Gaza violence and the BBC

Are we a Muslim country now? Genuine question, as they say on the interweb. As I write this, Revd Angela Tilby, Canon Emeritus of Christ Church, Oxford, is extolling the virtues of Ramadan on TFTD. 

I had a look at Hansard. Gaza border violence debate.

A quick look at the list of contributors tells you almost all you need to know. One does wonder where these self-styled experts on the Middle East get their information? Only, they seem so sure of themselves. Of course, some of them have been to the region on sponsored parliamentary trips to be educated by the people involved. Others will have been ‘home schooled’, so to speak, by the BBC and the Guardian, as well as Sky, Channel 4, ITV and al Jazeera.

It is left to an increasingly isolated group of MPs who support Israel to point out that Hamas bears responsibility for the demise of the ‘peace process’ and for the current violence, which most speakers describe as a massacre.

I am aware that Stephen Pollard and Daniel Finkelstein have joined in the condemnation of Israel’s ‘disproportionate’ response, but without offering much of an (or any) alternative. 

If you look at the sheer numbers, in the event of a substantial breach of the fence, could the IDF realistically contain the invasion by non-lethal means? Should Israelis risk being overwhelmed for the sake of ‘looking good’ in the eyes of an international community that questions their legitimacy and is pretty hostile to their existence? 

As in the 2014 Gaza-Israel flare-up, Israel again used precautionary tactics to deter people from cooperating with Hamas using leaflets, phone calls, and social media. Did the BBC report this?

The BBC rarely mentions the appalling rhetoric that pours out of the mouths of the Palestinian leadership and portrays the Palestinians’ Right of Return as an entitlement, vexatiously denied them by the ‘apartheid’ Zionist regime. 

The BBC rarely reports in any meaningful way on the feud between Hamas and Fatah, the primary cause of Gaza’s depravations. The BBC simply chooses to blame Israel for all the shortages and impediments in Gaza, all of which could be so easily remedied. 

Bearing in mind the palpable venom in the tones of voice and the body language of BBC anchors such as Nick Robinson and Evan Davis when interrogating Israelis (if you saw last night’s Newsnight you’d know what I mean) and their obsequious treatment of some of the most unpleasant Palestinian gibberish-spouting spokespersons, you would be able to understand and almost forgive our pathetic, BBC-watching MPs for taking such a wrongheaded stance on Israel.