This was an intro by sports correspondent Rob Bonnet on the Today Programme this morning at about 8:29 am.
“And now for the news that Malaysia has been stripped of hosting the 2019 the world para swimming championships.
Malaysia, a Muslim country, has banned Israeli swimmers from taking part because of its objection to Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.”
Is Rob Bonnet letting Malaysia’s PM Mahathir Mohamad off the hook by glossing over the virulent antisemitism he’s so proud of?
'because of its objection to Israel’s treatment of Palestinians!' Yep. At the BBC we need to provide a little gratuitous contextual rationalisation to justify the old codger’s racist ban; and hey ho, it’s a Muslim country.
That's almost like excusing the expurgation of Germany's Jews "because of Hitler's objection to their pursuit of world domination."
Malaysia is a "Muslim country". More fake news from the BBC?
ReplyDeleteAccording to Wikipedia less than two thirds of the country are Muslims. The legal system is based on English common law. Sharia law is only applied to Muslims.
I look forward to the BBC referring to Poland and Russia as "Christian countries" in their news bulletins by way of explaining their policies. I could be waiting some time.
I think referring to Malaysia as a "Muslim country" is a way of normalising the Malaysian government's anti-semitism. It's goes with the Israel-Palestinian thing. We're meant to think "Well they're Muslims, can't expect them to be anything other than sympathetic to their Muslim brothers in Palestine and so wanting to ban Israeli teams, because Mishal Husain has shown how horrible the Israelis are to the poor innocent Gazaans."
I don't see where the BBC called Malaysia a Muslim country.
ReplyDeleteI have lived in various states including Fundamenatlist Muslim one, and others where there are many many non-Muslims