I consider the BBC’s bias against Israel to be potentially the most dangerous branch of its non-impartiality. Part of the problem is that they start from a wrong premise, confusing moral equivalence with impartiality. That is to say they give equal consideration, painstakingly, to the views and sensitivities of “all”* no matter if doing so entails promoting the views of thugs, criminals, liars and racists, sometimes above those of law-abiding members of society. And they do so with a contrived “who, me?” innocence. A repercussion of all this is the turmoil we are experiencing now. Top UK military commander says Israeli advice key to British strategy against suicide bombers in Afghanistan, warns of “dark forces” in the BBC A rare voice of sanity in the British establishment, Colonel Richard Kemp, the former commander of UK forces in Afghanistan, has mounted another devastating defence of Israel. In a speech at the annual dinner (which I attended) of the UK’s Zionist Federation in London last night, Kemp even revealed that prior to his deployment in Afghanistan a four hour briefing by a top Israeli general had been instrumental in formulating British tactics and strategy on how to deal with Taliban suicide bombers. To my knowledge, such an intimate strategic relationship on such a sensitive matter has never before been revealed. If it has, it has certainly not received widespread coverage in the UK press. Kemp’s counter-orthodoxy views on Israel rose to global prominence in October last year when, against the background of the Goldstone Report, he appeared before the UN Human Rights Council to say of Operation Cast Lead: “..Israeli Defense Forces did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare. Israel did so while facing an enemy that deliberately positioned its military capability behind the human shield of the civilian population.” In the course of his speech last night, Kemp reiterated the substance of those remarks, adding that “dark forces” inside the BBC and further afield were subjecting Israel to a wholly biased, discriminatory and distorted campaign of vilification. Speaking from personal experience, he contrasted the media response to the immense difficulties faced by British and American troops in facing down terrorists with the response to Israeli troops facing the same problems: “When we go into battle we do not get the same knee-jerk, almost Pavlovian response from many, many elements of the international media and international groups, humanitarian groups and other international groups such as the United Nations which should know better,” he told the 400 strong audience. He described it as the kind of “utter automatic condemnation” which British and American forces do not encounter. Shamefully, the British government abstained in the latest UN vote on the Goldstone Report against a background of near-monolothic vilification of Israel in the British and international media, and in order to preserve good relations with Arab and Muslim dictatorships. To its credit, the BBC carried a report of Kemp’s speech to the Zionist Federation on its website (see link below). It will be interesting to see whether his remarks are now dispersed more widely across the British media. To read the BBC report, click here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8527563.stm Tags: Israel
Dark Forces
>> MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2010
Another part of the BBC’s problem is their superficial grasp of anti-Semitism. If the BBC sets out to educate, it should first be educated itself. I doubt if anyone at the BBC would be interested in reading the enlightening essay by professor Geoffrey Alderman today on CiFWatch that explains the antisemitism inherent in Islam.
He had to write such a thing because of the ignorance and bias shown by employees of the BBC’s Siamese twin newspaper the Guardian, who chose to withdraw his privileges and prevent him from expressing pro Israel views on their ‘Comment is free’ platform.
Robin Shepherd has written about another speech, immensely supportive of Israel, made by the heroic Col Richard Kemp. He gets it. He refers to the knee-jerk almost Pavlovian response from many, many elements of the international media to anything done by Israel as “utter automatic condemnation.”
Robin Shepherd gives credit to the BBC just for publishing this article on its website. (Surely that should be a given, dark forces or no.)
There are a couple of the usual gratuitous inclusions in there, but on the whole, we should be grateful for small mercies.
*For “all” read “some.”
Monday, 22 February 2010
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It’s unfortunate he was vague. Call a spade a spade I always say. Point to what and who in the BBC is a danger. Otherwise the Beeb will lash out and proclaim a ‘dark Jewish conspiracy’ to silence them, or whatever PC sounding phrases they use.
UK officer says views of Israeli forces 'anti-Semitic'
BBC News
A former senior British army officer has said international media including the BBC are being exploited by "dark forces" who want to harm Israel.
Col Richard Kemp, who was a commander in Afghanistan, said some international criticism of the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) was motivated by anti-Semitism.
He was speaking at a dinner in London hosted by a pro-Israel lobby group.
Col Kemp had defended the actions of the IDF at the UN Goldstone Hearings into the Gaza incursion of 2008.
The Israeli minister for Information and the Diaspora, Yuli Edelstein, was also present at the dinner hosted by the Zionist Federation.
He refused to comment on rumours that the Israeli secret service Mossad had fraudulently used the passports of British citizens during an operation to kill the Hamas boss Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.
Col Kemp, who is now retired from the Army and makes a living from writing, said the advice he received from the Israeli armed forces on how to tackle Afghan suicide bombers had been invaluable, and formed the basis of official army guidelines used by soldiers on the ground there.
There were some "bad" soldiers in the IDF, Col Kemp acknowledged.
But he added that despite similarities between the IDF and British forces, UK soldiers did not have to deal with the same amount of criticism from the international community.
"When we go into battle we do not get the same knee-jerk, almost Pavlovian response from many, many elements of the international media and international groups, humanitarian groups and other international groups such as the United Nations which should know better... of utter automatic condemnation. We don't have to put up with that."
'New' anti-semitism
The event, which was attended by over 400 British Jews, heard Mr Edelstein criticise the Goldstone report, which is widely regarded as biased within Israel, and warn against the rise of what he called a "new" anti-semitism.
He said that although it was important to investigate any allegations of wrongdoing by Israeli forces, the Goldstone report had influenced the enemies of his country to continue their campaign of hatred.
"Yes, we have to investigate, yes we have to check ourselves. Yes, I am ashamed of the soldier who stole some credit cards from a deserted house in the Gaza Strip. But between this and war crimes?"
A small protest by UK Jews who oppose Israeli actions in Gaza took place outside the hotel where the dinner was held.
The Zionist Federation held the dinner to celebrate 110 years of its existence.
Early members helped to lobby the UK government for the creation of a Jewish homeland.
In recent years it has campaigned on behalf of Israel, often criticising what it calls international bias against Israeli actions in Gaza and the West Bank.
None of the speakers referred to the investigation in Dubai into the murder of Mr al-Mabhouh, or the allegation that Mossad had misused British passports.
But referring to some table ornaments that resembled the revolving sign at Scotland Yard police headquarters, Mr Edelstein did joke to his audience that he wondered if the Metropolitan Police were trying to tell him something.