Israel to allow BBC (Hamas) employee into Gaza

[steevo]

Instead of placing this in the ongoing Alan Johnston thread I thought it deserves its own title. Interesting to me how the Jerusalem Post doesn't include his BBC affiliation in their title: Israel lets Hamas member enter Gaza here

Despite Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) opposition and per the request of the BBC, the coordinator of government activities allowed a Hamas member who works for the BBC to enter the Gaza Strip last week to assist in efforts to release kidnapped journalist Alan Johnston.

Defense officials told The Jerusalem Post that a week ago, a request came from the BBC asking that a Palestinian employee of the news company who is believed to be a close associate of senior Hamas officials be allowed to enter Gaza.

The employee, who lives in Gaza, had traveled to Egypt with his wife for medical reasons and the BBC told Israeli officials that they believed he could assist in negotiating Johnston's release.

The Shin Bet objected to the BBC request, saying that the employee was actually a member of Hamas, and perhaps even a terrorist operative.

In the end, however, the Defense Ministry decided to allow him to to enter Israel from Jordan via the Allenby Bridge and then to enter northern Gaza through the Erez crossing.

[Teddy Bear]

Well spotted Steevo.

At the end of the article it says:

"BBC strongly denied that any of its employees were members of Hamas.

In a statement, the BBC said, "Like all large international organizations, the BBC regularly seeks the assistance of the Israeli authorities in moving its Palestinian staff in and out of Gaza. The BBC does not employ anyone who is a member of Hamas or any other Palestinian faction."

So if he's not a member of Hamas, why should they think he can help with the Johnston abduction?
What does "...who is believed to be a close associate of senior Hamas officials" mean?
Notwithstanding that they would have no way of knowing who is or who isn't a member of any Palestinian faction, this request shows that THEY KNOW this particular operative IS a Hamas member.

I can 'hear' the response of the BBC management now saying "We use strict checks to ensure our employees are not members of any militant organisation", really meaning there is a check box where prospectives tick 'NO' to the question.

[steevo]

"So if he's not a member of Hamas, why should they think he can help with the Johnston abduction?
What does "...who is believed to be a close associate of senior Hamas officials" mean?
Notwithstanding that they would have no way of knowing who is or who isn't a member of any Palestinian faction, this request shows that THEY KNOW this particular operative IS a Hamas member."

Yes Teddy and that is the conclusion I came to. If they wanna pick up on this they have some real explaining to do.

For me the JP was playing it too safe

[Teddy Bear]

Perhaps the decision not to make a big deal over this was encapsulated below, though I don't see why this scandal should be kept quiet:

"We did not want to be blamed for holding up Johnston's release," one official said, explaining the decision to allow the Hamas member into Gaza.

"If we had rejected the request the British would be able to use our decision as an excuse for why Johnston is not being released."

[Teddy Bear]

In a double offering from Honest Reporting today, the first refers to an article with further information about this BBC 'Hamas' employee

The Jewish Chronicle reports:

A BBC journalist allowed into Gaza to help negotiate the release of Alan Johnston was the subject of official Israeli protests six years ago over his alleged support for Hamas.

Fayad Abu Shamala, a senior BBC journalist covering Gaza mainly for the World Service, was allowed to travel from Jordan to Gaza to help free Mr Johnston last month. Shlomo Dror, spokesman for the IDF co-ordinator of activities in the territories, confirmed to the JC on Wednesday that Mr Abu Shamala had been allowed to travel to Gaza, despite being on the Israeli Government’s proscribed list of potential security threats and against the objections of Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security organisation.

In May 2001, the Israeli Embassy in London demanded that the BBC investigate comments attributed to Mr Abu Shamala during an event organised by Hamas. According to the Hamas website at the time, a man of that name attended a Hamas ceremony in Gaza for Palestinian and Arab journalists where senior Hamas figures such as Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Ismail Abu Shanab were present. According to contemporary reports, the website quoted Fayad Abu Shamala as thanking "the Hamas movement for holding the exceptional affair, despite the pace of current events and the sensitive circumstances applying to journalists and media organisations, which are waging the campaign shoulder-to-shoulder together with the Palestinian people".

Read the full article here.

Abu Shamala's apparent support for Hamas contributed to the BBC's winning performance in Honest Reporting's Dishonest Reporter Award as far back as 2001. We are sorry to find out that Abu Shamala is still a trusted BBC employee, described by Jeremy Bowen as "excellent". Enough said.