BBC Flotilla propaganda

[michel]

The bbc misleading about the Flotilla and about any issue concerning Israel in the press.
It promotes lies and hate towards Israel.
It escalates the crises promoting only one side of the story.
Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. Instead of supporting it, BBC is dangerously standing behind a terror organization Hamas in Gaza that doesn’t even promote the Palestinian cause, but Iranian interests.
The Hamas do not recognize Israel, and are not interested in peace. It wishes death for Jews around the world and obviously finishing off the state of Israel.
The main British press is doing everything to join forces with the ideology of the destruction of Israel. No different to any Nazi supporters in the past.
Please give yourself a chance to see the other side of the story.
Israel is not morally wrong by trying to defend itself. It is a tiny state trying to survive in a fundamentalist location.
Israel has to deal with terror organizations formed by Iran: the Hamas in Gaza and the Hezbollah in the north border of Lebanon, Syria and Iran in the far distance. Now the new government in turkey has decided to join forces with Iran and the evil circle as it was rejected from joining the EU. This last development is extremely dangerous to the free world.

Israel tries to make it difficult for the Hamas in Gaza to build more smuggling tunnels to Gaza. That’s why they have to check any supply in to Gaza. Not only missiles but building material such as concrete in which they build more and more of these tunnels .

The ‘humanitarian crisis’ in Gaza is grossly overstated. Israel is making sure there is everything the Palestinians need to live in Gaza. Everything except weapons. Please open this link:

www.tomgrossmedia.com/mideastdispatches/archives/001114.html

Israel is trying to keep the area quiet. No war. The Hamas is doing everything to escalate violence. Even in the last week there have been rockets launched from Gaza in to Israel - have you heard that reported by the news in the UK?

Elements of the media in the UK, particularly the BBC news website and The Guardian and Independent newspapers publish articles and comment which are far from objective, and seem to promote viewpoints that come dangerously close to questioning the legitimacy of the Israeli state and its rights to defend its citizens.

Should Israel “open” itself to another holocaust? No thanks U. Bias - BBC NEWS!

[Teddy Bear]

Welcome Michel - good to have you here.
You are of course quite right about the BBC 'agenda' regarding Israel. I would add that the BBC support the Islamic 'movement' around the world, notwithstanding the extreme and fundamentalist nature of this movement. So whether it's Israel, George Bush, or Geert Wilders opposing this movement, the BBC will demonize them in order to find favour with these Muslims.

Unfortunately, journalists who get carried away with this bias, believing they are doing the world a favour by their false and dishonest reportage, are enabling these Muslims to get a greater hold on our society, that ultimately will bring a speedier demise to it. Have no doubt that if Israel falls, so will Western society as we know it.

[Teddy Bear]

In case anybody thinks the pro Muslim - anti-Israel bias displayed by much of the left-wing media is accidental, or just a result of ignorance on their part, consider this. It is purposeful and contrived, as this recent excerpt from Honest Reporting showing how Reuters have actually doctored photographs to conceal the weapons that the crew of the Marmara were using to attack the Israeli soldiers with.

Special Analysis: Fauxtography - Reuters Caught Again

Reuters is once again exposed doctoring photos to change the images of the Gaza flotilla "peace activists".

Eagle-eyed blogger Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs was responsible for exposing Reuters' Fauxtography during the 2006 Lebanon conflict. Examining photos of bloodied and battered Israeli naval commandos on board the Mavi Marnara, published by the Turkish press, Johnson has once again exposed Reuters' doctoring of photos.

In the first picture, published in the Turkish newspaper, notice the "peace activist" holding a knife in the lower right corner:

The same photo released by Reuters has been cropped so that the knife, and potentially, evidence of the intentions of the "peace activists", is removed:

Little Green Footballs then identified another cropped Reuters photo:

The picture is a cropped version of this photo from the IHH website:

Reuters has cropped out a big knife and a big pool of blood as well as another badly injured Israeli soldier lying on the ground:

Photographer and image analyst David Katz is vastly experienced in the photographic process, from the initial capture of the image through selection, editing, correcting, caption sending, together with the newsroom processes that would leave an image ready to be viewed through the media. We asked him for his professional opinion:

My initial reaction was to avoid hasty accusations against Reuters as this was a fairly unique set of circumstances and one that I felt needed a bit more investigation before pointing fingers began.

My understanding was and still is that the images were taken by someone onboard the ship and deleted by the security services before being returned to the IHH activist who then had the images retrieved through special software in Turkey upon their return and then passed to the newspaper to help embarrass Israel even further.

It's not clear at this point whether Reuters took them as some kind of screen grab or were offered it in a more conventional way for distribution. What is clear, however, is the picture was obviously cropped. One could play Devil's advocate to say that it was not done intentionally - perhaps the knife was not spotted by the Reuters picture desk or someone may have innocently, through overwork or tiredness, just made a mistake. After all, the original images had not come from Reuters staff or freelance photographers but an activist on the ship with an agenda.

However once LGF highlighted the second image that was lightened and run through Photoshop, not only did this highlight the knife that was cropped out in the Reuters image, it also showed a seriously wounded soldier who had also been removed from the image to deliberately hide the true intentions of the terrorists.

It is crystal clear that someone at Reuters has deliberately hidden key parts of the original images. What we do not know at this stage is, who at Reuters did this and more importantly why?

The use of imagery in the media war is becoming more and more widespread. There has to be a responsibility from the bloggers, website hosts and especially from the international news wire services in the way they use the images.

This appears to be a deliberate attempt to change images for a specific reason. Reuters needs to investigate this and act in an appropriate manner.

Since being exposed, Reuters has uncropped the offending photographs. However, this still leaves questions over how this was allowed to happen. Evidently Reuters has not yet learned the lessons of the 2006 Fauxtography affair.

[djfearross]

truly shocking.... and the fashionable left say the Jew's own the media?!

[Teddy Bear]

I'm reminded of this story:
Arab news is better

A Jewish man was riding on the subway reading an Arab newspaper. A
friend of his, who happened to be riding in the same subway car,
noticed this strange phenomenon. Very upset, he approached the
newspaper reader:
"Moshe, have you lost your mind? Why are you reading an Arab
newspaper?" Moshe replied:
"I used to read the Jewish newspaper, but what did I find? Jews being
persecuted, Israel being attacked, Jews disappearing through
assimilation and intermarriage, Jews living in poverty. So I switched
to the Arab newspaper. Now, what do I find? Jews own all the banks,
Jews control the media, Jews are all rich and powerful, Jews rule the
world. The news is so much better... "

To the more serious issue of the topic, Robin Shepherd has written a powerful indictment today of BBC bias in relation to the flotilla incident.


BBC wilfully violates own charter in blatant display of bias over UN report slating Israel

In one of the most disgraceful displays of wilful bias that you will ever have the misfortune to witness, the BBC today covers a UN Human Rights Council report which castigates Israel over the Mavi Marmara flotilla incident in the Mediterranean Sea earlier this year.

The incident left nine pro-terror activists dead after they attacked Israeli soldiers in a bid for martyrdom. Gleefully, the BBC quotes the report as accusing Israel in the following terms:

“There is clear evidence to support prosecutions of the following crimes within the terms of article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention: wilful killing; torture or inhuman treatment; wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health”.

As good propagandists the reporters and editors are careful to relate Israel’s rejection of the report. But since any country accused of such crimes would instantly issue a rebuttal, the effect on the reader can safely be assumed to be minimal. What the BBC does is to censor out any of the relevant details, both about the incident itself and about the UN rights council. Here is a list of what they (quite deliberately) do not tell the reader:

1. The UN Human Rights Council is dominated by dictatorships, many with appalling human rights records. For example, members include China, Cuba and Saudi Arabia. This is crucial information since it goes to the credibility of anything that the Council does or says. Any trained journalist would know that such information must be included in any fair report. To omit it must, therefore, be a matter of deliberate choice. In this case, the BBC must have known that to relate such information would nullify the report’s impact as a device for defaming Israel. And that is why they omitted it.

2. The activists on the Mavi Marmara openly (on camera, and in newspaper interviews) courted martyrdom before even setting sail. This is vital information since it allows the reader to understand the mindset of the people Israel was confronting. It would provide clear evidence contradicting the thrust of the UN report. Again, not to provide such information must be deliberate.

3. According to the testimony of the ship’s captain and his deputy, the activists hijacked the ship several hours before the incident took place. This is more evidence that the activists were looking for confrontation. But to provide such information would contradict the favoured narrative that Israeli soldiers massacred a group of peace activists. Therefore, the BBC does not mention it.

4. There is video evidence (it’s on youtube for goodness sake!) that activists armed with steel bars, clubs, and knives mobbed the Israeli soldiers the moment they landed on the ship in an attempt to maim or kill them. No professional journalist would omit such information. And since anyone with even a cursory knowledge of what happened would be aware of such facts their omission must have been deliberate and part of a clear policy of promoting an anti-Israeli agenda.

There is just no way out of this for the BBC. This isn’t journalism, it’s political propaganda. And since that violates the BBC’s own charter, the journalists and editors should be held to account.

[Teddy Bear]

The story that keeps on giving

The headline on the BBC website states
Turkey 'wants to repair ties with Israel'

How magnanimous Turkey sounds. So what's the problem about restoring ties?
The BBC tells us The two nations have had 15 years of good relations, including a number of military and trade pacts, and have held talks in Geneva recently to try to restore ties.

But the talks foundered, reportedly because Israel refused to apologise for the 31 May raid.

Now bearing in mind there is enough video evidence out there to support the Israeli claim that the 'activists' on board the Mavi Mamara came with the express intent to attack troops knowing there would be an international incident, but the BBC makes no mention of this.

Instead, without any context, they do report a rebuttal; Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said it should not be Israel to say sorry.

"On the apology issue, this borders rudeness and is even beyond rudeness," he said.

"If anyone has to apologise, it is the Turkish government to Israel for its co-operation with terror entities, for supporting terror."

The BBC then tells us The Mavi Marmara, which has been undergoing repairs, sailed back to its home port of Istanbul on Sunday afternoon.

Large crowds, including family members of the nine dead activists, greeted the vessel in a ceremony organised by the activists who sent it.

Hmmmmm, '...greeted the vessel in a ceremony...'

What they're not telling you is in this 'greeting' caught by the eminent Jihad Watch included this Thousands chanting "Allahu akbar" and "Death to Israel" greet jihad flotilla ship as it arrives back in Turkey

Does it make any difference to your understanding of what is involved within this story to know this - you bet. That's why the BBC makes no mention of it.

[steevo]

The extent they place onus of responsibility on Israel for not 'cooperating' to improve relations when there is no acknowledgment of Turkey's guilt is the measure of guilt they are personally responsible, allowing the injustice of this murderous incident to continue. They perpetuate and I believe share in Turkey's abhorrent racism.

[Teddy Bear]

Turkey, as well as the other militant Islamic regimes and rulers, which is what makes them so insidious.

[Teddy Bear]

Let's just review the facts of this incident.

Even before this flotilla ever set sail, they were informed that this or any other one would not be allowed to land in Gaza. Any idiot would understand that Israel had to prevent anything that might be used by Hamas from reaching them directly.

They were offered the opportunity to land peacefully in Ashdod, where after inspection it could be delivered by land to Gaza. The activists refused this offer and continued to sail towards Gaza knowing full well it would be prevented by Israeli troops from doing so.

The only ship in this flotilla to resist the takeover by Israeli troops was the Mavi Mamara which resulted in 9 militants being killed. Video evidence clearly showed that they attacked the troops first knowing full well that the troops would have no choice but to mount a defensive attack.

There is no doubt that this was a pure PR exercise by these militants to allow all the international factions that wanted to jump on board the pro-Islamic propaganda machine to do so.

So any enquiry Israel would hold on the matter in light of these facts was already a foregone conclusion. There was nothing else they could find. The only criticism of the counter-attack by this enquiry was that the troops weren't properly prepared to encounter an attack.

Predictably, the BBC presents these findings in the most negative light possible and gives credence to all those with an anti-Israel or pro-Muslim agenda.

Here's how they cover the story, together with the comments of the journalist Jon Donnison to make sure Israel is perceived in the most negative way, now - and in the future. To satisfy yourself on the blatant bias in this story, just contrast it here with how the BBC almost dismisses the violence shown by Islamic murderers when Christians are the victims, and accepts internal reports 'gratefully' when it's a Muslim regime putting them out.

Bear in mind that if Hamas and the other militant groups in Gaza ceased their militant attacks on Israel there would be no reason for Israel to impose this blockade in the first place. But you won't find this point of view entertained by the BBC.

Gaza aid flotilla raid: Turkey criticises Israel report

Turkey has condemned an Israeli inquiry that said the Israeli navy acted lawfully during a deadly raid on an aid flotilla trying to reach Gaza last May.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the report had neither value nor credibility.

The raid, in which nine Turkish activists were killed, attracted widespread international condemnation.

A separate UN inquiry last year said the navy had shown an "unacceptable level of brutality".

The military operation severely strained relations with Ankara - a long-time ally of Israel.

The 300-page Turkel Committee report found the actions of the Israeli navy in the raid and Israel's naval blockade of Gaza were both legal under international law.

The panel of inquiry was headed by retired Supreme Court Justice Jacob Turkel, working alongside five Israeli members and two international observers.

Turkey has long accused Israel of launching the raid illegally and using unjustified violence during it, and Mr Erdogan challenged the report's worth.

"This report was prepared under direct orders," he said. "How can there be any value or credibility to such a report which the [accused] country itself created within its own borders?

"To my judgment there is no value, nor credibility to this report."

'Banditry and piracy'
The Free Gaza Flotilla, which had more than 600 pro-Palestinian activists aboard several aid ships, was trying to break Israel's blockade of the territory when it was intercepted by Israeli navy commandos on 31 May.

Israel says its commandos used live fire only after being attacked with clubs, knives and guns.

Jon Donnison
BBC News, Jerusalem
This report has been seven months in the making and it runs to some 300 pages. The raid was a disaster for Israel's public relations and the government was hoping this inquiry would do something to amend that.

The problem Israel is going to face is that many of its critics will see it as a whitewash. This was an Israeli government-commissioned inquiry and people will say it simply wasn't balanced.

The findings of this report were in stark contrast to the views of 600 pro-Palestinian activists aboard those ships. They also contrast with the findings of a UN report which said Israel's commandos had shown an unacceptable level of brutality.

This is not the last we will hear on the flotilla raid. In the coming months the Turkel Committee will look into what intelligence Israel had in the lead-up to this operation. And there is another UN investigation, ordered by the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, which is expected to release its findings later in the year.

But activists on board the Turkish-owned Mavi Marmara say the commandos started shooting as soon as they boarded the vessel.

The Turkel Committee report said Israel's actions had "the regrettable consequences of the loss of human life and physical injuries".

"Nonetheless... the actions taken were found to be legal pursuant to the rules of international law," it said.

The report did offer some criticism of the planning of the operation, saying "the soldiers were placed in a situation they were not completely prepared for and had not anticipated".

The inquiry heard testimony from high-ranking Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Ehud Barak and army chief General Gabi Ashkenazi, as well as several Israeli-Arab lawmakers who were travelling with the flotilla.

None of the military personnel directly involved in the raid was authorised to provide testimony.

In August, Mr Netanyahu told the inquiry that Israel "acted under international law" when it intercepted the flotilla.

He said the Gaza blockade was legal and that Israeli troops used force only when their lives were in danger.

After its own inquiry, Turkey described the attack - which took place in international waters, about 130km (80 miles) from the Israeli coast - as a violation of international law, "tantamount to banditry and piracy", and described the killings as "state-sponsored terrorism".

Results of Turkish post-mortem examinations have suggested that a total of 30 bullets were found in the bodies of the nine dead activists, including one who had been shot four times in the head.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has asked for reports from both the Israeli and Turkish inquiries to be submitted as part of a wider UN inquiry to be held later this year.

Blockade eased
After criticism from its allies over the flotilla incident, Israel considerably eased its blockade of Gaza - allowing in more food and humanitarian goods.


The Mavi Marmara and other vessels were intercepted last May by Israeli navy commandos
Israel and Egypt imposed the blockade on the coastal territory when the Islamist militant group Hamas seized control of it in 2007.

Israel said it was intended to stop militants in Gaza from obtaining rockets to fire at Israel.

The restrictions were widely described as collective punishment of the population of Gaza, resulting in a humanitarian crisis.

But in the report released on Sunday, the Turkel Committee said: "The imposition and enforcement of the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip does not constitute 'collective punishment' of the population of the Gaza Strip."

[Teddy Bear]

Today Honest Reporting also picks up on this latest piece of 'reporting' by the BBC.

Flotilla Report: BBC Plumbs the Depths
January 24, 2011 15:31 by Simon Plosker

The Turkel Commisssion of inquiry into the events surrounding the May 31, 2010 Gaza flotilla has published its findings. Some of the main points include:

* The maritime blockade of Gaza complies with international law.
* Israel’s policies towards the Gaza Strip comply with international and humanitarian law.
* The takeover of the Mavi Marmara was carried out in compliance with international law.
* Israeli soldiers only took action in self-defense after being violently attacked by the ship’s passengers and their actions complied with international law.

The BBC’s coverage of the Turkel Report, however, graphically illustrates all that is wrong with its reporting of Israel.

Rather than address the actual findings of the report, which vindicated Israeli actions, the BBC immediately begins by attempting to discredit the report by focusing on Turkish criticisms. The screenshot above is indicative of the BBC’s anti-Israel bias:

* The headline, which sets the tone for the story, is about Turkish criticism and not the findings of the report itself.
* This focus continues in the opening paragraphs of the story, which also highlights a negative quote against Israel from the UN.
* The choice of photo and the accompanying caption – the photo fails to demonstrate any direct link to the story contents while the caption highlights that “one activist was shot four times in the head”.
* The article continues by extensively quoting Turkish PM Erdogan who states: “To my judgment there is no value, nor credibility to this report.”
* As if to drive the point home, the BBC article continues with a well-placed and visible sub-heading ‘Banditry and piracy’

The BBC is notorious not only for what it includes in its reports, but also for the vital context that it omits. Referring to the makeup of the inquiry commission, the article simply states:

The panel of inquiry was headed by retired Supreme Court Justice Jacob Turkel, working alongside five Israeli members and two international observers.

Were the BBC interested in providing relevant context, it would have included the information that those two international observers were:

* Lord David Trimble, the (joint) Nobel Peace Prize laureate of 1998 and a member of Britain’s House of Lords. He won the Nobel for his contribution to achieving peace in Northern Ireland. He served as professor of law at Queen’s University in Belfast. Upon being elected to Parliament in 1990, he left the teaching profession. Lord Trimble became leader of the Ulster Unionist Party and was First Minister of Northern Ireland from 1998 to 2002. He has published numerous articles and books on law.
* Brigadier-General (Ret.) Ken Watkin who served for 33 years in the Canadian army. His last position was Judge Advocate General; in that capacity he served among other things as legal advisor for the Governor General of Canada, the Defense Minister, the Department of National Defense and also supervised the military justice system of the Canadian Forces. Watkin was a legal advisor on the military/civilian board of inquiry investigating Canada’s military actions in Somalia, as the government advisor on inquiries and investigations following the Rwanda genocide in 1994. He received the Maritime Commander’s Commendation and is a member of the Order of Military Merit. Brigadier-General Watkin has published many articles on law, including international humanitarian and civil rights law. He is expected to receive a professorship in international law at the US Army’s Naval War College.

The commission also included two international legal experts from outside Israel. Indeed, Trimble and Watkin publicly stated: “We have no doubt that the Commission is independent.” But since when did this stop the BBC from sowing the seeds of doubt? Instead, readers are treated to an accompanying box of “Analysis” from the BBC’s newest member of its Jerusalem bureau, Jon Donnison, who writes:

The problem Israel is going to face is that many of its critics will see it as a whitewash. This was an Israeli government-commissioned inquiry and people will say it simply wasn’t balanced.

Donnison might wish to consider the role of the media, particularly the BBC, in promoting this view. Donnison adds:

The findings of this report were in stark contrast to the views of 600 pro-Palestinian activists aboard those ships.

Donnison and the article fail to mention that the “600 pro-Palestinian activists” included a number of well-organized and violent members of the Turkish Islamist IHH organization who were fully prepared to assault Israeli soldiers boarding the Mavi Marmara. Despite the fact that the Israeli commission of inquiry was headed by a supreme court judge and included legal experts and independent observers, Donnison still presents the “views of 600 pro-Palestinian activists” as somehow the equal of the Turkel Report.

Why does the BBC actively cast doubt and aspersions on the credibility of an Israeli inquiry while treating “pro-Palestinian activists” with a moral equivalence, as if they do not have a vested interest and a high level of ideological belief that is pushing their hatred and criticism of Israel. Not to mention that a number of these so-called “activists” were members of the Turkish Islamist IHH organization who came fully prepared to assault IDF soldiers – another piece of context omitted from the BBC report.