The war against the Jews (14)

A reader, Kevin O'Sullivan, has sent me the following message, which I reproduce here with his permission:

Having just read your very interesting article in the Spectator about anti-Israeli bias in the media, especially the BBC, I thought you might like to see my recent complaint to the BBC, with reference to yet another highly anti-Semitic broadcast.

Alas, I have now become quite blasé about the constant anti-West, pro-Muslim propaganda broadcast by the BBC, but even I just had to respond to the most recent example, transmitted on the Radio 4 program, From Our Own Correspondent. If I stood on any street corner in London, holding anti-Semitic placards vilifying Jewish people, and encouraging hatred towards the most persecuted race in the history of man, I would rightly be arrested and hopefully prosecuted under any number of race hate laws, but the BBC can commit exactly the same crime day after day, and absolutely nothing is done.

The broadcast on March 15th was a complete travesty of the truth, and was provocative in the extreme. It deliberately set out to inflame impressionable young Muslim men, already full of hatred and vitriol towards the West, and especially the Jewish community both here and abroad. This hideously distorted view of events can only serve those vested interests at the BBC, who deliberately fan the flames of anti-Jewish feelings whenever they see the embers of hatred towards Israel dying out. And, to make matters worse, a transcript and recorded download of the programme are now available Worldwide on the BBC website.

Complaint to the BBC, sent on 16th March.

Subject: From Our Own Correspondent. BBC Radio 4. 15^th Match 2008.

Sir.

Yet again, the BBC has decided to distort a relatively straightforward news item from Gaza, in order to inflame anti-Israeli sentiment, and to portray Palestinians as innocent grief stricken victims of a war they have no responsibility for. This politically bias nonsense would be laughable if it were not for the serious anti-Semitic repercussions that are felt both in the UK, and throughout the Islamic world after such broadcasts.

Your Palestinian correspondent Aleem Maqbool, stated that Mr. Nael al Kurdi, “ a softly spoken young man” was receiving treatment for cancer at a hospital in Egypt, and that his treatment ceased soon after HAMAS sized control of the Gaza Strip, because Israeli action was to ‘all but seal off the territory. Nael was trapped inside Gaza and his tumor rapidly started to increase in size again. Weak and bedridden, he told us he had applied several times to the Israeli authorities to be allowed to leave but had been denied each time. Less than a week after we spoke to him, Nael died. He was 21’.

Your correspondent Mr. Maqbool, then decided to blame stringent Israeli border controls for the sad plight of this young man, completely ignoring the fact that as Mr. al Kurdi was receiving treatment for his cancer in Egypt not Israel, he would have needed to use the border crossing between Egypt and Gaza at Rafah, which is now closed due to HAMAS inspired violence.

The Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza [the picture above shows Egyptian solders securing the border fence; MP] has been under joint Palestinian Authority and Egyptian control since November 2005; therefore if anyone was responsible for the untimely death of Mr. al Kerdi, it was either HAMAS, the PA and Egypt, or perhaps just fate, but certainly NOT Israel.

The BBC’s dangerous pro Islamic / Palestinian stance is well known and deplored by those of us who remember the days when the BBC was a truly impartial and a totally non-political organization. The fact that Israel has been under constant attack from anti-Semitic Muslim Arabs for over half a centaury is obviously seen by the BBC as well deserved. This distorted and highly inflammatory view of events in the Middle East, seeks only to justify and condone Islamic terrorism against Israel and the West, and can only serve to inspire more young men to seek revenge for what the BBC provocatively proclaims to be an injustice.

Kevin O'Sullivan.