The BBC, Syria and the Six Day War

March 28, 2013 1 Comment

A colleague has just sent me details of his complaint to the BBC following implications that Israel was responsible for the Six day War in 1967 in a programme on Syria’s history (which I must say I found very helpful in understanding the tensions that have erupted against the Alawite regime) – all down to the French, it seems!

A PERVERTED statement from the BBC says Israel started the 1967 Six Day War with neighbouring Arab countries. This false claim from Robin MacDonald, of the Beeb’s complaints department, underlines there is truth in the “Biased Broadcasting Corporation” nickname given to the broadcaster by Israelis and diaspora Jews dismayed by its often Arabist stances.

Mr MacDonald replied to me after I complained about BBC Two’s ‘A History of Syria with Dan Snow’ screened on March 11 in which the presenter stated: “… (Hafiz al-) Assad was (Syrian) Minister of Defence when Israel launched a series of strikes against Egypt, Jordan and Syria …”

I felt uninformed viewers would conclude that Israel was to blame for starting this war and Dan Snow, in the interests of honest reporting, should have alluded to the military build-up and belligerent statements from Arab leaders. Read more of this post

Filed under The Delegitimisation of Israel Tagged with , , ,

Christian NGOs and Israel

December 27, 2012 Leave a comment

A few days ago, the Commentator published an article by me (text below) on the reasons why so many Christian organisations working in the Middle East are hostile towards Israel. There are a good number of excellent pro-Israel organisations, who seek to serve both sides of the divide in Israel and who successfully keep a non-political stance. Why can so many others not do the same. If the organisations working in Palestinian areas insist on being so poisonously anti-Israel, why do the pro-Israel groups not behave in the same way towards Palestinians? Who is showing a more Christian face to the world; the ones serving Palestinians while actively and loudly denigrating Israel, or the ones quietly serving both communities and hating neither?  This blog in the Times of Israel by NGO Monitor echoes these concerns.

Dexter Van Zile (Why are Christian charities bashing Israel? 15th December) admirably exposed a major problem in the Christian development agency universe; a problem that too often seems to focus on only one geographical area in the whole world. Embrace the Middle East (an evolution of a long-standing agency with a history of excellent work on behalf of the poor of the Middle East), Christian Aid, World Vision, The Amos Trust and many others do provide aid to the poor and they do engage in commendable development projects in the cultural and religious turmoil we call the Middle East. Sadly, however, the majority of such charities seem to have an unacceptable political bias where this one geographical area is concerned – that narrow strip of land popularly known as “Israel-Palestine” or “Palestine-Israel” depending on your worldview! As someone who has worked in the Christian charity sector for over 25 years and with a special concern in the Middle East, I would like to offer a four point rationale for this anomaly in the mindsets of otherwise thoroughly admirable, caring organisations. Read more of this post

Filed under Antisemitism, Minorities in the Middle East, The BDS Campaign, The Delegitimisation of Israel Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Israeli Government Report on PA Incitement

December 11, 2012 Leave a comment

The cabinet of Bibi Netanyahu was recently (Dec 2nd) presented with a detailed report on PA incitement against Israel and Israelis in the form of a Powerpoint presentation. This was released and we are pleased to be able to show it to you here. It demonstrates that the PA as an official policy is teaching its people three things:

  1. The whole of what is now Israel, “from the river to the sea”, is part of “Palestine”.
  2. The demonisation of Jews and Israelis
  3. All forms of struggle – including terrorist acts – are legitimate forms of opposition to Israel

The international community expects Israel’s government to make concessions and talk peace to the PA, who are clearly demonstrating that they do not want peace. The international community should instead be pressuring and penalising the PA for refusing to sit down and negotiate with Israel without pre-conditions. Anyway, enough already! On to the show…

Filed under Current Events, Palestinian Incitement, The Delegitimisation of Israel, The Peace Process Tagged with , , , , , ,

So what’s true and what’s a myth in the new “Palestine” reality?

December 9, 2012 Leave a comment

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Mahmoud Abbas and Ban Ki Moon at the UN

So the dust is beginning to settle on the UN vote to give a non-existent state the status of a state (if you get me). Maybe this is a good time to work out what is myth and what is reality in the new “peace paradigm” that the UN has created. Let’s make no mistake about this; things cannot remain the same, if only because the breakdown of the Oslo process from the nineties is now complete and probably irreversible. In this new reality, let’s list a few truths…

1. The 29th November UN General Assembly vote did not create a state of Palestine. For all the celebrations in Ramallah on Mr Abbas’ return, the UN cannot create a state, it can only recognise one that already exists. The Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of a State (December 1933), which predates the creation of the UN, states as its first article,

“The state as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications: a) a permanent population; b) a defined territory; c) government; and d) capacity to enter into relations with the other states.”

The Palestinian Authority is a temporary administrative instrument, not a proper government; its population is not permanent as long as there is a claimed “right of return” to lands in the state of Israel; it has no properly defined borders; it does not and cannot enter into meaningful relations with other states, since the PA is itself only an arm of the PLO. Read more of this post

Filed under Current Events, The Peace Process Tagged with , , , , , ,

Habima at the Globe

June 5, 2012 Leave a comment

Having already done a piece for The Commentator as immediate news, I thought I would let the dust settle and see what else was said and done before blogging on the performance by Habima at Shakespeare’s Globe theater here in London.

Firstly, the Globe Theatre is to be complimented for going ahead with their invitation to Israel’s national theatre company in the face of some fairly high level pleas from British theatrical figures to boycott them. Secondly, Habima executed not only a superb performance of the apposite Merchant of Venice, to packed houses and rave reviews, but they refused to be put off by the few demonstrations that made it past the tight security and didn’t pause their acting once when banners were displayed or other demonstrations took place. Not only was the Globe’s security apparatus swift and efficient in dealing with troublemakers, but the strong police presence and airport-style search arches combined to remove most demonstration banners from anti-Israel protestors before they even reached their seats. Congratulations to both Habima and The Globe.

I am an inveterate people-watcher and I love going to marches and demonstrations to observe both sides, as well as the reactions of passers-by. In the case of the anti-Habima demonstration, the Zionist Federation organised a Jewish/Christian counter-demonstration, which the police had placed round a corner out of sight of the pro-Palestinians. Walking around between the two, it was clear that no more than 40-50 pro-Palestinian supporters had turned out (this was at the Monday, first night, performance). Read more of this post

Filed under Antisemitism, Current Events, The BDS Campaign, The Delegitimisation of Israel Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , ,

Eat your heart out, Mr Israel Boycotter!

March 15, 2012 Leave a comment

A boycotter at a BDS rallyLondon is said to be one of the global hubs of the international delegitimisation and BDS (Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions) campaigns, but right now the British Israel-Boycotters face multiple blows to their efforts.

The first blow comes from statistics. This year, bilateral trade with Israel reached £3.75bn, a huge 34% increase on last year! The Jewish Chronicle this week  reports these figures gleefully as “…putting firmly in its place the campaign for a boycott of Israeli goods.” The article, headed “Boycott, What Boycott?” goes on to say that Israel is now Britain’s largest trading partner in the Near East and Africa. Matthew Gould, Britain’s ambassador to Israel, said, “There is a lot of noise around boycotts but these figures show that it is just noise, and the trade relationship speaks for itself.”

The second blow this week came on Wednesday in London, with the first meeting of the “UK-Israel Tech Council”. Co-chaired by Universities Minister David Willetts and Israel’s Chief Scientist Avi Hasson, and including top level business leaders from both countries, the Council is linked to a new initiative at the British embassy in Israel, the “UK-Israel Technologies Hub”. The two groups between them are creating a strategy for much closer UK-Israel tech links; the world’s “start-up nation” and the UK’s solid academic and manufacturing history – a winning combination. Read more of this post

Filed under The BDS Campaign, The Delegitimisation of Israel, The Good of Israel Tagged with , ,

Israel WHAT Week??

February 25, 2012 1 Comment

Israel Apartheid Week logoYou may well have missed it, because it didn’t make too many international headlines, but this week is part of “Israel Apartheid Week”. Did you know that? Did it change your life? Hopefully not!

According to the website apartheidweek.org, 77 cities around the world are taking part; screening films, holding discussions and generally reinforcing their own and their supporters’ unbalanced view of the Israel/Palestinian conflict. Many of the events scheduled are screenings of the film “Izkor, Slaves of Memory” which uses the Spring cycle of feasts in Judaism as the starting point for the thesis that Israel’s “apartheid behaviour” is somehow linked to their cultural memories (haven’t worked that one out yet).

Being sadly sceptical of the local impact of the worldwide delegitimisation and BDS movements (shame on me!), I went through all 77 cities on the apartheid.org website to find out just how widespread the actual support and activity of this movement is. This is what I found: Read more of this post

Filed under Current Events, The BDS Campaign, The Delegitimisation of Israel Tagged with , , , , ,

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