The government of Israel has cut ties with the British Broadcasting Corporation after a show which painted Israel as a dangerous dictatorship with weapons of mass destruction.
The BBC has a long history of bias against Israel that border on anti-Semitism. They are perfectly willing to accuse Israel of genocide while ignoring the rampant violations of human rights, the political persecution, and the murder of dissenters that occur every day in Palestinian territory. Israel is a democracy in which peace protestors have every right to speak – those who stand for peace in Palestine often find themselves killed for being "collaborators"
Without it’s unconventional arsenal, Israel would be repeatedly invaded and destroyed by its neighbors. Israel’s nuclear arsenal is its last line of defense against destruction. The BBC should stand on the side of democracies rather than pandering to terror groups and ancient prejudices.
Why is it always “anti-semetic” to criticize Israel? Is it anti-black to criticize Rwanda? Or is it possible that someone could criticize the actions of a country without any reference to the religious ethnicity of its inhabitants?
Honestly if Israel wants a better face in the world press maybe they should stop bulldozing old ladies in their houses, for instance.
There is a difference between anti-Semitism and criticism of Israel. However, the BBC routinely accuses Israel of committing "atrocities" that never happened. The Jenin "massacre" is an example of just such a false accusation.
Israel is under attack from groups that want nothing less than the utter destruction of the Israel state and the mass murder of its citizens. Under those circumstances the Israeli government has an obligation to do whatever it can to protect the lives of its citizens.
Golda Meir (the former Israeli PM) said it best: peace will be impossible until the Palestinians love their children more than they hate the Jews. A society that sends children to kill other Jewish children rather than to school is a society that is in a state of horrible failure.
Israel isn’t making any friends when they bulldoze houses and gun down unarmed Palestinian men. Honestly a peaceful resolution to this mess will never occur so long as both sides are unwilling to make concessions. I’m no knee-jerk anti-Zionist, or something – but Israel could be doing much more to promote peace – like, they could curtail illegal settlements.
Saying the Palestinians simply “hate Jews” is just an intellectual cop-out. Sure, many (most?) of them may hate Israelis, but there’s so much more to the conflict than that – and it doesn’t help to reduce the equasion to such simplistic terms.
I don’t understand whose lives it protects when unarmed Palestinians are shot and houses bulldozed.
“The BBC has a long history of bias against Israel ”
what about you? any bias at all?
for those interested about the massacre of Jenin that didn’t happened:
http://this.is/jenin/
maybe a 1t bomb launched in the middle of the marketplace of the city is just fireworks offered by israelis? maybe they are just destroying houses to build new ones for their arabic friends?
maybe they’re cutting the olive-trees and the waterpipe to make palestinians feel better when they plug it back in?
the government of israel is a terrible military AND religious dictatorship.when you look at figures of palestinian/israelis death, it doesn’t really look like the”utter destruction of the Israel state and the mass murder of its citizens”
the opposite is true.
…Is it anti-black to criticize Rwanda?..
But its anti-black to criticize affirmative action, right?
…they should stop bulldozing old ladies in their houses, for instance…
Yea! Also, you forgot about them killing puppies and bombing baby formula factories.
…the government of israel is a terrible military AND religious dictatorship…
LOLOLOL. Man… You are foaming at the mouth, already. Are you familiar with what a “dictatorship” is? How is Israel a dictatorship?
…when you look at figures of palestinian/israelis death…
What’s the ratio of the dead Israeli women and children to Palestinian women and children?
Let me pose this question – if the Israelis are so concerned about protecting their people, why are their policies so ineffective? Why not do more to prevent the illegal settlements that spark these conflicts? I think the Israeli government is more concerned about garnering world sympathy and shooting Palestinians than they are about Israeli safety.
The Palestinians say they want a state; the Israelis say they want security. As far as I can tell they’re both liars. Our involvment in the area needs to be rethought.
As for the old women and bulldozers – my mistake. I remembered poorly. The people they’re actually bulldozing are American activists.
…if the Israelis are so concerned about protecting their people, why are their policies so ineffective?
Because instead of being set in Israel, they are set in Washington. We are not negotiating with bin Laden, yet we force Israelis to negotiate with terrorists because of our Arab “allies”. As for your american activists – see my post.
As far as I know, it’s not terrorism to resist illegal occupation of your territory.
Like I said, Israel would look like the much better guy in this if they would put a stop to illegal settlements. None of you so far seem to have a response to that.
…As far as I know, it’s not terrorism to resist illegal occupation of your territory…
Illegal? How is it illegal? Given the fact that terroriost groups want to destroy Israel as a whole – Israel has every right to be there till a peace accord is signed and implemented.
And what are these “illegal settlements” you speak of? Arabs have erased the borders both parties agreed on when they violated ceasefire after ceasefire (1967, 1973, etc). Why is the world never holding Arabs responsible for their actions? Look, you attack, you loose – YOU LOOSE.
Why is the victor being treated like the looser here?
When you occupy land given to you by an authority who doesn’t have the right to bestow it, your occupation is illegal.
What claim do you think Israel has to that land? A biblical one? God kicked them out, remember? There’s no indication He’s changed his mind about that.
But Israelis are settling areas that even the Israeli government agrees aren’t part of Israel. Those are the illegal settlements I’m talking about, the ones that Israel discourages with lip service but does nothing about.
Military victory isn’t an open license to do what you want, even if you were attacked first.
By the way, there’s only one “o” in “lose”.
What claim do you think Israel has to that land? A biblical one?
Where did I make a reference to the Old/New Testament? You’ve built yourself a fine straw man.
Israel was created in 1948. Jews agreed to UN’s partition – Arabs did not. Arabs attacked Israel on its day of independence – and lost. Now what happens when the agressor loses (note one ‘o’) the war he starts?
You might want to ask yourself how did Judea (West Bank) became a part of Jordan (until 1967). Didn’t UN give it to the palestinians? Interestingly nobody cared then and nobody is asking now… There was a number of ceasefires – arabs broke them all. Given the fact that borders were written into these documents – naturally, they got erased when arabs decided to break them.
How do you adress the fact that the PLO has not revoked the part of its charter which calls for the destruction of Israel? They were obligated to do so under OSLO, were they not?
You misunderstand (now who’s erecting straw men?) – I have no support for the PLO. The Palestinians are as guilty as the Israelis.
Anyway, Israel was created in 1948, by the British. Did they have a legal or moral claim to do so? This is the part of the question that you have avoided.
Just because the Israelis have been able to defend the land they hold does not lend them legitimacy if their original claim was illegitimate.
What I object to is the presentation of Israel as some kind of beleagured, naturally peaceful country unfairly victimized by their neighboors. Israel was born of war, and that’s largely been the state of the area to this day, to a large part because of Israel’s own doing.
By the British? I thought UN took a vote in 1948? As for the “moral claim”… How old is Iran? Iraq? Jordan? Saudi Arabia? When were they created and how come no one is asking any moral qeustions?
Israel is a peaceful country. Yes. That’s right. No other country has been forced to give concessions after coming out a winner in all the wars its enemies have initiated.
I think you’re proving my point for me. Do you have a legal justification for the presense of Israel or not? Other undisputed countries have nothing to do with this. You seem to be avoiding the issue.
…Do you have a legal justification for the presense of Israel or not?
I answered that question many a time. Israel is in a state of war and until it has some kind of a peace agreement it can stay there.
Also, what exactly is making Israel’s presence there “illegal”. You keep alleging, yet you haven’t named a law nor have you refered to a document.