I happened to hear Loose Ends, (radio 4) which featured some amusing anecdotes by Dom Joly. He’s part Lebanese. I found the way the participants were joking affectionately and light-heartedly about Hezbollah and the ‘Hezbollah theme park’ grossly offensive.
I first saw and heard of this weird tourist attraction on the show 'Journey through the Med' starring Simon Reeve.
Hezbollah is no laughing matter though. They are an Iran-backed terrorist organisation based in Lebanon, and they have infiltrated and overwhelmed the Lebanese government.
Not only has Hezbollah placed about 160,000 rockets in Lebanon pointing towards Israel, ready to strike at the behest of the Ayatollahs, but in September 2015 a plot by Hezbollah-linked operatives to store explosive materials in London was foiled by the security services.
There was nothing small-scale about this endeavour. At the time, for some reason, we were not told about this.
We can be sure that, without the bravery and expertise of our security services, many innocent lives would have been lost. Hezbollah’s desire to murder Jews, both in Israel and around the world, seems only to be limited by their capacity to kill.
Meanwhile, the BBC maintains its policy of strict impartiality, at least where the enemies of Israel are concerned, so we can all continue to find Hezbollah and its war museum as amusing as the BBC appears to.
You have to laugh or else you cry ?
ReplyDeleteI've heard the item twice now I wasn't offended.
Both Clive and Dom are jokers
they joke about everything
They first joked about Osama Bin Laden.
Now you could have said a prayer and thought about his victims
..but in reality we joke about Hitler all the time.
The world is full of families who have suffered tragedy at the hands of terrorists like Hezbollah or Israeli politicians and their counterproductive defence policies.
Ah! I dashed that post off in haste. I appreciate your comment, but I think you've got it wrong. Maybe it was my mistake in using the word ‘joking’.
DeleteThey weren’t ‘telling jokes’ here, but describing Dom’s nostalgic childhood recollections of Lebanon. The Hezbollah museum was alluded to light-heartedly and with casual amusement.
I wasn’t trying to curtail freedom of speech, nor was I saying Hezbollah jokes are taboo. You can joke about Osama Bin Laden all you like, and Hitler too, obviously.
The big difference is there’s a collective understanding of the awfulness of those individuals and jokes are only funny (or acceptable) if they’re based on truth. When they’re rooted on a false premise or ignorance, they can be deeply offensive.
Many listeners will be unaware of the true nature of Hezbollah, and I think the conversation in Loose Ends reinforces a misconception.
Until the ban came in, terrorist sympathisers were happily parading their flags in central London and the Al Quds march is still a ‘thing’. In the light of Joan Ryan’s revelation about a Hezbollah-linked plot close to home, I’m offended.
Jokes about Israel’s “counterproductive” defence policies are usually based on a false premise too by the way.
Israel’s defensive activities may be counterproductive as far as Israel’s ‘good image abroad’ is concerned but if they’re effective at protecting Israel's own people, they’re not counterproductive at all. They’re productive, in fact.
Will there be paintballing? Asking for a BBC producer.
ReplyDeleteI get your point Sue
ReplyDeleteDom Jolly put Hezbollah in his book title so will be fearful of criticising them.
So Anderson should have stepped up.
Thanks. Appreciated.
DeleteAgree about Anderson . He should have.