BBC report shows bias towards Israeli forces

THERE has been for years the question as to whether the BBC is biased and is an Establishment news outlet in the main.

In this respect, there have been endless examples that it is, basically, there to protect against what is going on in the world at large.

One more example is the BBC’s TV news text service, where the headline today was, ‘Palestinian viral slap video teen freed’.

The text reads: “A Palestinian teen, who was filmed assaulting an Israeli soldier in the occupied West Bank, has been freed after eight months in jail. Video showing Ahed Tamimi slapping and kicking the soldier outside her home in Nabi Saleh last year went viral. For Palestinians, she became a symbol of resistance to Israeli occupation, but many see her as a publicity-seeking troublemaker. She was mobbed by well-wishers as she returned to her home town.”

But what the BBC did not state is that her 15-year-old cousin, Mohammed Tamimi, just prior to the slapping and kicking incident, was shot in the head at close range by the Israeli soldier(s) with a rubber-coated steel bullet, severely wounding him.

I think that anyone would have thought that just a slap and a kick was merely a storm in a teacup considering what the Israeli army had undertaken in shooting her relation.

So, other than the BBC stating that she assaulted an Israeli soldier and that many Israelis see her as a publicity-seeking troublemaker, why didn’t the BBC state that the Israeli army had shot her cousin?

This can, therefore, be construed — quite rightly, I believe — as a one-sided piece of Establishment news (some might say propaganda) for the benefit of one side; that being the Israeli army, not the girl whose cousin had been shot.

DR DAVID HILL By email