BBC Ignoring Iranian President's Anti-Israel Venom

Once again the BBC has proven that their initials stand for the Bogus Broadcasting Corporation. In true BBC "balanced" style, they blaming Israel for everything bad that ever happened in the middle east including the Palestinian civil war and the Saudi King's funny goatee. Beyond their lies, the state-owned British News service, skews the news by omitting stories.

This week they found time to report on the human chain around Gaza and ex- Israeli President Moshe Katsav's plea bargain, but didn't have the space to cover the European rebukes of the Iranian President's venom:

Selective Reporting by the BBC

CAMERA has frequently commented on BBC's biased selection of newsworthy stories. (See "BBC's News Misjudgement"; "BBC Shapes 'News' to Fit Views"; "On BBC Website, Israeli Noise More Serious Than Palestinian Terrorism"; "BBC News or BBC Propaganda?"; "BBC Does Not Give 'Full and Fair Account' of Middle East Conflict") Now, the BBC apparently deems it unnewsworthy to inform its Web site readers about the European Union's condemnation of Iranian President Ahmadinejad's violent anti-Israel diatribe.

Reuters relates that

The European Union on Monday denounced statements by Iranian leaders against Israel as ‘unacceptable, damaging and uncivilised'. (Iran's Israel remarks "damaging and uncivilised"-EU)

And the AFP reports:

The European Union condemned "in the strongest terms" Monday remarks by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other Iranian officials about Israel, after the killing of a top Hezbollah commander... Last week, Ahmadinejad called Israel a "dirty microbe" and "savage animal"... "World powers have created a black and dirty microbe named the Zionist regime and have unleashed it like a savage animal on the nations of the region," he said at a rally, in remarks broadcast on state television.

By contrast, the BBC Web site currently displays just one article about EU-Iran relations—Roger Hardy's analysis of the European Union's criticism of Iran's penal code—which makes no mention of the condemnation of Ahmadinejad's anti-Israel rehtoric. Moreover, the Iranian leader's diatribe was glossed over and minimized in an earlier article describing "a diplomatic spat...between old Middle East enemies" and concluding that "Israel, which bombed an Iraqi reactor in 1981, has begun planning for a possible raid against Iran."

The BBC is apparently loathe to post articles that might suggest Israel is a "victim"– be it of terrorism (a word BBC will not use when Israelis are targets) or of hateful rhetoric by a Muslim leader.

What information about Israel do BBC editors considered worthy of posting online? Unsurprisingly, they share one characteristic – to present Israel in a continuing negative light. The current articles include:

1) "Israeli police hold 200 migrants"-- where the BBC describes the detention of 200 Africans in Tel Aviv "following the announcement of tough measures against illegal immigrants"

2) "Gaza protesters form human chain"– where the BBC reports on Palestinians protesting "Israel's blockade of the territory" but makes no mention of the numerous rockets launched from Gaza by Palesitnians into the Israeli town of Sderot

3) "Israel upholds Katsav plea deal"–where the BBC discusses "a controversial plea bargain that allows ex-President Moshe Katsav to escape rape charges and possible jail"

The BBC Web site describes itself as "being the world's most trusted provider of international news and information", but it carefully selects and filters the news, misleading the public into a false and distorted impression of the Jewish state that reflect the BBC's own editorial bias.