'Apology' to Egypt Bigger News than Gaza Rockets

[Teddy Bear]

I knew from the news yesterday that Egypt was seeking an apology from Israel over the deaths of some of its security personnel following an attack by terrorists against Israeli targets near the Egyptian border.

I also noted that the BBC didn't report on the rockets and mortars fired from Gaza to Israel until Israel retaliated for this attack, as is the norm with the BBC - Israel hits back for Gaza rockets

As is my custom, I inevitably look at the main stories posted by the BBC on their Mid-East webpage to see what their focus of coverage is for this region. Given second place today behind the 2 Americans jailed in Iran for spying, is the 'apology' given by Israel to Egypt.



As you can see, this is followed by the 'less important' news of Libyan rebels fighting Gaddafi's forces at an oil refinery, and 40 more Syrians killed in protests by forces there.

I also notice that all articles relating to the terrorist attacks on Israel have been removed except as sub-article to the 'Apology' story. even though the BBC have kept articles on its main page much older. Especially strange as the articles on these attacks were the most widely read for the day they ran (highlighted in purple). Whereas the other stories were kept. Interesting to note that the BBC kept the one where Israel killed 2 Gazans in a raid which actually took place nearly a week ago.

What I really found most astonishing, even for the BBC is that since Thursday over 40 Qassam rockets, Grad missiles, and mortar rounds have been fired into Israel with quite a few injuries inflicted. A Grad missile this early evening hit a home in Beersheba injuring a family of four, 3 seriously. But no mention of this. I waited several hours to see if the BBC would eventually get around to posting this story but 3 hours later after it was first reported there is still nothing.

I'm quite sure the first mention we'll get of it will be when Israel responds to it with a further attack on Gaza, but then it will be buried in the main story of ISRAEL ATTACKING GAZA.

As for the 'apology' itself. At this time it is unclear in what circumstances the Egyptian security personnel were killed. It is known that 3 of the terrorists involved in the attack on Israel wore uniforms of Egyptian security. Also that these terrorists themselves had fired on the security force killing at least 2. This is not however reported by the BBC, who prefer you to think that the Israelis had almost purposefully targeted the Egyptians.

Fact is it is the responsibility of the Egyptian forces to secure their borders and they failed to do it. Israel may well regret any loss of life but this doesn't make them responsible for it. Seems to me there is a political agenda by Egypt over this matter, perhaps led by those like the Muslim Brotherhood who prefer conflict to peace.

As we know, they can count on the full support of the BBC.

Update: at 22:23 I see the BBC has added a new story to its Mid-East web page on Tripoli, but nothing on the missile strike in Beersheba. Furthermore they have now removed ALL articles from this page that relate to the attacks on Israel, yet they still leave the one from a week ago on the raid in Gaza by Israel which killed 2.

Further update at 23:46 the BBC have included mention of the Missile attack on Beersheba, but inside the 'apology' article to the Egyptians. Clearly the BBC know which story they would rather have as the most read.

[Teddy Bear]

Here's a little test for you.
Displayed below are three headlines from 3 different media outlets concerning the current events in Israel.

Test is - Which one is the BBC's and how do you know it?




I can tell you that if it was the first or third I wouldn't bother running this site. But as you can see the BBC conceals events inside a headline that really conveys a different picture than the reality, while being correct in essence.

In its way it is as disingenuous as another headline the BBC has kept on it Mid-East page since last Tuesday - Israeli forces kill two in Gaza It is only when you actually click on the link that you see the actual headline for the story, which is Two killed in Gaza after rocket hits Israel's Beersheba.

Any argument that it doesn't make a difference?

Now to compare the article content by the BBC to that of AP as displayed by Yahoo News. Bear in mind the BBC like to think of themselves as a world class media outlet.
Well there's very little 'world class' reporting in this article, especially when compared to that of AP, which gives a much deeper understanding.

Notice too the pictures used by the BBC and that of AP. Any doubt the BBC are biased?

The BBC's

Israel-Gaza violence causes concern

About 100 rockets have been fired into Israel since Thursday, causing one death and dozens of injuries

International concern is growing over a fresh wave of violence between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants.

Israel has carried out air strikes in the Gaza Strip, while militants have been firing rockets into Israel.

The trigger was a series of attacks in Israel on Thursday when eight civilians died. Five Egyptian policemen were killed as Israel pursued the gunmen.

The Quartet of Middle East peace mediators - the UN, US, EU and Russia - has called for restraint.

Fresh casualties
Since the Thursday attacks, Palestinian militants have fired more than 100 rockets and mortars into Israel, killing one man in Beersheba and injuring dozens of other people. Israeli sources said two children were slightly injured when rockets hit the town of Ofakim.

Egypt also reported rocket fire hitting its territory on Sunday.

Israeli air strikes over the past few days have killed at least 15 people in the Gaza Strip, and injured dozens more.

A strike just north of Gaza City on Sunday reportedly left a 12-year-old boy seriously wounded.

Air strikes have killed at least 15 and wounded dozens in the Gaza Strip
According to the AFP news agency, the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), a faction in Gaza that is loyal to Hamas but sometimes operates separately, said it had carried out the Beersheba attacks, while the armed wing of Hamas said it had fired four Grad rockets at Ofakim.

Hamas has broken a four-month-old truce by joining other militant groups in Gaza in launching the rocket attacks.

Reports say the Israeli army has arrested dozens of Palestinians with links to Hamas in the West Bank.

Thursday's attacks in southern Israel started when gunmen opened fire on a bus near the Red Sea resort town of Eilat. Eight Israelis and seven gunmen were killed.

The incident has also led to a diplomatic dispute between Israel and Egypt. Egypt says it is considering recalling its ambassador.

Israel has expressed "regrets" over the deaths, while thousands of Egyptians have been rallying outside the Israeli embassy in Cairo.

Now think about what you understand from the article, and see then what the next one from AP adds or modifies to this

Gaza militants keep up rocket fire on Israel
By AMY TEIBEL - Associated Press | AP – 10 mins ago


Israelis inspect the damage at an empty school hit by a rocket, fired by Palestinian …

JERUSALEM (AP) — Militants in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip bombarded southern Israel with rockets and mortars Sunday, striking an empty school and sending thousands of Israelis into bomb shelters, as Israel responded with airstrikes and diplomats scrambled to keep a new convulsion of Israeli-Palestinian violence from escalating.

The latest round of hostilities was triggered Thursday by militants who launched an attack from Egyptian territory, ambushing Israeli cars and buses along the border and killing eight people. Israel says an armed Palestinian faction from Gaza was responsible.

In Israel, soccer games, concerts and other public events in the towns and cities within rocket range were called off. Israel's air force kept up a string of strikes throughout the day, targeting Gaza sites linked to Hamas and Gaza's other militant factions.

The deaths of three Egyptian security personnel in the gunbattles has precipitated a crisis in the already frayed relations between Israel and Egypt, which have shared a cool peace for three decades. Egypt, blaming Israel, initially threatened to withdraw its ambassador in Tel Aviv but relented after Israel apologized.

On Sunday morning, an Israeli envoy arrived at Cairo's international airport and was whisked off in a convoy of four waiting cars, airport officials said. Israel's government would not comment on the envoy's identity or the details of his mission. A second unidentified envoy arrived later Sunday, the Egyptian officials said.

Diplomats in Cairo and Jerusalem said the U.S., France and Germany were working with the Israelis and Egyptians to end the diplomatic spat. They spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss ongoing diplomatic efforts.

In the Egyptian capital, protesters gathered outside the Israeli Embassy for a third day on Sunday and demanded the expulsion of the Israeli envoy. The ambassador is not currently in Egypt.
Military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yoav Mordechai said Israel's current response to the surge in violence — airstrikes that have killed 15 Palestinians, most of them militants — was not its final word.
Israel "will not hesitate" to widen its military operation if necessary, he told Israel Radio.

Israeli troops also rounded up 50 Hamas activists in the West Bank in an overnight raid, Palestinian security officials said.

Diplomats scrambled to try to prevent the violence — the deadliest since Israel went to war against Gaza militants 2 1/2 years ago — from spiraling out of control. Yaser Otham, the Egyptian representative to the Palestinian Authority, told Voice of Palestine radio that Cairo was "in contact with all parties to restore the truce in Gaza."

Militant factions in Gaza confirmed the efforts. Talal Abu Tharefeh, spokesman for the small Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said "all the Palestinian factions are interested in restoring the truce in order to protect our people."

Large-scale Israeli military operations in Gaza would create new friction with the Muslim world at a time when Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is preparing to ask the United Nations to recognize an independent Palestinian state. Pictures of a major Israeli offensive in Gaza could hurt the Jewish state's efforts to minimize world support for the Palestinian statehood bid.

A spokesman said Abbas' Palestinian Authority planned to use the renewed violence to bolster its case for statehood at the United Nations next month. "An independent Palestinian state is the remedy for violence," Husam Zomlot said. "It would control its borders and prevent such deterioration from happening."

Abbas, who wields limited power in the West Bank under Israel's overall security control, asserts no such control at this time. Hamas routed his loyalists from Gaza in a violent 2007 takeover, and a reconciliation pact the two sides signed in May has stalled.
Hamas, backed by Iran, opposes both peacemaking with Israel and Abbas' statehood bid.

Under Hamas rule, Gaza's militants have increased the quality and range of their rocket arsenals and now target the largest city in Israel's south — Beersheba, 25 miles away from Gaza. Most of the rockets launched since Thursday have been military-grade Katyushas smuggled in through tunnels from Egypt.
Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005.

Since Thursday's ambush, militants have fired some 100 rockets and mortars into Israel. On Saturday, rockets killed an Israeli man in Beersheba and seriously wounded two others.
___
Associated Press writers Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah, West Bank, and Rizek Abdel Jawad in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, contributed to this report.

[Teddy Bear]

Honest Reporting has also picked up on the outrageous manner the BBC has reported on the recent events.

[Teddy Bear]

I've outlined below further deceptions as 'reported' by the BBC in their ongoing attempt to discredit Israel. By not mentioning the continuing rocket attacks AFTER a supposed truce agreed to by Hamas, be sure they will blame Israel for retaliating as having 'broke the truce'.