February 21, 2005

PLEASE IGNORE YESTERDAY'S TWO MINUTE HATE:

Thought for the Day ends in apology (Kirsty Scott, February 18, 2005, The Guardian)

The BBC was forced to issue an apology after the Rev Dr John Bell used the slot on February 10 to tell the story of a young Arab-Israeli soldier supposedly conscripted into the Israeli army and imprisoned for refusing to shoot Palestinian children.

BBC officials, who received dozens of complaints from members of the Jewish community following the broadcast, said there were a number of factual errors in the tale and they had been unable to substantiate the soldier's story. [...]

Dr Bell told listeners how he had got talking to the 19-year-old corporal, an Israeli-born Arab of "Palestinian Muslim stock" who had saved many lives by killing a suicide bus bomber. He said Adam had also been imprisoned for refusing to shoot schoolchildren.

The day before the broadcast, Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas had declared a truce which offered new hope for peace in the Middle East.

Dr Bell had said he was telling the story to illustrate the fact that a peace deal will not wipe out the hatred between Jews and Palestinians.

Members of the Jewish community phoned the BBC to say elements of Adam's account could not be true. Israeli Arabs are exempt from conscription and it would be all but impossible for a 19-year-old to reach the rank of corporal.

The BBC contacted the Israeli authorities who said there was no evidence of the soldier's existence. The corporation then issued the apology, saying the facts should have been checked and it had been unable to find any evidence to support the story.

Posted by Orrin Judd at February 21, 2005 4:56 PM
Comments

A sermon based on a madeup story? Hard to believe.

Posted by: Harry Eagar at February 21, 2005 4:58 PM

Such are secular societies.

Posted by: oj at February 21, 2005 5:02 PM

It's simply slander and character assassination of the state of Israel.

For moral reasons, though.

Posted by: Barry Meislin at February 21, 2005 6:18 PM

Yes. But what if they can produce MEMOS?

Posted by: John Resnick at February 21, 2005 6:36 PM

This sort of pro-Palestinian propaganda is now sadly a routine, daily occurrence in the UK. People like this clergyman are proudly uninterested in whether the story is true or not; it supports their sanctimonious posturing and they feel that is enough. Note how it sailed through onto the BBC without any scrutiny or fact checking at all.

Posted by: ZF at February 21, 2005 6:49 PM

First of all, it's the BBC, the mouthpiece of Perfidious Albion (TM), so should we expect any different?

The next BBC 'Thought for the Day' will probably just be some excerpts from Der Ewige Jude, perhaps the one with the rats running across a map of Europe, juxtaposed with pictures of religious Jews.

Why should we expect more accuracy from the BBC than we do from Al-Jazeera or Pravda?

Posted by: Bart at February 22, 2005 8:24 AM

I resent that my taxes pay for NPR to broadcast the news by BBC, which is slanted and invariably anti-american. I love the classical music on certain NPR stations but rush to turn off the supercillious tones of BBC's The World beginning at 4PM weekdays.

Until they turn them off permanently they'll not get another dime from me.

Posted by: Genecis at February 22, 2005 10:15 AM

I guess I should have posted a sarcasm alert.

All the sermons I've ever heard were based on madeup stories.

Posted by: Harry Eagar at February 23, 2005 4:12 PM
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