Sky News ambush on Chief Rabbi: no irony at all

p.s. While Boulton's questioning in the interview was outrageous, Mirvis's bumbling response shows he is completely out of his depth as Chief Rabbi. As Melaine Phillips says, he should have responded that "it's the Big Lie reporting of Israel by media outlets like Sky News, which has helped foment this resurgence of open Jew-hatred in Britain and the west".

I believe Mirvis has been pressured by the Board of Deputies never to mention Islamic anti-Semitism and to minimise talking about Israel. Last August the Board's ludicrous joint statement with the (anti-Semitic) Muslim Council of Britain coincided with Mirvis's inept article in the Telegraph which parroted the same nonsense about Muslims and Jews facing a common threat. The BOD's own website publicises a recent meeting with Mirvis "to discuss a range of issues affecting the Jewish Community, including education and interfaith work". The latter is all about kowtowing to the Muslim Council of Britain.

See also: Sky News obsessive anti-Israel agenda

Paris attacks: Do not jump to conclusions...it could be "right-wing extremists"*

Rapid response memo** to all UK media editors

Memo: A measured response to the Paris attack

OK, so the magazine Charlie Hebdo has been the focal point for Muslim hatred because it satirised Mohammed. And it had been attacked before by Muslim terrorists in 2011, as well as receiving numerous fatwas. But you do not need to mention any of that. And OK there was a new threat of violence issued by the Islamist State against the magazine yesterday after it ran more cartoons. And OK the gunman today - dressed in jihadist black 'uniforms' were yelling "Allahu Akbar" and "We have avenged the prophet Mohammed" as they murdered journalists and cartoonists at the magazine's office. OK, so Paris has a recent history of multiple Islamic terrorist attacks...

But - as I am pleased the UK media is now saying with one voice - we must not jump to any conclusions about who is responsible for this and we must remove any mention of the words Islam, Muslim etc from our reporting, except in relation to Muslim victims. Because, even if this was committed by people claiming to be Muslims, they could not have been Muslims because Islam is a religion of peace. In particular remember that, as always, the REAL victims of these attacks are indeed Muslims - so you must reinforce this narrative of Muslim victimhood (use the expression "unjustified backlash against the Muslim community" liberally in all reports, and include quotes like "All Muslims condemn this attack, which is clearly an attack against Islam" from a local Imam (just make up a name if you cannot find one). 

I am pleased to report that so far the entire UK main stream media is falling in line with the memo.

Indeed, I just heard LBC’s commentator say (in all seriousness):

“Hebdo is a left-wing publication, so this could be the work of right-wing extremists”

Meanwhile Sky News – which for once clearly cannot use its standard ‘lone madman’ excuse to describe Islamic terrorist attacks in the West, has described it as a

“semi-lone gunman type attack”.

*Although this was meant to be satirical, both of the above statements were actually made. I kid you not. And the actual reporting really is sticking to the memo.

** copyright of every single mainstream western news media outlet, as well as every government agency

See update (again this is NOT a joke): BBC News removes all mention of 'Islam' from its main page  on Paris attack

And remember President Obama has very firmly aligned himself in the recent past with those who wish to persecute people who 'slander Islam', He has done this in actions as well as words.

Sky News' increasingly obsessive anti-Israel agenda

As you can see from the report here at Harry's Place, the Deputy News Editor of  Sky News Arabia (Jessy El Murr) refuses to allow any report from the Israeli perspective and believes that the Israelis have surpassed not only the evil of the Nazis but the worst evil in the world by "miles and miles and miles and more miles".

But the author of the article makes the mistake of assuming that Sky News Arabia is not at all representative of the main Sky News franchise.  She clearly has not been following the main Sky News' coverage of Israel since 2005 (when Israel-hating James Murdoch** took over). Here are some examples of stories about Sky News bias that I have written over the years. Their systematic anti-Israel bias is actually worse than the BBC and, unlike the BBC, they normally ignore formal complaints completely.

• Sky News declares war on Israel
• So dead children associated with UN Schools in Gaza are no longer of interest for the main stream media
• UK Media follows the script: blames Israel for Hamas breaking ceasefire 
• Reply from Sky News about anti-Israel complaint
• Sky News promoting an anti-semite
•  Now Sky News piles in with blood libel against Israel
• Appalling anti-Israel propaganda on Sky News today 
• Sky News and its new found anti-Israel bias
• Sky News ambush on Chief Rabbi

** See, for example: Murdoch, Son differ sharply over Israel,   Saudi Prince endorses anti-Israel Murdoch son to head FOX News empire.

BBC refuses to address complaint that it failed to cover the killing of Israeli child

On 22 August I made a formal complaint to the BBC (and also Sky News) about their failure to report on the main TV News the Hamas killing of 4-year-old Israeli child Daniel Tragerman (as covered in my story here). Here is the exact text of my complaint to the BBC:

BBC News tonight has failed to cover the very important story of an Israeli child (4-year-old Daniel Tragerman) who was killed in Israel by a Hamas rocket fired from a UN School in Gaza. BBC News has had something of an obsession with (often inaccurate) stories of children "killed from Israeli strikes on UN Schools". Yet now you are no longer interested in dead children and UN Schools associated with Gaza, even on a relatively quiet UK news day - not even in the tickertape headlines. For more details see my report here: http://edgar1981.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/so-dead-children-associated-with-un.html

I have now had a response from the BBC (see below). As you can see they have completely ignored my specific complaint and have instead sent a boilerplate response that presumably they send to all people who they classify as 'complaining of anti-Israel bias'. Isn't nice to know that the hundreds of millions of pounds that the BBC receives annually from tax payers is not able to stretch to responding to a serious complaint such as this (although the BBC did manage to find £12 million to send 272 staff to Brazil for the World Cup final). The response is actually a very weak defence anyway of their anti-Israel bias because although they say they have mentioned all the kind of things (such as Hamas use of human shields) which presumably people have accused them of ignoring, they only provide two links to back this up. They do not address the fact that the BBC's entire TV coverage was dominated with the Hamas perspective.

Dear Mr Davidson

Thank you for contacting us about the recent escalation in violence in Gaza and Israel. We have received a wide range of feedback about our coverage of this story across our television and radio programmes and the BBC News website. In order to use our TV licence fee resources efficiently, this response aims to answer the key concerns, but we apologise in advance if it doesn’t address your specific points in the manner you would prefer.

BBC News has reported extensively on the series of rocket attacks launched by Hamas and other Palestinian militants into southern and central Israel in recent weeks. We have reported on the civilian injuries and casualties, destruction and disruption caused by the attacks in towns near Gaza, such as Ashkelon and Sderot. We have also reported on the range and capability of Hamas’ arsenal, emphasising that major urban areas like Tel Aviv and Jerusalem are also under threat from attacks.

During our coverage of Israel’s airstrikes in Gaza we have reported on efforts made by the Israel Defense Forces seeking to minimise civilian causalities. We have detailed the prior warnings given to Palestinian civilians and have reflected Israel’s claims that Hamas hide weapons in civilian areas and employ non-militants as human shields:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-28245343

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-28252155

BBC News has also examined the cause of the conflict, as seen by each side, including Hamas’ hostility to the state of Israel. We believe we have reported on these issues in a fair and impartial manner.

Please be assured we raised your concerns with senior editorial staff at BBC News.

Kind Regards

BBC Complaints

www.bbc.co.uk/complaints

Incidentally, Sky News never responded to my complaint other than with an automated  "Thank you for your comment".

So dead children associated with UN Schools in Gaza are no longer of interest for the main stream media

The perfect characterisation of the media's coverage of the Gaza conflict has been its obsession with (often inaccurate) stories of children "killed from Israeli strikes on UN Schools". For example, when a number of children were claimed to have been killed at a UN School in Gaza by a rocket that Hamas claimed was fired by Israel the story so dominated every main stream media that almost no other news was presented for 24 hours. The media only lost interest in the story when it was later discovered that the rocket was one that was misfired by Hamas while targetting Israeli civilians.

Yesterday 4-year-old Daniel Tragerman was killed in Israel by a Hamas rocket fired from a UN School in Gaza.  Yet now curiously the media is no longer interested in dead children and UN Schools associated with Gaza. After his death was announced by the Israeli media I spent a few hours watching the BBC News Channel and Sky News and (on a relatively quiet UK news day) they somehow were unable to find time to mention this story at all - not even in the tickertape headlines. They did however manage to find plenty of time to cover the important story of a Koala bear rescued in Australia.

The primary argument the main stream media has used to justify its support for the terrorists of Hamas throughout the current conflict has been that "not enough Israeli civilians have died compared to Palestinians". Now they have a dead Israeli child to satisfy their desire for more Jewish blood, it appears they wish to cover it up in exactly the same way they have covered up the 350 rockets launched by Hamas against Israeli civilians in the last 48 hours.

********************************************
I've filed complaints to BBC and Sky News, e.g. here is what I wrote to Sky News Editor Adam Harding:

Dear Mr Harding

Can you explain why Sky News tonight has failed to cover the very important story of an Israeli child (4-year-old Daniel Tragerman) who was killed in Israel by a Hamas rocket fired from a UN School in Gaza.

Sky News has had something of an obsession with (often inaccurate) stories of children "killed from Israeli strikes on UN Schools". Yet now you are no longer interested in dead children and UN Schools associated with Gaza, even on a relatively quiet UK news day. I note that while you were unable to find time to mention this story at all - not even in the tickertape headlines, you did manage to find plenty of time to cover the important story of a Koala bear rescued in Australia.

Yours

Edgar Davidson

26 Aug update: Despite a report on 23 August saying the IDF were not sure the rocket was fired from a UN school it turns out that it definitely WAS a school from which the rocket was launched.See also this report

13 September 2014 Update: I have had a response from the BBC (worse than pathetic). Sky News never responded other than an automated "Thanks for your comments".

UK Media follows the script: blames Israel for Hamas breaking ceasfire

Within hours of my article on the proposed ceasefire the Palestinians and the media adhered exactly to what I had written. Hamas and Islamic Jihad fired 50 rockets into Israel after Israel accepted the ceasefire and the media was quiet on this until Israel responded, at which point it was blamed for breaking the ceasefire. These headlines (both with photos and captions of "explosions in Gaza" are currently what is showing on the BBC and Sky front pages. You have to dig deep into the stories to discover that "Israeli sources claim ... rockets were fired during the truce". Meanwhile the Guardian whent much further in pinning the blame on Israel.

The BBC headline "Israel hits Gaza as truce bid fails" links to this article which actually has the headline "Gaza conflict: Israel restarts air strikes amid rocket fire". The Sky Headline
"Israel resumes airstrikes as truce bid fails" links to this article. In response I submitted the following comment:

The Palestinians broke the ceasefire by firing 50 rockets before Israel finally responded. Obviously according to Sky the Palestinians have no responsibility for their actions.

The comment was rejected.

Just like my ceasefire text, I really, really want my  Rules and Guidelines for Westerners reporting on the Middle East  to be simply satire. But with each passing day it seems to be closer and closer to reality.

I have already made formal complaints to the BBC and Sky (others are on to the Guardian).

Update: An hour after I saw the Sky report I noticed they actually changed some of the wording in the article (but not the headline). Specifically

"Israel's airstrikes have resumed in the Gaza Strip after Palestinian militants reportedly fired rockets at the country." 

has now been changed to the more accurate:

"Israel's airstrikes have resumed in the Gaza Strip after Palestinian militants rejected a proposed ceasefire and fired dozens of rockets at the country." 

Sky News: promoting an antisemite

I have just watched Sky News' 'exclusive interview' with Dieudonne M’bala M’bala - the antisemitic friend of Nicolas Anelka who was finally charged yesterday by the FA for his 'quenelle' gesture. This has been Sky News' leading story all evening, taking up nearly 10 minutes at the start of each news programme. The programme allowed Dieudonne a platform to present himself as the victim of injustice and to proclaim Anelka as a 'prince' - a great heroic figure standing like him against world injustice. The Sky News interviewer did not ask a single probing question of Dieudonne. The issue of his convictions for racial incitement against Jews was briefly mentioned but Dieudonne simply said that he had been involved in many court cases and had won many of them. There was not a single question about any of his explicit on-the-record antisemitic comments, nor even a mention about his vicious anti-Israel activities. To cap it all, the program segment ended with the interviewer - outside  Dieudonne's 'sold-out' venue in France this evening - getting the opinions of Dieudonne's adoring fans. The only counter-point to Dieudonne provided in the entire segment was a 5-line written statement from a spokesperson from the Council of Christians and Jews saying something about the quenelle being offencive to Jews.

As I made it clear in my first report about this case, the UK media has continued to downplay or simply ignore the extent of Dieudonne's antisemitism and hence this has allowed Anelka's claim that 'he was only showing support for his comedian friend' to gain sympathy. The timing of Sky's puff piece on Dieudonne seems to have been chosen to put pressure on the FA to pardon Anelka.

The Toulouse killer is a Muslim terrorist so the media narrative changes again

While all the media continued yesterday to assume (and indeed hope) that the Toulouse killer was a 'white racist' I questioned the rationality of the assumption, because it was clear to me that the attacks seemed more in keeping with Islamic terrorism. This morning we hear - surprise, surprise -  that the killer is Mohammed Merah, an Islamic terrorist of Algerian origin, who claimed that the killings were in revenge for 'Israel killing Palestinian children and for French military involvement in the Middle East. 

Many media outlets carried this image from a multi-cultural rally in France yesterday. The banner reads "In France we kill blacks, Jews, and Arabs".  When we will be seeing the more accurate banner "In France Muslims kill Jews and soldiers"?

But no sooner was this announced than the media was already spinning the story in a way to suit its own narrative again. I just watched Sky News coverage and they were stressing that the killer and his family lived in a very poor housing block surrounded by wealthier neighbours, and that clearly social deprivation and poverty were a key factor. To emphasize this narrative they then interviewed a French female journalist living in London who claimed that what was terrible about the attack was that the killer was 'French' and that it was therefore 'an attack against diversity'. She said that it was all down to the racist climate in France which had been made worse by Nikolas Sarkozy in the last five years and she picked out, as an example of racist lack of tolerance, the burka ban he had introduced.

So there you have it in a nutshell. When a terrorist grabs tiny Jewish children by the hair and shoots them through the head this can only be the work of a white racist who actually hates Muslims as much as Jews (Tuesday's media headlines). But when on Wednesday we discover he is a Muslim terrorist then suddenly his actions are justified by poverty and are a natural reaction both to anti-Muslim attitudes in France and the actions of Israel against Palestinians. And of course the real victims in all of this are Muslims.

Finally, I wonder where Mohammed Merah got the idea into his head that Israel deliberately kills Palestinian children? It couldn't, by chance, have been from the western media who have been peddling these Arab lies and blood libels unquestioningly for many years now?

11.40 update: The headlines of all the usual media news suspects (BBC, Haaretz and bizarrely even the Jerusalem Post) - all of which yesterday headlined the fact that the killer was a suspected "white racist/Nazi'  - are all concealing the identify of the killer (although of course they are forced to reveal it in the actual story). In the UK today's budget will ensure that the story fails to even get much of a mention from now on, so many UK residents will forever assume that the killer was indeed a white Nazi with a hatred for Muslims.

Now Sky News piles in with blood libel against Israel

UPDATED: The Sun's coverage even more outrageous (see below) than Sky News - but both are part of the News Corp, which under the leadership of James Murdoch, has morphed into having an anti-Israel propaganda agenda.

Self-explanatory letter of complaint sent to Ofcom and Sky News:

Sky News yesterday and today has been leading with a story "Israeli Forces Kill 23 Protesters On Border". Although the online version of the story did eventually state that the claim of these deaths was 'made by Syrian state television'  this point was not made on yesterday's TV headlines and the importance of the point would have been lost on most viewers. Syrian State television is the propaganda mouthpiece for one of the most evil and secretive regimes in the world - a regime that is currently massacring its own citizens on a daily basis (over 1200 dead since March). According to Syrian State television none of that has been happening. The fact that Syria has banned all foreign journalists should be sufficient grounds for any respectable news outlet to have doubted their claims. So why is Sky News using an information source that is so obviously wrong?

There were dozens of journalists witnessing the events from the Israeli side of the border yesterday and not one of them corroborates a single death or serious injury. The Sky story fails to explain that the entire event - which was an attempt to breach Israel's border -  was organised by the Syrian regime that is desperate to divert attention from the daily massacres it is carrying out against its own people. Indeed while Sky news fall for the lies of the Syrian regime it ignores the more reliable information coming from the Syrian Reform Party that has issued a statement here that that states that the regime paid hundreds of impoverished  farmers $1,000 each to show-up at the border and $10,000 to their families should any of them succumb to Israeli fire.

Should there be any doubt about the impact of this Sky News blood libel against Israel I draw your attention to the comments that have been posted on Yahoo News' link to Sky's story:

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/israeli-forces-kill-23-protesters-border-024551641.html

Here is just a sample of the hatred being spewed there:

It's just the Jewish version of ethnic cleansing

How come no NATO military presence of some sort in order to protect civilians has ever been considered? Possibly because the Jews hold the West by the balls. They control most banks and financial institutions, their covert presence and control of the media and large corporations is widespread, and they also are amongst the largest donors of political parties (left and right) in most countries. In the UK and the US they are amongst the largest donors in fact.

No other nation could ever get away with occupying another whilst over the years conducting a systematic massacre of the local population.

How long are we going to put up with Israel's bully-boy tactics???

We will put up with Israel while they own and run the USA.

This is just plain murder.

Where are the nazis, israel has just forgotten what happened to them in europe? now they are doing the same to otherr people and the americans don't see anything wrong with it??, once again they are digging their grave slowly.. it will soon backfire

Finally, what makes the Sky coverage especially shameful is that, while it leads with its blood libel against Israel, there is no mention at all of the many dozens of genuine civilian protesters who were shot dead in various cities in Syria yesterday. Perhaps your reporters should look at some real evidence of this like here:

http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2011/06/gruesome-video-of-syrian-soldiers.html

Update:
The Sun does not even bother to quote Syrian TV as the source of the 'killings'. It simply presents the Syrian claims as fact in its article which leads with the statement "Israeli troops killed at least 20 protesters on the Syrian boder yesterday". There is no source quoted other than "one onlooker'" who said "it was like a turkey shoot".
I have filed off another complaint to them.

Sky News declares war on Israel

I just sent the following self-explanatory complaint to Sky News:

Dear Sirs

When Palestinian terrorists committed one of the worst atrocities in recent history on 11 March - slaughtering a family of five Israelis in their home including a baby aged three months who was decapitated, Sky News TV - a 24-hour news channel - chose not to inform its viewers of the story. Not even in ticker tape form. And not even when the terrorist attack was claimed by the Palestine Authority's own 'military wing', and with celebrations of the attack taking place throughout the Palestinian territories. Any claim that the story could not be covered due to the Japan earthquake were destroyed two days later when Sky News did find time to post a story criticising Israel for announcing plans to build 400 news homes. Sky News was also completely silent last week after Israel's discovery of a major Iranian arms shipment to Hamas on the ship 'Victoria'. This shipment was an act of war by Iran and was one of the most dangerous international incidents of recent years. But it will never be known to Sky viewers. Then on 19 March Hamas launched a major attack against Israel - over 50 rockets fired including Iranian grad rockets into the city of Ashkelon. Again Sky News chose not to cover this story in any way at all.

Yet this morning - while Britain is involved in its new war against Libya - Sky News TV has somehow found the space, time and incentive to provide not one but two 'breaking news' stories about Israel. In fact, as of 9.00am, these were two of only three stories running on the ticker tape of Sky News TV. One of these stories, headlined "17 Palestinians injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza" fails, of course, not only fails to mention the attacks against Israel which preceded this, but also fails to mention the accuracy of the Israelis in pinpointing terrorists arms smuggling tunnels and terrorist arms caches. The second story headlined "Former Israeli President Katzav imprisoned for 7 years for rape", is certainly an important story in Israel, but it is not exactly of great interest to any viewers outside Israel.

It seems clear that Sky News has effectively declared war against Israel. A 'war' whose rules of engagement are that: only stories that cast Israel in a purely negative light can be presented. And any story, no matter how big, which demonstrates that Israel - and not the Palestinians - are the true victims must be ignored.

Sky News used to be considered as fair and objective in its coverage of the Middle East. It is sad that it has now degenerated into a propaganda tool of the Hamas terrorists. How exactly does Sky News expect its viewers to make informed decisions when it is so selective and biased in its coverage?

Fanatical anti-Israel bias today

If ever you needed definitive proof of the fanatical anti-Israel bias of the main stream media then today is surely the day. Let's look at some examples of real stories from Israel and the Middle East today today:

• There were two separate terrorist attacks against Southern Israel from Gaza.
• There was a terrorist attack against the Israeli embassy in Turkey (this is ongoing right now so details are unclear).
• There is the fallout from the last night's Panorama programme where even the BBC finally admits that the entire media coverage of the flotilla incident was a nothing less than a blood libel against Israel
• There was a massive suicide bombing in Baghdad which killed at least 61 people.
• There is the news of Iran's first nuclear reactor going live on Sunday.
• ...and many more.

So what story - and yes it is about Israel - do you think is the very top story on almost every news outlet right now (on the internet, I haven't yet seen the TV). It is a story about an ex-Israeli soldier posting pictures of herself with Palestinian prisoners. The story's real context is provided here, but all the news outlets are crying out with the usual indignation (e.g. yahoo.com leads its entire news coverage with "Ex-Israeli soldier's controversial Facebook pics", google news leads its international news section with "Israel in new storm over Facebook images", and there is massive front page coverage at Sky News online and BBC news online).

If you are not convinced with that then how about the incredible story here of how the main stream western media refused to run a real story (given to them by Palestinian journalists) about the Palestinian Authority arresting several university lecturers but, when the same journalists offered a fake story about a Palestinian lecturer being refused entry to Israel, the very same media were eager to run the story.

It is clear that the western media have made a decision to ignore even major stories about Arab terror against Israel and anything that casts the Palestinaians in a 'bad light', but are prepared to work themselves into a frenzy over even the slightest Israeli indiscretion. See Rubin's article here for further examples of this bias.

Finally, and nothing to do with the above, everybody should read Sultan Knish's latest article here about the Ground Zero mosque. Read it and weep when you think that brilliant writing like that never appears in the main stream media.

Appalling anti-Israel propaganda on Sky News today

Just sent the following self-explanatory letter to Sky News:


Dear Sky News

I have just watched a news item (Sky News at 8.00pm today) on the Israel-Palestine conflict which can only be described as pure anti-Israel propaganda. I am extremely disappointed in Sky since I expect a more balanced approach. This was one of the most biased and ill-informed pieces I have seen from Sky - it would have even have embarrassed Al-Jazeera. .

The item started with the story of Hillary Clinton at a conference in Egypt pledging some $1 billion for 'Gaza reconstruction'. The item, however, then went on to investigate the 'reasons why there was little hope of resolving the conflict'. These reasons were given as:

-"illegal settlement activity by the Israelis"
- "Israeli destruction of Palestinian houses in Jerusalem" (with the inevitable interview only of 'dispossessed Palestinians')
- "likely intransigence by the next Israeli government which 'will probably shift to the right'."

In other words only Israel was an impediment to peace. No mention at all, curiously of that rather more fundamental obstacle to peace, namely that Gaza is run by the terrorist organisation Hamas which is committed by charter to the total destruction of Israel and the murder of all Jews. Moreover, Sky News seem not to be aware that, in the last few days Hamas has relaunched its relentless rocket attacks against southern Israeli towns. These have caused direct hits, for example, on schools in Ashkelon and Sderot, but apparently Sky news does not think this worth a mention even on a 24-hour news channel. Nor was there even the slightest concern raised at why billions of dollars should be poured into Gaza while the rocket attacks were continuing, or that the notion that money poured into Gaza might itself be an obstacle to peace, given that the Palestinians clearly see it as a reward for their continued rocket attacks.

The failure to report the rocket attacks on Israel is especially reprehensible given the nature of the news item. But then of course Sky, along with other news media, also failed to report on the massive barrage of rockets that Hamas launched against Israel in December that led to Israel's retaliatory offensive. No doubt that if and when Israel responds to the current unbearable unprovoked attacks against it Sky News will again be leading all its news items with Israel's 'aggression' . And no doubt the Gazans will look forward to more billions of dollars for reconstruction without anybody questioning the morality of such largesse..

Yours

Edgar Davidson

How the story but not the news changed in Gaza

On Thursday 12 June an explosion flattened a house in Gaza belonging to one of Hamas's major military commanders, killing several people including a 4-month old girl. All the news agencies dutifully reported that "Hamas said the blast was caused by an Israeli airstrike" and the usual scenes of destruction and wailing people were broadcast with viewers left in no doubt that this was Israel's doing. The BBC, Sky and Al Jazeera carried the story prominently with the Hamas claims of Israel's responsibility. To emphasize their 'outrage', Hamas 'responded' with its most ferocious bombardment yet of Israel, some 50 rockets in the space of two hours.

But within less than 12 hours it was clear that Israel could not have been responsible for the explosion and even Reuters reported the following:

• GAZA (Reuters) - Hamas's military wing said on Friday an explosion that killed eight Palestinians in the Gaza Strip was an accident that occurred as militants prepared to carry out a bomb attack. Hamas initially blamed Thursday's explosion on an Israeli air strike, but the Israeli military denied involvement. The blast flattened the two-storey house of Hamas bomb-maker Ahmed Hamouda in the northern town of Beit Lahiya, killing six Hamas fighters, a four-month-old girl and a civilian.

You would have thought that the real story in this case - Hamas' own explosion killing so many people, its deliberate misleading of the media and its diabolical rocket attacks on Israel as false retaliation - would have led to that same media giving it prominence. Wrong. Whereas the original false story implicating Israel was given prominence, the real story has been ignored totally on TV and radio in the UK. What about newspapers? No chance. Today's Times newspaper has only one small item about Israel and that is of course a negative one, highlighting US criticism of its home building programme in Jerusalem.

If you want an example that captures everything about the media's bias against Israel it is this saga. And here is something that you should also remember. When the next figures listing Palestinian casualties of Israeli 'agression' are trotted out you can be guaranteed these the people kille in the explosion wil be added to it.

Abdel Bari Atwan (aka Abd al-Bari Atwan)

Abdel Bari Atwan is the London-based editor of an Arab Magazine who is wheeled out by every UK media outlet when they want to get some 'true insight' into what is happening anywhere in the Arab world (he is especially loved by Sky News). Today the Sunday Times has his article reflecting on his (ten-year-old) interview with Bin Laden. Interesting stuff, but it is worth remembering that Atwan is ALWAYS completely wrong in just about every analysis, statement, or prediction he ever makes. Immediately after both the Madrid and London bombings he proclaimed that these were NOT the work of Al Quaeda or its sympathisers. Completely typical was his interview on the day Saddam Hussain was captured. He told Sky News that "this was definitely not the real Saddam Hussain because Saddam would not allow himself to be taken prisoner alive." In fact he has been talking complete crap ever since he has been on TV. It was he who, way back in the FIRST Gulf War in 1990, predicted that the allies would not dare to mount a ground attack in Kuwait because the Iraqi Imperial Guard would be able to resist for many months and inflict unbelievable casualties. In the event there was of course a ground attack and it took a whole 4 days to annihilite the Iraqi army. Why the UK media continues to use this idiot is a complete mystery to me.

UPDATE 16 March 2008
In his lead article in the London based Al-Quds Al-Arabi,  Atwan  glorified the terrorist killing of eight teenage students in Israel, and said the celebrations in Gaza that followed symbolized the "courage of the Palestinian nation." He added that the recent violence in Gaza might "mark the countdown to Israel's destruction." Atwan has already been banned from Australia as a result of his declaration, last year, on Lebanese TV that "If the Iranian missiles strike Israel, by Allah, I will go to Trafalgar Square and dance with delight.”

UPDATE 2010
Atwan brought shame to LSE in 2010 when he made an antisemitic speech there that was captured on video.

Reply from Sky News about anti-Israel complaint

On 29 Dec I posted a letter I sent to Sky News about a particularly nasty anti-Israel news bulletin. Peter Lowe (Assistant Editor) sent me a detailed response (which I appreciate because more often than not I either get no response or a standard response). But the problem is that the response confirms that there really is an ingrained anti-Israel bias among the newer editorial staff at Sky News. This is very worrying given Sky News's previous balanced approach. It is a strong indication of something we have been worrying about for a while now. That the new generation of opinion formers (those who graduated in the last few years) have become so conditioned by the "Israel = oppressor, bad, military state blah blah / Palestinians = victims" equation that they, like the Palestinians, now see every Israeli as a valid military target. Anyway, here is my self-explanatory response (if anybody expresses an interest I will scan the Sky letter).


Peter Lowe
Assistant Editor, Sky News
British Sky Broadcasting
Grant Way
Middlesex TW7 5QD

18 Jan 2006

Dear Mr Lowe,

Misleading anti-Israel reporting on Sky News (29 Dec 05)
Your ref: PL/KA

Thank you for taking the trouble to reply in depth to my letter. I do not agree with many of the points that you made in your response to my letter and there is one in particular that is seriously flawed. Specifically, in response to my complaint about the news item not mentioning the suicide bombing in Israel you said: “I assume you mean the one against a military target on the West Bank, which I can assure you we DID report…”

I watched the entire main bulletin from 09.00 until 09.30 and I can confirm that the suicide attack was NOT mentioned despite it having occurred just 3 hours earlier and despite its most obvious relevance to the lead story you ran. Sky may well at some other time have mentioned the suicide bombing but this is irrelevant to the point I was making.

But of far more concern is your factual error concerning the suicide attack itself. The attack was intended to be a double suicide bombing at a Chanukah celebration party in Tel Aviv. The heroic actions of a soldier, Uri Binamo who stopped the bombers at a checkpoint, averted a massacre but cost him his own life. The reputable Haaretz newspaper website provides the following details (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/671559.html):

A suicide bombing that killed an Israel Defense Forces officer and three
Palestinians south of Tul Karm on December 29 had been planned as a double suicide bombing in a city in the center of the country, security forces said Tuesday.
The IDF said Tuesday that officials realized only in retrospect the scope of the thwarted terror attack: The Islamic Jihad bombings were supposed to take place simultaneously, during Hanukkah vacation.
IDF officials had at first thought that only one suicide bomber was in the taxi, but security forces discovered in the course of their investigation that one of the Palestinians killed in the blast had also intended to carry out a suicide bombing.
Neither the third passenger killed in the explosion nor the taxi driver was involved in the attack, security forces said, but the Shin Bet security service captured a fourth Palestinian passenger who was meant to guide the two bombers.

To describe this as “against a military target on the West Bank” is offensive and betrays the exact anti-Israel perspective I complaind about.

Yours sincerely,

Edgar Davidson

Sky News and its new found anti-Israel bias

After watching Sky News this morning to try to find out about today's suicide attack in Israel I felt compelled to write the following self-explanatory letter. There has clearly been a recent change for the worse in editorial attitude at Sky, because they used to be reasonably fair and honest in their reporting. Today's report would have embarrassed even Al-Jazeera.

Sky News Editorial
British Sky Broadcasting
Grant Way
Middlesex TW7 5QD

Dear Sir/Madam,

Misleading anti-Israel reporting on today’s news

The lead story on Sky News today reported on the kidnapping of the Britons in Gaza by Palestinian gunmen. The reporter listed a number of possible reasons for the kidnapping, one of which was “Israel’s declaration of a security zone inside Northern Gaza which Israel was now shelling despite having supposedly withdrawn from there in October”. This report was misleading and sloppy on two accounts:

1. Not even the most fanatical anti-Israeli Palestinian would argue that these kidnappings were in any way connected to Israel. These, and similar kidnappings which have taken place since Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, are the work of local Fatah gangs for political and financial extortion from the ruling Palestinian Authority.
2. Israel’s declaration of a security zone was reluctantly imposed only after weeks of unprovoked missile shelling by Palestinians from the area into Israeli towns.

This sloppy anti-Israel reporting is closely related to Sky News’ reluctance to report on the brutal and sustained terrorism being suffered by Israelis at the hands of Palestinian terrorists. If Sky had, for example, been reporting on the daily rocket attacks on Israeli towns, there might at least have been some context for the story about the security zone. But Sky has not been reporting these attacks. What is even more concerning is that Sky seems to have a policy now not to report even major suicide bombing attacks against Israelis, such as the one this morning, which killed at least three people. Any rational and honest news reporting agency would have reported that attack alongside the story from Gaza, but Sky News chose to ignore it completely. For a 24-hour news channel this seems strange to say the least, and can surely only be attributed to an anti-Israel agenda by your editorial staff.

update: Since the British media never show the faces or mention the names of Israelis killed by terrorists here is something you will not see in tomorrow's newspapers: below is Uri Binamo, 21, from Nesher who was killed in today's suicide bombing. His actions in stopping the bomber almost certainly saved dozens of lives.

Edgar's recent complaints of anti-Israel bias in News programmes

Letter to Sky News re their claim that 'Israel has broken the middle east truce' (15 July 2005)

Dear Sir/madam

At approx 10.15pm on 15 July Sky News brought the story of Israel's attacks against Hamas 'militants' in Gaza. The newsreader then stated that 'this attack has broken the truce that has been in place since Februrary'. Was the newsreader not aware that Islamic Jihad had already broken the truce by mounting several suicide attacks inside Israel including one in Netanya as recently as Tuesday 12 July that killed 5 people (including two children) at a shopping mall? And that Hamas had broken the truce by mounting a barrage of Qasam missiles into Israel in the previous few days, including one which killed a 22-year-old woman sitting in the porch of her house in the Negev on Thursday evening?

The Israelis' pinpointed attack killed 6 Hamas terrorists who were in the process of carrying missiles to launch further attacks. An act of self-defence if ever there was one, not a 'breach of a truce'.

Perhaps the newsreader would not have made such an obvious error if Sky News had actually covered any of the previous attacks in any detail. In fact, even the Netanya suicide bombing failed to get a mention on Sky News throughout the whole of Tuesday evening (the attack happened at 4.00pm London time). For a 24-hour news channel this omission was truly remarkable.
No response

Letter to the Sun in response to Anila Baig's article in the Sun (13 July 05)

Anila Baig ("All of us must pull together") in explaining the feelings of Muslims says "Feeling sorry for Palestinian orphans ... does not make us complicit in terror". Perhaps if Muslims also felt sorry for Israelis orphaned by the continual Palestinian suicide bombings (such as the two yesterday during a so-called 'truce') this might have more resonance. But they don't. And I have never heard a Muslim leader condemn the suicide bombings in Israel (or even Iraq) without also trying to justify it. It is time for Muslims to condemn terrorism without any 'buts'.
No response

Complaint to the BBC (21 June 2005)

BBC World Service, News (10.00pm), 21 - 06 - 05

The leading item on the News stated that, according to Palestinians, the meeting between Israeli PM Sharon and Palestinian PM Abbas ended in disappointment. The report attributed this to 'the tense atmosphere... resulting from Israel's arrest earlier in the day of 50 Palestinian militants'. It is not clear why the BBC should regard only the Palestinian viewpoint as definitive, but this report was in any case seriously flawed since it failed to mention the string of deadly terrorist attacks on Israelis (and the attempted suicide bombing of an Israeli hospital) that immediately preceded the arrests of the terrorists . The BBC's failure to report the context of both the arrests and 'tense atmosphere' represents seriously anti-Israel bias and extremely poor and misinformed reporting.
No response

Complaint to the BBC (20 June 05)

Today's BBC news on the Middle East fails to mention the two terrorist attacks in the last 24 hours that both resulted in loss of Israeli lives -- see the details, for example at:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/590104.html

Nor does the news contain any mention of the quite astonishing story of the female would-be suicide bomber who tried to repay the kindness of the Israelis who had been treating her at a Beersheba hospital by blowing them up. The full story can be found here:

Given that these (and many other similar) incidents of Palestinian terrorism are now taking place during a so-called truce I would have thought that it was imperative for the BBC to be reporting them. I would be interested to know why the BBC is keeping this information from its readers and viewers.
No response