Blatant BBC Bowen Bias Blasted

Blatant anti-Israel bias of BBC's middle east editor, Jeremy Bowen, has been blasted in a report by the corporation which has blown away any claims of accuracy and impartiality over its Gaza conflict reporting.  

The BBC Trust has ruled coverage of Israel in an article on the BBC's web site and a radio broadcast by Bowen was partially inaccurate and that aspects of the internet article lacked impartiality. 

In reporting about Israel, the BBC's internal complaints panel found Bowen has breached the corporation's guideline on accuracy and impartiality.

Confirming what many already knew, the Zionist Federation said that the findings show the BBC has an anti-Israel "bias" and that the position of Bowen, is "untenable". Claims rejected by the corporation. 

The Trust was responding to complaints filed separately by a London-based barrister and by the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA).

Taking up the claim, journalist and author Chas Newkey-Burden, said: "It is extraordinary to think that the BBC entrusts a man such as Bowen with coverage of such a monumentally important issue. As we saw during Operation Cast Lead, anti-Israel distortion contributes to the atmosphere of hate that leads to violence against Jews on the streets of Britain."

Time and time again the BBC distorted and twisted its coverage of the Middle East and Gaza conflict, hghlighted by the Orange Party and others at the time fed up with a pseudo-liberal bias which verged on the anti-Semitic. 

But the BBC continued its bombardment of the UK media with Iran-backed Hamas propaganda, as Israel tried to strike back in vain to explain their side of the conflict.

The Orange Party became heartily sick of the blatant pro-Hamas bias from the BBC, most notably the highly skewed reports from middle east editor Bowen and his band of Iran-backed Hamas apologist thugs disguised as "journalists".

The Zionist Federation of the UK said that Bowen's position as Middle East editor of a public service broadcaster "is untenable in the light of the ESC's findings."

The report vindicates what many thought at the time of Bowen's reports. Viewers and listeners had to put up with his relentless attacks on Israel, delivered with an almost religious fanatical zeal, hardly able to contain his hatred and contempt coupled with fawning yawning support for the Palestinian cause.

Not quite the style one would expect from an objective BBC reporter.

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BBC Must Stand Firm On Gaza Appeal

Pressure is mounting on the BBC to overturn its decision not to broadcast a Gaza 'charity' appeal with more than 90 MPs piling in with political posturing. But the BBC must stand firm if it is to salvage any scrap of impartiality left in the corporation. 

The BBC decision has opened a can of worms revealing the split between BBC bosses, wary of its world-wide audience and international criticism and its own news organisation, bent on presenting the conflict with blatant anti-Israel bias and pro-Hamas atrocity propaganda. 

Today BBC director general, Mark Thompson, repeated that airing a 'charity' appeal would put the corporation's impartiality at risk and the BBC could not give the impression it was "backing one side" over the other. Sky too said today it will not broadcast the 'charity' appeal for similar reasons. 

Thompson's comments come as more than 90 cross-party MPs back a parliamentary motion urging the BBC to screen the appeal, raising the ugly spectre of an authoritarian parliament bullying the corporation and trying to directly control and influence the output of the state broadcaster. 

Criticism over the decision has come from a host of usual suspects, as the appeal was swiftly whipped up as a 'cause' in a well-organised, stage-managed protest.

The so-called 'charity' appeal is a political appeal and the on-going row is sadly more about pseudo-liberal posturing politics and the fundamental Islam 'cause' than people.  

Humanitarian aid is already there in Gaza. Millions of dollars have poured in from the UN, EU and governments including our own. Now Hamas thugs are crawling out of the rubble to mount their own insidious PR offensive. 

How can anyone be sure any aid will go to all the people of Gaza and not just into the pockets of Hamas and handed out to its supporters or those poor souls brow-beaten by the authoritarian regime, while Gazans from rival Fatah are left to starve and scrabble around in the ruins. 

DEC's motives for the appeal are at best part of a do-good mentality, at worst politically motivated and highly suspect. 

Unlike Channel 4 and ITV, the BBC and Sky broadcast directly to the Middle East.

The appeal would rub Israeli noses in the dirt of the Gaza conflict, without mention of the destruction caused by Iran-backed rocket attacks on Israeli civilians. 

But the BBC also broadcasts into Palestine and moderate Arab states, as well as fundamental Islamic regimes in Syria and Iran.

It's difficult to see how such a 'charity' appeal could avoid using stock pro-Hamas propaganda TV footage and the testimony of women and children made under threat by the thugs standing behind them. 

The bias of the appeal would be too obvious if presenters didn't mention that Hamas was committing crimes against humanity by using Gazan civilians as human shields. 

Indeed, the appeal could be seen as highlighting the victims of fundamental Islamic aggression which wouldn't go down well in Tehran. 

More moderate Arab states would be outraged at an appeal for the victims in Gaza, without mention of Palestinian rivals Fatah, who are being routinely murdered and tortured by Iran-backed Hamas thugs in the wake of the conflict. 

Channel 4's decision to broadcast the 'charity' appeal on the other hand comes as no surprise. The channel's 'news' coverage of the conflict has verged on the fanatical and its biased output a bad joke. Channel 4 is desperately trying to use the appeal to get themselves off the hook and justify their shameful coverage of the conflict and blatant anti-Jewish bigotry.

No one would deny that humanitarian aid should override politics when innocent people are suffering. This conflict, like so many before, has been all about politics and power. But wading in waving around so-called liberal credentials is not the way to bring peace to the Middle East. 

Culture secretary, Andy Burnham, has said the BBC is right to make its own judgement over the appeal and there the matter should rest. 

The Orange Party is at the front of the queue when it comes to bashing first Blair's now Brown's biased BBC - but that applies in the main to its news output, not overarching decisions of the corporation. The BBC is making the right call on this one. 

Picture: A worker readies a shipment of relief aid to Gaza at the warehouses of the Jordanian Hashemite Charity Organization in Amman (Thursday Jan 22, 2009), from UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). AP Photo by Mohammad Abu Ghosh.

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Gaza Appeal Opens Can Of Biased Worms

The BBC decision not to broadcast a 'charity' appeal to raise funds for Gaza has opened a can of worms among UK broadcasters now desperately trying to use the appeal to get themselves off the hook and justify their shameful biased coverage of the conflict.

At the BBC in particular, it reveals the split between BBC bosses, wary of a world-wide audience in the face of international media criticism and its own news organisation bent on presenting the conflict with blatant anti-Israel bias and pro-Hamas atrocity propaganda. 

At the time of writing, the BBC is refusing to back down amid criticism of its decision, despite three rival terrestrial channels, ITV, Channel 4 and Five deciding to run the appeal.

Mark Thompson, the BBC's director-general, said: "The decision was made because of question marks about the delivery of aid in a volatile situation."

Unlike Channel 4 and ITV, the BBC and Sky,which is considering the request, broadcast directly to the Middle East including Palestine, Israel and moderate Arab states, as well as fundamental Islamic regimes in Syria and Iran.

The appeal would rub Israeli noses in the dirt of the Gaza conflict, without mention of the destruction caused by Iran-backed rocket attacks on Israeli civilians. 

The bias of the appeal would be too obvious if presenters didn't mention that Hamas was committing crimes against humanity by using Gazan civilians as human shields. 

Moreover, the appeal could be seen as highlighting the victims of fundamental Islamic aggression and the BBC would not want to criticise Hamas by broadcasting such an appeal. 

More moderate Arab states too would be outraged at an appeal for the victims in Gaza, which includes members of Palestinian rivals Fatah, who are being routinely murdered and tortured by Hamas thugs in the wake of the conflict. 

Earlier, ITV and Sky had agreed with the BBC that they would not air the 'charity' appeal but ITV later reversed its decision.

Channel 4's decision to broadcast the appeal should come as no surprise. The broadcaster is already in hot water after an insulting and offensive alternative "Christmas message" by Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, at the height of the conflict. News anchor, Jon Snow, too for his offensive, comments over former President Bush. The channel's biased 'news' coverage of the conflict has verged on the fanatical and its output a bad joke. 

The issue of the appeal was swiftly whipped up as a 'cause' by the usual well-organised suspects protesting outside the BBC's Broadcast House, all carefully crafted to create pictures for the waiting media. 

A couple of lowly government ministers have waded into the row urging the BBC to reconsider, while the Archbishop of York speaks from the heart and soul of humanity. 

The appeal is by the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), an umbrella organization of 13 aid charities but there is no shortage of cash and aid for Gaza. 

Millions of dollars have poured in. The UN, EU and governments including our own have donated very generously. Aid is available locally and Israel has already lifted its ban on foreign aid workers entering Gaza. Many outside the cloistered world of the UK media have questioned DEC's motives for a 'political' appeal. 

It's difficult to see how such an appeal would not use stock pro-Hamas propaganda TV footage and the testimony of women and children made under threat by the thugs standing behind them. And can a presenter give a balanced and unbiased account of the events leading up to the suffering, without giving away their anti-Israel credentials. 

How can anyone be sure any of the aid will go to all the people of Gaza and not just into the pockets of Hamas and handed out to its supporters or those poor souls brow-beaten by the authoritarian regime, while Gazans from rival Fatah are left to starve and scrabble around in the ruins. 

No one would deny that humanitarian aid should override politics when innocent people are suffering. This conflict, like so many before, has been all about politics and power. 

Unlike the humanitarian aid already there in Gaza, the so-called 'charity' appeal is a political appeal and the on-going row is more about pseudo-liberal posturing politics than people.  

Picture: Foreign aid distributed in Gaza from the BBC website

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A Shaky Cease-Fire In Gaza

Israel's unilateral Gaza cease-fire has thrown the ball firmly back in the Hamas court, with a warning that Israel will reserve the right to return fire, if Hamas continues to fire rockets into the South.

The Israeli cabinet voted for an Egyptian-backed 10-day cease-fire deal, ending the three week long Operation Cast Lead, after a cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv this evening. 

But the Jerusalem Post reports IDF forces will remain in Gaza until it's clear Hamas has ended its rocket fire into Israel. 

Hamas leaders have repeatedly warned they will not respect any cease-fire as long as Israel remains inside Gaza. Asked about Hamas continuing its rocket attacks, the Israeli prime minister warned "he wouldn't advise them to try it". 

Prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said the aims of the Gaza operation had been "met in full" and the cease-fire would start from 2am Sunday (local time).

Israel's operation had been at least a year in the planning and training, with the objectives of taking out Iran-supplied Hamas rockets launched from Gaza and ending Iranian weapons smuggling through the Egyptian border tunnels, before the start of Obama's US presidency. 

EU leaders, including prime minister Brown, had offered help to end arms smuggling into Gaza. The cease-fire was agreed by the Israeli cabinet after talks with Egyptian intelligence chiefs, according to the Israelis. 

Meanwhile, Iran's proxy war against Israel was confirmed at an Arab summit, where Hamas leader, Khaled Mashaal, rejected Israel's conditions for a truce and called on all Arab countries to cut ties with the Jewish state, backed by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Syrian president Bashar Assad. More moderate Egypt and Saudi Arabia boycotted the summit.

With Hamas launching a rocket attack on Israeli civilians during the cabinet meeting and in the hours afterwards, the signs are it won't be long before any fragile peace is shattered. 

Picture: The Israeli cabinet meets at the defence ministry in Tel Aviv, Saturday night.

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BBC's Gaza Bias Mocked In Israel

The BBC's endless diet of pro-Hamas bias hasn't gone unnoticed in Israel, with the popular Israeli comedy show 'Eretz Nehederet' (A wonderful country) delighting viewers with its satire of the corporation's Gaza coverage. 

As Operation Cast Lead enters its third week and calls from around the world denouncing Israel and its actions growing stronger, many Israelis see the anti-Israel BBC bias as part of the on-line battle for hearts and minds and an excuse to vent anti-semitism.

A fierce battle rages on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, blogs and forums and in the Main stream media but Israel has been fighting back with its own Hasbara (explanation), including this from 'Eretz Nehederet'.

UPDATE 21.20: The Israeli cabinet has announced a unilateral 10-day cease-fire deal in Gaza. At a press conference directly following the meeting, prime minister Ehud Olmert said goals of Operation Cast Lead had been met in full and thanked foreign minister Tzipi Livni for diplomatic efforts.

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Beeb's Day Of Harry And Israel Bashing

Al Beeb has spent the day getting its knickers in a twist, playing down the London pro-Israel rally and playing up Harry's tabloid tittle-tattle, with warped pseudo-liberal, political correctness, to knock the rally off the news agenda. 

Snuggling up to its Hamas-loving pals, the pro-Israel London and Manchester rallies received feeble coverage from the BBC, preferring instead to report a letter in today's Observer allegedly calling for Israel to end its military operations in Gaza and a back report on yesterday's pro-Hamas London love-in. A more fair, accurate and balanced report on the rally is given here by Ananova.

At today's rally, according to the BBC, Rabbi Sacks told the crowd: "All it took to avoid this suffering was for Hamas to stop firing rockets on Israeli citizens .. Let a voice go out today from here in Trafalgar Square, and other gatherings being held, that we want peace."

Henry Grunwald, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said: "The events of the past two weeks have not been a war on the people of Gaza but war on the people using them as human shields."

Meanwhile back to that letter from "prominent British Jews", which, according to the BBC, "calls on Israel to halt operations in Gaza."

In it they write: "We have no doubt that rocket attacks into southern Israel, by Hamas and other militant Palestinian groups, are war crimes against Israel ... No sovereign state should, or would, tolerate continued attacks and the deliberate targeting of civilians ... Israel had a right to respond however, we believe that now only negotiations can secure long-term security for Israel and the region."

Those fine sensible words seem to chime exactly with the views expressed at the rally - so why bother with the letter in the first place?

So at the top of the BBC news is right royal prat Prince Harry making a right royal prat of himself again uttering the 'P' word in a three year old video which suddenly surfaced in the News of the World, played out with muted outrage by Murdoch's sister organisation, Sky News. "Racist remarks spark anger" screams the BBC's headline. Prince Harry and Paki all in one story sure sells papers but hardly outrage. 

Watching the video, the most you can condemn Prince Hal for is the use of a word - not a racially abusive rant. He's a privileged prat - we all know that.  Like grandfather like grandson. But why go over the top when a pro-Israel rally attended by thousands was by far the more significant news story of the day?

The use of the word 'Paki' is very unpleasant and offensive sure - but where was the BBC outrage yesterday when pro-Hamas loving celebrities condoned overtly racist and deeply offensive banners accusing Jews of being worse than Nazis? 

The prince has issued an apology but eager to milk it for all its worth, the BBC has gone OTT, contacting everybody for a quote including a token Muslim. 

"Politicians and Muslim groups are among those to have condemned the prince's remarks", reports the BBC. 

So there are the likely suspects from LibDems, Tories and New Labour, all politically balanced but also one from one Aki Nawaz, a musician and political activist according to the BBC, whose comments seem to have come straight out of central casting: "It's absolutely disgusting and I think he should be dismissed from the MoD. We don't accept these things, we've had to live with this for 40 years."

On a day of outrage, indignation, skewed values and warped agendas, the Orange Party is happy to leave the whole silly, sad and sordid stories with a picture (above) of Channel 4's favourite broadcaster, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and his best pal, the BBC's favourite thug, Damascus-based Hamas leader, Khaled Mashaal, snapped during a jolly in Teheran. 


What a nice couple they make in this warped world of politically correct, pseudo liberal clap-trap. 

Photo: AP

17.20  UPDATE: The BBC finally changed its on-line news top story to report on Gaza. 

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Pro-Israel London Rally In Cease-Fire Game

Jewish organisations, fed up with pro-Hamas, pseudo-liberal media bias are planning a pro-Israel rally in London on Sunday, as political leaders continue to jump on the Gaza bandwagon, keen to be seen as players in the cease-fire game. With a wave of anti-Semitic violence and anti-Israel demonstrations in London, Jewish organisations have had enough.

Politicians are strutting around with an eye on photos and headlines, in an effort to boost their popularity and politically correct credentials.

The Orange Party has lost count of the number of political leaders quick to throw in their two penneth using the common theme of "ending the humanitarian suffering of Palestinians" to try to give themselves a popularity boost. But the gap between PR rhetoric and realistic solutions is huge.

Earlier this week, the Orange Party drew attention to the deafening silence from the useless US middle east 'peace' envoy Tony Blair. Sure as eggs is eggs, Blair popped up the following day with meaningless drivel, which captured some headlines but showed him up as a complete waste of space. 

Here, both Brown and foreign secretary Miliband are not averse to the occasional political posturing and the UK government occasionally pops its head above the parapet. But, as a major arms exporter to Israel, the government prefers to keep its head down and export licences for arms sales under wraps. 

With peacemaking comes power and prestige. Now the field is crowded with players including Turkey, Russia, numerous European leaders, the UN Secretary General, Qatar, Egypt and in the background, the US.

Both French president Sarkozy and Egyptian president Mubarak, stand to gain from the media attention. Israel is happy to go along with the cease-fire farce if it helps soften a hostile pro-Arab media, particularly in Europe.

A realistic, lasting and stable cease-fire requires a huge and costly effort to make sure it works, otherwise the violence will start up again and escalate. 

Egypt hasn't stopped Hamas from getting weapons, smuggling them into Gaza and lobbing them at Israel. Europe and France in particular have failed to implement a UN Security Council Resolution which ended the 2006 Lebanon war. 

Fine speeches and an international force have not prevented Palestine's Hizbullah from rebuilding and increasing its arsenal of rockets with its sights on northen Israel. 

European monitors at the Egyptian/Gaza Rafah crossing fled at the first sight of Hamas gunmen. Europeans are good at giving advice but few have the political will to enforce Israeli security when agreements are violated.

The key to ending the conflict rests with the US, where Bush along with Germany's Chancellor Merkel stand out, pinning the blame squarely on Iran-backed Hamas.

The US is the only power that can give credibility to a stable and serious cease-fire agreement. But the US abstention in the UN security vote shows the realism of the US and UK position. The US and UK are over-stretched and over there in Iraq and Afghanistan and cannot afford to divert troops to UN peace-keeping and monitoring forces. 

Meanwhile both the BBC and the Iranian president's favourite broadcaster, Channel 4, continue to play down the attacks on Israel, the wave of anti-Semitic violence escalating in Europe and the pro-Israel street protests, preferring instead to lay the 'humanitarian' charge.

Jewish organisations say they "cannot remain passive to the latest anti-Semitic incidents and anti-Israel demonstrations which have been taking place in the UK" and are due to stage a mass rally of solidarity in Trafalgar Square on Sunday.

What some still fail to realise is that Israel's action have been at least a year in the planning and training. Faced with continued Iran-backed Hamas rocket attacks and total failure to prevent Hamas smuggling in more through the Egyptian tunnel network, Israel will not give up, until its military objectives have been met. 

The stability of any cease-fire will depend on Israel's current military achievements. Any premature end will simply serve as the starting point for the next round in the Iran-backed Hamas avowed intent to wipe out the state of Israel. 

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Al Beeb Bias, A Hasbara From Israel

The BBC is continuing its bombardment of the UK media with Iran-backed Hamas propaganda, as Israel strikes back with a series of YouTube videos to explain their side of the conflict.

The Orange Party is becoming heartily sick of the blatant pro-Hamas bias from the BBC, most notably the highly skewed reports from middle east editor Jeremy Bowen and his band of Hamas apologists disguised as "journalists".

David Vance over at Biased BBC is clearly exasperated, writing today: "Been a busy morning for the BBC in the promotion of the Hamas cause...The BBC really are unhinged". Guido and David T over at Harry's Place are at their wits end.

Yesterday the BBC could hardly contain itself with reports of an IDF attack on a "UN school". Melanie Philips writing in the Spectator summed up the BBC's glee: "At last an Israeli massacre! The BBC straightaway parroted the Hamas/UN line – that hapless Gazan ‘refugees’ had taken shelter from the bombs in the school, only to be struck by Israeli missiles."

Of course the truth was somewhat different. According to the Jerusalem Post, this was an IDF attack on a Hamas rocket squad based in the Jabalya school. Using civilians as human shields again, the grounds were being used to fire at nearby troops. According to the IDF, the dead included members of the Hamas rocket cell. Booby-trapped bombs in the school triggered secondary explosions, killing Palestinians.

The BBC already sank to new lows in bias with yesterday's fanatical report from Gaza’s Shifa hospital by a Gazan BBC producer, Rushdi abu Alouf in collusion with Bowen, giving a platform to blatant incitement against Israel. 

With a bunch of Hamas heavies behind him, the reporter relied heavily on an interview with a Norwegian doctor Dr Mads Gilbert - a political activist hostile to Israel and a long-standing activist in the Palestinian ‘solidarity’ movement, who even supported the 9/11 attacks.

As Philips puts it: "Whether it is cynical, malicious or just plain incompetent, the BBC’s coverage of Gaza is a national disgrace."

The BBC should wake up to the fact that there are two sides to every conflict and it is innocent men, women and children who suffer on all sides. What about the hundreds of thousands of civilians who have been killed by US and UK forces in Iraq and Afghanistan? One person's 'freedom fighter' is always another person's 'terrorist'. 

In an effort to redress the balance and counter the pro-Hamas propaganda, Israel is fighting back with a 'hasbara' - to explain the sheer terror faced by Israeli civilians as Iran's backed Hamas rockets rain down on them.

Distance is only a matter of time - What if a rocket launched from Beit Hanun in the Gaza Strip hit somewhere in the heart of Tel Aviv?

 

Residents in the city of Sderot have 15 seconds to find cover from the time the Red Alert siren sounds until a Kassam rocket hits

.

What would you do if you were attacked by rocket fire in London, Paris or Berlin?

Picture: Trails of smoke are seen after the launch of rockets from the central Gaza Strip towards Israel January 6, 2009. REUTERS/Gil Cohen Magen.

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