 600 people on board
these ships, at night, in high sees, it is a very very difficult
situation…and you can imagine a rather chaotic situation. Of course the
Israeli military is very well experienced with dealing with crowd
control'. But turns out he wasn't entirely shameless. He did add: 'but
certainly if you've got live fire being fired as well as tear gas
canisters which is what is being reported was fired, then that is a
very dangerous situation in a very crowded space'.
The BBC has now added a sidebar in which `diplomatic correspondent'
Jonathan Marcus tells readers how terrible this massacre is…for
Israel's image! The clueless ass tells us that `this was always going
to be a high-risk operation'… for Israel! He addes: `Taking over
vessels at sea is no easy task, even if the units carrying out the
mission are well-trained, and it is especially difficult if the people
already on board the vessels resist.' But at least he thinks the deaths
are a tragedy…but for Israel! Because they `threaten to make what was
always going to be a potential public relations disaster for Israel
into a fully-fledged calamity.' So the BBC pays a `diplomatic
correspondent' your tax money so he can worry about the myriad ways
Israel hurts itself by killing innocent civilians in international
waters!
Thanks to all who've written in. Don't let them get away with using
your tax money to feed you propaganda on behalf of a foreign criminal
entity. For more on the BBC's disgraceful record of whitewashing
Israeli crimes here and here.
This is your money being used in the service of murderers and child
molesters. You have a responsibility to act. At minimum, you can
complain.
http://pulsemedia. org/2010/ 05/31/freedom- flotilla- and-the-bbcs- shame/
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