BBC Fabricates Home Demolition Report
On Friday, March 7, 2008, the BBC’s World News with Jonathan Charles (seen in the U.S. on PBS stations as part of BBC America) aired footage purporting to show the demolition and burning of a house that belongs to the family of Ala Abu Dheim, the terrorist who murdered eight students and wounded nine others in the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva (Rabbinical Seminary) .Against footage of a bulldozer destroying a burning home, BBC reporter Nick Miles was heard in voiceover proclaiming:
In the hours after the attack, Israeli bulldozers destroyed his [the terrorist’s] family home. Later, his mourners set up Hamas and Islamic Jihad banners nearby.
Here are excerpts from the BBC report:
But, in fact, it never happened! The film clip could not possibly have been of the terrorist’s family home, as it is still standing and, together with the nearby public mourning tent erected by the family, serves as a shrine dedicated to the "martyred" terrorist.
After being ordered by Israeli police, Palestinians take down flags used by the Islamic group Hamas in front of the home of Alaa Abu Dheim, who family members say shot and killed eight Israelis at a rabbinical seminary Thursday, in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber, Friday March 7, 2008. (AP Photo/Atta Awisat)
That such a shrine is still allowed to remain in place has, in fact, prompted public outrage among Israelis and members of Knesset across the political spectrum. On Monday, March 10 – three days after the report aired – Knesset speaker Dalia Itzik (Labor) petitioned the Attorney General to order the demolition of the public tent and the terrorist’s family home.
Contrary to the BBC’s report, however, the only action taken by Israeli police against the Abu Dheim home was ordering the removal of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah flags from the front of the house. To the right is an AP photograph showing Palestinians removing flags from the front of the Abu Dheim home. The photo was taken on Friday, March 7 – well after the time that the demolition was supposed to have taken place, according to the BBC report.
Below is a picture of the mourning tent, hung with posters of the terrorist, outside the home. The photograph is dated Sunday, March 9 and shows Israeli police who have come to the home to question members of the terrorist's family.
Israeli policemen walk inside a special mourning tent set up in memory of Alaa Abu Dheim, who family members say was responsible for shooting and killing eight yeshiva students, in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber, Sunday March 9, 2008. The Israeli policemen came to the house of Abu Dheim in order to summon some of his family members for questioning in a police station.(AP Photo/Atta Awisat) Below are several other AP photographs with captions taken on March 7 — well after the time the BBC alleged the destruction took place — showing Abu Dheim family members in front of or inside their undemolished home.
A relative of Alaa Abu Dheim who family members say shot and killed eight Israelis at a rabbinical seminary Thursday, holds his photograph outside the family house in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber, Friday March 7, 2008. (AP Photo/Atta Awisat)
Palestinian relatives of Alaa Abu Dheim, who family members say shot and killed eight yeshiva students, mourn at the family's home in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber, Friday, March 7, 2008. (AP Photo/Tara Todras-Whitehill) Fatima, center, the mother of Alaa Abu Dheim, the gunman that killed eight yeshiva students is comforted by his sister, center left, as relatives watch a news story about Abu Dheim in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber, Friday, March 7, 2008. (AP Photo/Tara Todras-Whitehill) Where did the BBC obtain the film clip and whose decision was it to air this as "evidence" of a home demolition by Israel?
One of the charges often used by anti-Israel propagandists is that Israel demolishes the homes of blameless Palestinians as a form of collective punishment. (See "The ABC's of Journalism"; "USA Today Errs on Jerusalem Home Demolitions"; "The Professor's Truth Demolition"; "Dissembling Demolitions") That the BBC would attempt to insert such a piece of propaganda into a report about an attack against Israelis is consistent with its pattern of minimizing Israeli suffering while emphasizing Palestinian victimhood. After all, the BBC – far from being the impartial news organization it claims to be – is well-known for its biased coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict. (See CAMERA critiques of the BBC)
This time, however, the BBC has gone a step further by manufacturing bogus evidence of a home demolition that never took place.
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Thursday, March 13, 2008
CAMERA Reports BBC LIES AGAIN: Broadcasts Fictional Story About Israeli Home Demolitions.
Once again the BBC proven that the initials stand for Broadcasts Bullcrap Continually. The day after the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva Massacre the aired a report showing Israeli bulldozers destroying the terrorist's home. There was only one problem with the report....IT NEVER HAPPENED. Maybe it was a bad wind coming off of Prince Charlie's ears. But the fact is the house was standing on Friday as it still stands today. (Folks I posted this from the train and just got an e-mail telling me that I forget to attribute this to CAMERA although I did link it Sorry CAMERA---Thanks for you great work)
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