BBC bows shamefully to Israeli pressure…

… on airing a philanthropic appeal for aid for Gaza… while even the British government urges it not to.
Go figure.
We can note that the British government– like the US government, the Egyptian government, and all the other governments of the world– has connived shamefully, for the past three years, in the Israeli government’s completely anti-humane campaign to starve the 1.5 million people of Gaza into submission. But now, something seems to be changing on this score– perhaps– in the halls of Whitehall. As well as, perhaps, in Washington.
Let’s hope we can now see the world’s governments all start working together to re-connect the lives and economy of Gaza properly to those of the outside world. And that Israel’s brutal siege of Gaza, which has caused its people so much suffering, can now be ended.
But the BBC, meanwhile, still seems intent on going along with the Israeli-bred idea that the provision of outside aid– even of very urgently needed emergency relief aid– should be a political football, subject only to the whims of the Israeli occupying/besieging power.
What an outrage.
Today, the representatives of the Palestinian government that was elected in a free and fair election in January 2006 are now in Egypt, are in Cairo where tomorrow they’ll conduct talks with the Egyptian government on the modalities of re-opening the Rafah crossing point between Gaza and Egypt.
An anonymous source (presumably from Hamas) told Reuters’s Nidal Mughrabi that Hamas is,

    willing to accept the presence of members of [Mahmoud] Abbas’s presidential guards, with a special arrangement he did not disclose. Leaders of the group have in the past said they could also accept European monitors on certain conditions that does not allow the international observers to have a say over the operation of the crossing.

So Hamas, Fateh, Israel, and Egypt have all returned to negotiating all the same issues they have been fighting about for the past year or more.
Except that this time around, the negotiating positions of both Egypt and Fateh are considerably weaker than they were a year ago.
And meantime, if the latest declarations from the British government and President Obama are anything to go by, the international consensus that Israel used to enjoy for its policy of Endless Punitive Siege against Gaza seems to be eroding significantly.
Shame on the BBC!
Anyone who wants to give support to the coalition of very mainstream British charities that has had its appeal for Gaza turned down by the BBC can do so here.

15 thoughts on “BBC bows shamefully to Israeli pressure…”

  1. The BBC spokeswoman has resisted a second time; Tony Benn says it is clearly Israeli govt influence.
    One is not supposed to talk about such influence, but BBC comentators have said that whereas Darfur has been admitted for publicity, Lebanon 2006 and Afghanistan have not.
    Islamophobic is the best description of their position.

  2. Shameful as the BBC is there is nothing new here. And they have the attention only of those wanting to be misled. That last could be said of Obama as well, but Obama as stooge of the Israeli far-right is a much more deadly force aimed at the Palestinians than is some newspaper. I think you should unleash your outrage on the real perp rather than on the echoes of his cronies running down the alley

  3. To: Professor Bengt Samuelsson, Chairman of the Board of Directors – Nobel Peace Prize

    “

    History teaches that as long as the duty of justice has not been discharged, the spectre of war can re-emerge”, Judge Claude Jorda.

    WE, the undersigned, as the people of this planet as well as the children, mothers, husbands, widows, fathers, sisters and brothers of the Palestinian martyrs appeal to all peace lovers in this world to call on Professor Bengt Samuelsson, Chairman of the Nobel Prize Foundation’s Board of Directors to dishonor Shimon Peres, Foreign Minister of Israel by taking away his Nobel Peace Prize.

    Show you support, sow you values, show you believes, show your good well that you are free and democratic world don’t let the criminals enjoy their life by taking the lives of thousand of innocent civilians
    Don’t let those criminals put you in shame for what they doing in your name and value of freedom and democracy

  6. The Hamas/Egypt talks ought to be interesting, since Mubarak hates Hamas because it is a creature of the MUslim Brotherhood and a promoter of an Islamic state — anathema to Mubarak.
    Will the tunnel commerce be allowed to continue? The Pentagon is (and has been for some time) actively supporting the Egypt/Israel actions against tunnel commerce with on-site military assistance, but the seemingly uncontrollable bedouins are commercially involved.
    Mahmoud Abbas’s four-year presidential term ended Jan 9, which further deflates his importance (to put it mildly), so that’s another interesting factor.

  7. Helena
    All is revealed.
    27th January is Holocaust Memorial Day in UK.
    http://www.politics.co.uk/opinion-formers/events/27-01-2009-voice-holocaust-memorial-day-2009-%E2%80%99stand-up-hatred%E2%80%99-$1256477$366260.htm
    Pictures of bombed out, burned, maimed men women and children living without running water depending on handouts from Global charities because the occupying power will not meet its obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention might spoil the party.

  8. BBC journalists are reported to be furious at their superiors’ cowardice. No attempt was made on the radio yesterday to stop veteran left-wing politician Tony Benn from reading out the address and phone number of the Disasters Emergency Committee; and there is a link to its website on the BBC News website.

  9. to helen and your readers
    I speak as a bbc journalist – i cannot give my name because who knows what penalty i will pay in my career.
    of course we are furious, livid. the DG Mark Thompson has nailed his colours to the mast. he believes doing the wrong thing so as not to upset israel is preferable to doing the right thing – as is obvious to everyone except members of the zionist movement – even though it upsets the people of britain, of the Arab world, the Muslim world – independent minded people everywhere!
    i hope he pays with his job for this appalling decision – and apologise for blocking the DEC appeal for Lebanon in 2006 while he’s at it.

  10. The BBC has received about 1,000 complaints by telephone and a further 10,000 by e-mail.
    The Church of England has also waded into the row, with the Archbishop of York appealing for the BBC to consider humanity, not impartiality, and show the film.
    In a direct appeal to the BBC, Dr John Sentamu said: “Come on Auntie Beeb. Wake up and get on with it.”
    He went on to reject the argument that the BBC could be accused of bias if it were to screen the appeal.
    “Why would it be taking sides when the appeal is not made by the BBC? It’s not made by Hamas, it’s not made by Israel, it’s simply made by our disaster committee.”
    At a church service in Cambridge, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, said he endorsed Dr Setamu’s views.

  11. The UK is in violation of a UN resolution — NO, it is in OPPOSITION to it in its shameful position against humanitarian aid to Gaza:
    UN Resolution 1860
    Jan 9 2009
    The Security Council welcomes the initiatives aimed at creating and opening humanitarian corridors and other mechanisms for the sustained delivery of humanitarian aid.
    The Security Council calls for the unimpeded provision and distribution throughout Gaza of humanitarian assistance, including of food, fuel and medical treatment.
    The Security Council calls on member states to support international efforts to alleviate the humanitarian and economic situation in Gaza, including through urgently needed additional contributions to UNWRA and through the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee.

  12. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has said it is open to reconsidering its earlier decision not to telecast a charity appeal for funds for Palestinians in Gaza.
    The chief operating officer of the BBC, under fire for its refusal to air the appeal, said a reversal of the decision was possible if another request to air the appeal was made.

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