BBC's concern at Gaza man's fate

[Ramrod]

Originally Posted by Mr Angry

Right enough, now that you mention it, I wouldn't put it past the Israelis to have kidnapped him, just for fairness mind you.

Interesting point of view....... What if Israelis had abducted BBC man?

.....suppose that some fanatical Jews had grabbed Mr Johnston and forced him to spout their message, abusing his own country as he did so. What would the world have said?


There would have been none of the caution which has characterised the response of the BBC and of the Government since Mr Johnston was abducted on March 12. The Israeli government would immediately have been condemned for its readiness to harbour terrorists or its failure to track them down.

Loud would have been the denunciations of the extremist doctrines of Zionism which had given rise to this vile act. The world isolation of Israel, if it failed to get Mr Johnston freed, would have been complete.

If Mr Johnston had been forced to broadcast saying, for example, that Israel was entitled to all the territories held since the Six-Day War, and calling on the release of all Israeli soldiers held by Arab powers in return for his own release, his words would have been scorned. The cause of Israel in the world would have been irreparably damaged by thus torturing him on television. No one would have been shy of saying so.

But of course in real life it is Arabs holding Mr Johnston, and so everyone treads on tip-toe.....We keep giving sympathetic air-time to their death cult. In a way, Mr Johnston is paying the price: his captors are high on the oxygen of his corporation's publicity.

As for Israel, many sins can be laid to its charge. But it is morally serious in a way that we are not, because it has to be. Forty years after its greatest victory, it has to work out each morning how it can survive.

[Xaccers]

You'll notice at the moment the Lebanese army are killing civilians in refugee camps trying to get to Islamic militants (which as far as I know are just attacking the Lebanese army, not sending hundreds of rockets a day into Lebanese civilian areas), but there is no thread condemning this, very little reporting on it, and it does make one wonder what if Israel were killing Lebanese civilians to get a militants who were actually attacking Israeli civilians with hundreds of steel ball bearing filled exploding rockets a day, how people would react? Oh wait, we already know.
Don't you just love double standards?
Makes me wonder what's the cause of it?
Is it the numbers? Are the Lebanese army not killing enough civilians to make it condemnable? If Israel had killed fewer, would people have not condemned them? I seem to recall condemnation from the start though, so it doesn't seem to be numbers.
It can't be out of concern for Lebanese civilians, after all, the Lebanese army are killing a few right now.
Maybe it's fashionable to be anti-Israeli but not anti-Lebanese?
Does seem a bit shallow, if you're going to condemn nation A for killing people of nation B, then surely you should also condemn nation B killing people of nation B?

[punky]

Originally Posted by Ramrod

Interesting point of view....... What if Israelis had abducted BBC man?

The thing is people prefer to criticise countries "that should know better" (not my words) like the UK or US over minor rights violations, whilst completely ignoring countries with a consistently appallingly poor record of human rights violations like Iran, China or Syria. So there is a double standard to it.

[lauzjp]

he's been freed!

---------- Post added at 03:07 ---------- Previous post was at 03:06 ----------

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/6267928.stm

[Druchii]

Fantastic news!

glad to hear it

[skyblueheroes]

Originally Posted by lauzjp

he's been freed!

---------- Post added at 03:07 ---------- Previous post was at 03:06 ----------

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/6267928.stm

[Ramrod]

What a relief!

[Stuart]

[BBKing]

Big up the Hamas massive! Respec', innit.

Or was no one supposed to mention that?

[Saaf_laandon_mo]

Originally Posted by BBKing

Big up the Hamas massive! Respec', innit.

Or was no one supposed to mention that?

Ha ha ha ...... Im sure someone would have said something about them by the end of the day, I had a spread bet on how long it would take.

[Derek]

Originally Posted by BBKing

Or was no one supposed to mention that?

Well David Miliband mentioned how big a part they had played in his release when he was being interviewed on the BBC this morning.

[joglynne]

Daft response, but I found myself crying when I heard he'd been set free. Everyone who played a part in his release needs to be acknowledged and thanked.

Originally Posted by BBKing

Big up the Hamas massive! Respec', innit.

Or was no one supposed to mention that?

Yeah, they're right up there with Adolf's youth club network in the social responsibility stakes.

[Asghar]

Originally Posted by Chris T

Yeah, they're right up there with Adolf's youth club network in the social responsibility stakes.

Just shows how little you know about Gaza.