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."
