Intifada leader calls BBC journalist a friend

[peter42y]

Intifada leader calls for release of kidnapped BBC journalist

April 19,2007

Marwan Barghuti, the charismatic leader of the second Palestinian uprising, on Thursday called for the release of BBC journalist Alan Johnston kidnapped more than a month ago in Gaza.

"From my prison cell and in the name of the 10,000 Palestinian prisoners I call for the immediate release of journalist Alan Johnston, a friend of the Palestinian people," Barghuti said in a statement published by an organisation advocating his release.


(end of quote)


Barghouti is well aware jonhston was a friend.

Actually as TOM Gross wrote back in 2001




As Ehud Ya’ari, Israel television’s foremost expert on Palestinian affairs, put it recently: “The vast majority of information of every type coming out of the area is being filtered through Palestinian eyes. Cameras are angled to show a tainted view of the Israeli army’s actions and never focus on the Palestinian gunmen. Written reports focus on the Palestinian version of events. And even those Palestinians who don’t support the Intifada dare not show or describe anything embarrassing to the Palestinian Authority, for fear they may provoke the wrath of Yasser Arafat’s security forces.”

Sometimes the local Palestinians admit their bias. For example, Fayad Abu Shamala, the BBC’s Gaza correspondent for the past ten years, told a Hamas rally on May 6 that “journalists and media organizations [are] waging the campaign shoulder-to-shoulder together with the Palestinian people.”
www.tomgrossmedia.com/EuropeanMedia.html

[Teddy Bear]

Yeah we picked up on the 'Palestinian's friend' element of this story here.
The BBC, Johnston's father, and Margaret Becket, the foreign secretary, all have used this term to describe this 'impartial' reporter. Now Barghouti also adds to the list.

It's obvious that in an area like Gaza, where numerous kidnappings of journalists and others happen on an almost daily basis, that for Johnston to go around without security meant he felt he was at no risk. The reason for that was his reportage fed entirely into their agenda.

In the most recent reports PM Abbas has just told reporters that he has heard Johnston is alive, and he knows which group is holding him. I already predicted that his 'rescue' will show how 'heroic' the Palestinian government is. We'll see what happens next.

[peter42y]

a must read.
Tom Gross about european media.
The article was

www.tomgrossmedia.com/EuropeanMedia.html

The article was written in juky 2001 but was refused by several us and european newspapers.

(Who says there is no censorship ?)

Only after september 11 the article was puvlished


In april 2002 european media claimed there had been massacres in Jenin.
A UN report found 52 people had died in Jenin in 2 weeks of fighting.
Only 22 were civilians. No massacres had taken place.

The fact that european media shouted massacre in July 2002 only did confirm what Tom Gross had claimed one year before - European Media was (is) strongly anti israel.

[Teddy Bear]

Jenin, Mohammed Al Dura, and many other similar examples have come to be known as Pallywood, or the staging of 'incidents' for the western media with their knwoledge and consent. Second Draft shows actual footage of many of them.

'Hezbollywood' was using similar strategy in the recent Lebanon conflict. Just put it into your search engine and you can see the various examples that the media is happy to run as 'truth'.

[indikit]

I have no sympathy for Alan Johnstone. Partisan to the Palestinian cause, like so many other BBC hacks, he is living proof that liberals have such a self-important opinion of their politics they actually believe they can wander round the Gaza strip untouched because 'They are on THEIR side.'

In his case, he over estimated his value to the Palestinians and under-estimated their savagery.

Two things can happen here. Both bad for the British people.

1) They will kill him and the BBC will pass it off as an Israeli plot, or merely point the finger at an insignificant Palestinian extremist group that aren't like all the nice, kitten soft PROPER Palestinians. Then return to normal BBC programing of promoting the cause of Islam.

2) They bring him back and we never hear the last of how well they treated him, what heroes they are, how Israel is to blame etc.

We can only hope the BBC send a replacement to Gaza ASAP. But being the spineless cowards these armchair crusaders are, I doubt there will be any takers.

[Teddy Bear]

It was reported about a week ago that the abduction was the work of a Palestinian criminal gang, who demanded a high ransom and freedom for a prisoner held in Jordan or Iraq. The negotiators verified that Johnston was still alive by asking his captors to tell them the name of Johnston's cat, which they could.

I agree with you Indi, Johnston and his kind have increased the suffering, deaths, and maimings of many on both sides of this conflict by their glorification and empowerment of these terrorists, without which their propaganda and leverage would be meaningless.

[indikit]

So what was the name of Johnstone's cat?

Abdul?

[Teddy Bear]

it used to be 'Pussy' but now it's PeeCee