BBC: Israel Does Not Have a Capital

According to the BBC, this flag is not flowing in East Jerusalem. Image courtesy of Math Knight and Zachi Evenor.



Joel Kontinen

The BBC’s sports website is re-writing geography. It lists the names of the countries taking part in the London Olympic Games and their capitals. The BBC informs us that the capital of a country called Palestine is East Jerusalem. However, the capital of Israel is ominously missing.

The BBC received so much feedback that it acknowledged that it might have made a mistake. Even in the new version Israel does not have a capital. It does mention that the seat of government is in Jerusalem and that the foreign embassies are in Tel Aviv.

This is not the first time the BBC has developed it own version of the geography and history of Israel.

Source:

Plosker, Simon. 2012. BBC Olympic Coverage Declares East Jerusalem as Palestinian Capital . Honest Reporting. (19 July).

BBC Says Goodbye to AD and BC – or Does It?

BBC does not want to favour Christianity. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.





Joel Kontinen

The British papers have been abuzz with the news that the BBC is about to cease using BC (Before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini, year of the Lord) in favour of the more neutral designations BCE (Before Common Era) and CE (Common Era).

The statement “As the BBC is committed to impartiality it is appropriate that we use terms that do not offend or alienate non-Christians” has been circulating widely in the media during the past week.

According to the Catholic Herald, “The BBC has clarified, however, that it has not dropped the use of BC … and AD … in favour of BCE … and CE…Even so, the religion page of its website says it prefers BCE and CE, explaining that ‘in line with modern practice, bbc.co.uk/religion uses BCE/CE as a religiously neutral alternative to BC/AD.’ ”

The issue would not have made headlines if the prevailing religious climate had not been so antagonistic towards Christianity with the tendency to bid farewell to Christian traditions, institutions and morals in the UK and elsewhere in Europe.

The incident reminds us of the “happy holidays vs. merry Christmas” battles being fought in the USA or the legality of crosses or nativity scenes.

Many critics suspect that the BBC’s politically correct stance – with or without the change – is merely a pretext for denying the Christian roots of western civilisation.

Sources:

Thavis, John. 2011. Vatican paper says reported BBC dating change is ‘senseless’. Catholic Herald (5 October).

BBC Says Yes to BCE. Biblical Archaeology Society. 5 October 2011.

BBC Spreads False News Item: Israeli Court Sentences Dog to be Stoned

The Star of David in Codex Leningradensis, an Old Testament manuscript from 1008. Image courtesy of Wikipedia. Throughout the centuries Jews have been discriminated against, and other nations have spread rumours about them.





Joel Kontinen


BBC is not necessarily objective in its reporting. Recently, it spread the news of a court in Jerusalem that purportedly sentenced a stray dog to be stoned because the animal had found its way into the court and had refused to go away.

Although for a while this was the most popular news item about the Near East, BBC had to admit that it was not true.

BBC obviously forgot to check its sources. Maariv, a Hebrew-language newspaper, reported on the dog before BBC did but it had to retract the news item and apologize for spreading it.

Anti-Semitism is a disturbing phenomenon. Bias can easily creep into reporting on the Near East, causing western journalists to seek anything that would give them the right to criticise Israel, the only real democracy in the region.

However, journalists should realise that Israel does not condemn dogs to be stoned.

This was not the first time that BBC spreads news items about Israel that have not entirely been true. (Read more here and here.)

Source:

Jerusalem court denies dog condemned to stoning. BBC News 20 June 2011.

BBC’s Bizarre Reporting of Israeli-Palestinian News

BBC has previously mixed fact and fiction in its report on Jerusalem. Image courtesy of Berthold Werner, Wikipedia.




Joel Kontinen

When a Palestinian man creeps into an Israeli home and brutally kills the father, mother and three children, one of them a three-month old baby, how does the BBC report on the news?

The article title provides a hint of what is to come: Israel approves new Jewish settler homes in West Bank. While it does mention the killing in a few sentences, the emphasis is on Palestinian suffering.

It sounds very much like anti-Semitism.

BBC’s reporting is nothing less than bizarre. When a Palestinian kills Jews, the blame is put on Israeli settlement policy.

There is a name for this kind of approach to reporting.

It is propaganda.


Source:

Israel approves new Jewish settler homes in West Bank. BBC News 13 March 2011.

BBC: ”East Jerusalem is not a Jewish city”

Jerusalem. Image courtesy of Berthold Werner, Wikipedia.





Joel Kontinen

In BBC's documentary Panorama Jane Corbin takes a walk in Jerusalem and suggests that practically everything Israel does in East Jerusalem is illegal since in her view it is not a Jewish city.

History knows a very different kind of Jerusalem. The Israelites ruled the city over 3000 years ago and even in the 19th century during the Ottoman period, there were more Jews than Arabs in Jerusalem. In 1844, out of a population of 15, 510, the Jews numbered 7, 120. There were 5, 000 Muslims and 3, 390 Christians in the city. At the time of Israel’s War of Independence (1948), 100, 000 Jews, 40, 000 Arabs and 25, 000 Christians lived in Jerusalem.

In reality, East Jerusalem was an Arab city only from 1949 to 1967 after the Jordanians expelled the Jews from their homes. In addition, it might be good to remember that up to 1865 ”Jerusalem” consisted of what is now known as East Jerusalem. The other parts of the city were built later.

Panorama gives the impression that many Israelis are scoundrels who will do anything to keep East Jerusalem in Jewish hands. The programme makes a big issue of Palestinian sufferings.

Corbin does not seem to know about the ethnic cleansing of 1948, when the Jews of East Jerusalem were forced to leave the dwellings that had been theirs for decades if not centuries.

Panorama is obviously not interested in objective reporting. Incidentally, the British have had a pro-Arab bias almost since time immemorial. For instance, in the 1948 war they sided with the Arabs. Recently a British MP claimed that the Israelis are playing mini-Mengele.


Sources:

Bard, Michael. Myths & Facts Online: Jerusalem http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/myths/mf20.html#m

BBC: Denying Jewish Jerusalem. Honest Reporting 20 January 2009 http://www.honestreporting.com/articles/45884734/critiques/new/BBC_Denying_Jewish_Jerusalem.asp

Thou Shalt Not Criticise Climate Change!

Nature and the mainstream media argue that Earth’s anthropogenetic or man-made global warming is one of the holy issues that should not be criticised. Image courtesy of NASA.





Joel Kontinen

BBC’s climate correspondent Paul Hudson recently wrote an article in which he also let critics of global warming present their views. Hudson did not even say that he doubts long-term global warming but he suggested that the debate on the reasons behind climate change is expected to heat up.

According to Hudson, Earth’s climate has not become any warmer in 11 years and we might face a cooler period that could last 30 years. UN’s climate models did not predict anything like that.

Hudson’s article caused quite a stir. First, Guardian entered the fray. The British daily asked why on earth BBC published such an article. Next, Nature took umbrage at Paul Hudson for quoting Piers Corbyn and Don Easterbrook, who are known to be climate skeptics.

According to Nature, climate skepticism is a fringe phenomenon. As a prestigious science publication it naturally has the heavy responsibility of reminding its readers that the overwhelming consensus view within the scientific community is that the man-made increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide is the root of all kinds of evil and that dissidents are heretics who should be avoided at all costs.

The commotion caused by one critical article probably reveals more about the worldview of climate change advocates than about anything else. Has climate change become a holy dogma that cannot be challenged?

Nature’s article would at least suggest this. It reminds me of the apostle Paul’s words in Romans 1:25:

" They … worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator. "


You can read Paul Hudson’s article here.





Sources:

Carmichael, Bill. 2009. Weathering a climate of hate. Yorkshire Post. (15 October). http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/columnists/Bill-Carmichael-Weathering-a-climate.5739475.jp

Cressey, Daniel. 2009. Climate sceptics celebrate BBC story. (12 October) http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2009/10/climate_sceptics_celebrate_bbc.html