31 May, 2010 — Awatef Shiekh

Please read below and post comments to http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/10195838.stm and complain to http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/homepage/

In their ‘reporting’ of the Israeli army’s killing of Free Gaza activists last night, the BBC revealed the exceptional depth of their pro-Israel stance, even when 16 civilians carrying humanitarian aid are murdered by the Israeli army in a completely illegal attack which was an act of piracy since the ships were in international waters.

The audio part of the video sounded like the BBC anchor and the BBC correspondent. The correspondent blamed the activists for the murders, suggesting that their very presence on a boat at night made it a “very very difficult” and “rather chaotic” situation, never questioning why the Israeli army stormed the boat in international waters in the first place. Then he went on to say that “the Israeli military is very well experienced at dealing with crowd control” – a sentence which is criminal when the Israeli army has just murdered at least 16 civilians, and after Israeli war crimes in Gaza where the first victims were unarmed civilians.

Here is part of the transcript of the video (from BBC tv) featured on the news story on BBC online (Deaths as Israeli forces storm Gaza aid ship – Page last updated at 7:15 GMT, Monday, 31 May 2010 8:15 UK).

“Well clearly when you’ve got as many as 600 people on board these ships at night in the high seas, it is a very very difficult situation and you can imagine a rather chaotic situation. Of course the Israeli military is very well experienced at dealing with crowd control. But certainly you’ve got live fire being fired as well as teargas canisters which is what is being reported was fired then that is a very dangerous situation in a crowded space”

PLEASE comment/complain about this. At least 16 people have been killed for trying to peacefully get aid into besieged Gaza. And the BBC is clearly privileging Israeli army propaganda over the lives of unarmed civilians.