The Contrasting Language Used To Describe Israelis And Palestinians Killed.

The BBC’s Coverage Consistently Devalues Palestinian Life And Ignores Israeli Atrocities.
BBC editor Raffi Berg has almost complete control of the British broadcaster’s online coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza and is ensuring that all events are reported with a pro-Israel bias, according to a new report published on December 28, 2024 by Drop Site News.
“This guy’s entire job is to water down everything that’s too critical of Israel,” one former BBC journalist said.

Drop Site News spoke to 13 current and former staffers who stated that the BBC’s coverage consistently devalues Palestinian life, ignores Israeli atrocities, and creates a false equivalence in an entirely unbalanced conflict.
Another BBC journalist said Berg plays a key role in a broader BBC culture of “systematic Israeli propaganda.”
“How much power he has is wild,” said another journalist.
“There was an extreme fear at the BBC, that if you ever wanted to do anything about Israel or Palestine, editors would say: ‘If you want to pitch something, you have to go through Raffi and get his sign-off,” another journalist explained.

In one case, Berg downplayed Amnesty International’s accusation that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
Berg chose a headline that stated, “Israel rejects ‘fabricated’ claims of genocide,” to describe the Amnesty report and failed to post the story for 12 hours after it was written to suppress its online reach.
The journalists interviewed by Drop Site also noted that the Amnesty report was not covered on the BBC’s flagship news programs—BBC One’s News At One, News At Six, or News At Ten or its flagship current affairs program, BBC Two’s Newsnight.

“Anyone who writes on Gaza or Israel is asked: ‘Has it gone to edpol [editorial policy], lawyers, and has it gone to Raffi?'” another journalist said.
Raffi Berg, who wrote a book praising clandestine Mossad operations, wields great power to influence perceptions of Israel’s war on Gaza because the BBC news website is the most-visited news site on the internet, with over 1.1 billion visits in May alone.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed over 45,000 Palestinians, the majority women and children, and flattened large swathes of the besieged enclave.
The pro-Israel bias imposed by Berg is evident in the language used to cover the war.
While stories “prominently” used words like “massacre,” “slaughter,” and “atrocities” to refer to Hamas, they “hardly, if at all,” used them “in reference to actions by Israel,” wrote Rami Ruhayem, a Beirut-based BBC Arabic correspondent.

The BBC also uses euphemisms preferred by the Israeli army to hide its soldiers’ war crimes.
For example, the BBC describes the forcible transfer or ethnic cleansing of Palestinian civilians as “evacuations.”
In one case, the BBC described Israel’s total siege on Gaza with a headline stating, “Israel aims to cut Gaza ties after war with Hamas.”
Defence minister Yoav Gallant’s public vow to impose a “full siege” on Gaza while calling Palestinians “human animals” received just one mention in any BBC online content.

The journalists speaking with Drop Site said they made specific requests to BBC management to balance its coverage, but their requests have been ignored.
“Many of us have raised concerns that Raffi has the power to reframe every story, and we are ignored,” one journalist said.
“Almost every correspondent you know has an issue with him,” one stated.
“He has been named in multiple meetings, but BBC management just ignore it.”

The journalist said they demanded that stories should “emphasise that Israel had not granted the BBC access to Gaza, that the network should end the practice of presenting the official Israeli versions of events as fact, and that the BBC should do more to offer context about Israeli occupation and the fact that Gaza is overwhelmingly populated by descendants of refugees forcibly driven from their homes beginning in 1948.”
( The Cradle, 28.12.2024 )  ..  thecradle.co

The Moral Bankruptcy Of Britain’s Foreign Policy That Eagerly Courts Despots.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia laid bare the moral bankruptcy of Britain’s foreign policy – a policy that eagerly courts despots while slamming its doors on those fleeing their repression.
Starmer’s trip, sold as a bid to bolster trade and security partnerships, conspicuously side-stepped any mention of Mohammed bin Salman’s grotesque human rights abuses.
Instead, it signalled the UK’s quiet complicity, prioritising arms sales and economic ties over accountability.

Against the backdrop of rising anti-immigration rhetoric, especially from Nigel Farage’s Reform party, Labour’s apparent willingness to echo these sentiments only deepens the sense of abandonment faced by Saudi exiles.
With Western governments increasingly appeasing authoritarian regimes, even the right to political refuge is no longer guaranteed – and Britain, it seems, is more than willing to play its part in this descent.

For years it gave unwavering support to Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen and turned a “blind eye” to the persecution of exiles within Britain.
In September 2024, revelations emerged about political donations to Labour MPs like David Lammy from Saudi-linked figures, illustrating how deeply intertwined British politics is with Saudi interests.
Since Mohammed bin Salman became crown prince and de facto ruler, his reign has been defined by aggressive suppression of political dissent, targeting human rights advocates, government critics, and anyone who dares to challenge the status quo.

Behind Saudi Arabia’s meticulously crafted global image, the regime’s tightening grip on dissent has led to a quiet but noticeable exodus of Saudis seeking refuge abroad.
The regime’s intolerance for opposition has only deepened, with the horrific murder of Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 serving as a grim reminder of just how far the crown prince is willing to go to silence critics, even those beyond Saudi borders.
( Declassified UK, 08.01.2025 )  ..  declassifieduk.org

Israel Continue To Target And Kill Children.
An Israeli attack on a school used to shelter displaced Palestinians has killed at least 22 people, including 15 children, in central Gaza.
The Gaza Civil Defence Agency said the site in Nuseirat camp was struck by a volley of artillery, killing entire families and wounding dozens more.
Earlier, five children were killed by a drone strike while playing on a street corner in northern Gaza.
A civil defence spokesman said the attack on al-Mufti school, where hundreds of displaced people from around Gaza were sheltering, had injured at least 80 people and more than a dozen were killed.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said the school-turned-shelter was meant to be used to administer polio vaccines.
( BBC, 14.10.2024 )  ..  bbc.co.uk

Israeli Forces Seize The Bodies Of Two Palestinian Children And A Young Man After They Were Killed In An Israeli Drone Strike.
Two children and a young man were killed in an Israeli drone strike targeting a residential area in the town of Tammun near Tubas in the illegally-occupied West Bank.
The victims were identified as Rida Ali Ahmad Bisharat, 9, Hamza Ammar Ahmad Bisharat, 10, and Adam Khairuddin Ahmad Bisharat, 23.
Israeli illegal-occupation forces seized their bodies following the strike.
Local sources said the strike hit citizens near their homes in a residential area.

Earlier in the day, the illegal-occupation troops raided Tammun, deploying snipers and infantry across multiple areas.
Troops also surrounded two homes and stormed several others.
During the raid, the illegal-occupation forces detained five wounded people, including children, and took them to an unknown location.
The Israeli incursion also extended to the city of Tubas and the nearby town of Aqaba, where three Palestinians were detained after their homes were raided.

Since Israel started its genocidal war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, Israeli forces have killed 843 Palestinians, including 175 children, and injured around 6,700, in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
( Ahram Online, 08.01.2025 )  ..  ahram.org

The Long-Awaited Ceasefire In Gaza.
This week, the long-awaited ceasefire in Gaza went into effect.
During the first stage of the ceasefire, which will last 42 days, there will be “a full and complete ceasefire”, Israeli withdrawal from the populated areas of Gaza, and initial hostage exchanges.
There has also been a surge of humanitarian aid into Gaza, with the United Nations saying that 2,400 aid trucks have been able to enter the strip during the first days of the truce.

In stage two of the ceasefire, the remaining living hostages in Gaza will be exchanged for Palestinian hostages held arbitrarily in Israel’s prisons, and there will be a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.
The third and final stage of the ceasefire agreement is set to involve the reconstruction of Gaza and the return of any remaining hostages’ bodies.

It was during phase one that the final remaining British captive in Gaza, Emily Damari, was released alongside Israeli women Doron Steinbrecher and Romi Gonen.
The other British hostage, Nadav Popplewell, died in June last year during Israeli military operations in Gaza.
It was hard to ignore how the hostages released by Hamas looked in better condition than the Palestinian captives released by Israel.

Emily Damari’s mother, Mandy, noted how she was “in much better health than we expected”, contrasting with the condition of Khalida Jarrar, a former Palestinian political leader, who had aged considerably in solitary confinement and whose hair had turned grey.
The British media was also widely condemned for centering the Israeli hostages while ignoring the plight of the Palestinian captives.

“Why does nobody at least give some respect for our blood”, Palestinian photojournalist Motaz Azaiza said on Sky News.
“The thousands of people, not just dozens of Israeli prisoners, the thousands of lives of Palestinians who now nobody knows where they are”.
Azaiza was flanked on Sky News by renowned British-Palestinian surgeon Dr Ghassan Abu Sittah, who declared: “Your channel refers to Palestinians as prisoners – even the children arrested without trial – and the Israelis as hostages”.
This, he said, was a “racialised othering of Palestinians [which] allowed this genocide to take place”.

This week, Starmer also held a phone call with Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
According to the UK government’s press release, Starmer offered support for “the hard-fought and long-awaited ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas”, and extended his personal thanks for the release of the hostages.
Both leaders also agreed to continue the “close co-operation on defence and security matters in support of wider stability in the region – particularly in the face of the ongoing threat posed by Iran”.