Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: BBC accused of bias against Israel

Una semplice dimostrazione dell'abuso del termine 'antisemita'...
Questo e' il colmo...
BBC accused of bias against Israel
Report on would-be suicide bomber labelled anti-semitic
Chris McGreal in Jerusalem
Thursday April 1, 2004
The Guardian
The Israeli government has written to the BBC accusing its Middle East
correspondent, Orla Guerin, of anti-semitism and "total identification with
the goals and methods of the Palestinian terror groups" over a report on a
16-year-old would-be suicide bomber last week.
Natan Sharansky, Israel's minister for diaspora affairs, complained that
Guerin had portrayed the army's handling of the arrest of Hussam Abdu, who
was captured with explosives strapped to his chest, as "cynical manipulation
of a Palestinian youngster for propaganda purposes". He said this revealed
"a deep-seated bias against Israel".
The BBC said it was looking into the complaint, the first by the Israeli
government since late last year when it lifted a boycott of the corporation
imposed in protest at a documentary on the Jewish state's weapons of mass
destruction.
But the letter comes as several foreign news organisations complain of
increasing government pressure to curtail critical coverage or to report
stories Israel believes help identify the Palestinian conflict with global
Islamist terrorism.
Officials have presented editors with dossiers on individual reporters and
singled out organisations such as Sky News for allegedly having an
anti-Israel agenda.
The Tel Aviv press has called for the expulsion of correspondents from Sky,
the Times and several French papers for failing to cover a story the
government mobilised embassies worldwide to get into the media last month.
In her report on Hussam Abdu last week, Guerin noted Israel's desire to gain
a public relations advantage from the arrest. She described how the army
"paraded the child in front of the international media", and observed that
journalists had been prevented from asking him questions and therefore were
left only with the army's account of the arrest.
Mr Sharansky alleged that the BBC reporter "cast aspersions on the meaning
of what transpired" that amounted to "such a gross double standard to the
Jewish state, it is difficult to see Ms Guerin's report as anything but
anti-semitic".
The Israeli minister also protested at Guerin's conclusion, as the youth was
forced to stand forlornly alone at the checkpoint solely for the
photographers, that "this is a picture that Israel wants the world to see".
Yet there is little doubt that the Israeli government viewed the boy's
arrest as of considerable propaganda value.
Israeli embassies urged newspapers across the globe to run the story as part
of a campaign by the government to highlight the use of children as
potential suicide bombers.
A week earlier, when a 12-year-old boy, Abdullah Quran, was stopped while
unwittingly carrying explosives at an army checkpoint, Israeli embassies
called news editors to insist they cover the story and warn that failure to
do so would be viewed as bias against Israel.
When several news organisations failed to report it, an Israeli newspaper
called for their correspondents to be expelled, including Sky's Emma Hurd
and Stephen Farrell of the Times.
The government emailed the article around the world and reproduced it on
official websites.
Gideon Meir, the foreign ministry's chief spokesman, said the criticism was
legitimate. "Sky News did not cover the Abdullah Quran story but the next
day, when the Israeli army targeted an Islamic Jihad terrorist with a
missile, immediately Sky was on the air with seven or eight minutes of
coverage," he said. "They did not cover the first story because it does not
fit into the agenda the editors have."
Last month the Israeli foreign minister, Silvan Shalom, pulled out of an
interview on Sky's Sunday with Adam Boulton after the show refused to cancel
an appearance by the Palestinian representative in London.
CNN sources say the network has bowed to considerable pressure on its
editors. Israeli officials boast that they now have only to call a number at
the network's headquarters in Atlanta to pull any story they do not like.
The network's former Middle East correspondent, Jerrold Kessel, who was
widely respected for his informed and nuanced reporting, said that while
doubtlessly there was pressure on his editors to get him to modify his
coverage, he regarded it as irrelevant.
"The less notice one takes of pressure, the less pressure one invites on
oneself," he said. "If you get into a mind where the pressure is a factor,
you get into the mind of worrying about what the effect of the pressure is
going to be."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1183312,00.html
K

the army's account of the arrest.
Indubbiamente.  Prima le domande le dovra' fare l'esercito e poi i
giornalisti.
Come poi e' successo, visto che le sue dichiarazioni sono pubblicate
ovunque.
-Stefano