When journalists have the much sought after opportunity to interview the heads of states and organisations with appalling human rights records the very least we expect is to see such people given a thorough cross-examining. What we don’t expect is for heads of terrorist organisations to be provided with a platform from which to give the equivalent of a party political broadcast and to get away with it virtually unchallenged. And yet that is precisely what we got when the BBC’s Middle East correspondent Jeremy Bowen recently interviewed Khaled Meshaal, the head of Hamas.
Hamas leader Meshaal warns of Israeli ‘extremism’ after elections, reads the baffling headline that accompanies Bowen’s interview. Think what you like of Israel’s Netanyahu, but it is a little much to hear the head of a violent Islamist organisation making allegations about other people’s extremism. Rich indeed to have Hamas complaining about the outcome of the Israeli elections when, since Hamas seized control of Gaza back in 2007, not only have the militants never held any elections of their own, they have quite systematically murdered and driven out most of their opposition in Gaza.
Still, Meshaal clearly wanted the message of Hamas’s supposed moderation to be the main takeaway from the interview, and Bowen didn’t get in his way.
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in