Jan 8 2013

Mystic Atwan’s crystal ball at the service of the BBC

With Mystic Meg apparently otherwise engaged, the BBC’s ‘Dateline London’ programme of January 5th 2013 (available here for a limited period of time for readers in the UK) had to make do with predictions for 2013 from, among others, its very regular contributor Abdel Bari Atwan. 

Among other things, Atwan’s crystal ball revealed to him that Israelis going to the polls in two weeks’ time will elect “a very, very right-wing government”.  Not right-wing  – one notes – or even very right wing, but “very, very right-wing”.

Phew! One cannot help wondering how Atwan and his BBC hosts describe the current Egyptian administration which, inter alia, recently repeated its refusal to allow children of the Bahai faith to enrol in public schools. They ‘verys’ must be off the scale. Or perhaps not.

Atwan also informed the BBC audience that:

“his [Binyamin Netanyahu's] [election] campaign is going around bombing Iran so I wouldn’t be surprised if, actually, Israel dragged the West into a war against Iran and then Iran could retaliate against American bases in the Gulf, maybe against some of the Gulf States, against Israel – so God knows what will happen. It could really be hell.”

As a self-confessed Israeli politics junkie, I was quite surprised to discover that even though party political broadcasts will only commence on the evening of January 8th, I had apparently missed the Likud-Beiteinu election campaign calling for me to vote for them because they promise to bomb Iran, so I had a hunt around the internet to see what I’d missed. 

On the Likud website one of the lead items is the newly completed fence along the border with Egypt and the related subject of illegal migrants in Israel. The Likud Facebook wall is full of pictures of a party for Young Likud members in a Tel Aviv nightclub and that same event is reported in the local press. In a recent interview, Netanyahu did relate to the subject of Iran, but one would have to be pretty obtuse to describe his words as part of an election campaign focused around “bombing Iran”.

“Netanyahu said preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons will be the main priority of another term. He listed other objectives as having Iron Dome batteries provide cover for the entire country, build a security fence – similar to the one just completed in the south – on each of Israel’s borders, tend to the economy, create more jobs and bring down the price of housing.

Amid increased talks of renewed talks between Iran and the world powers – the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany – Netanyahu reiterated Israel’s position that Iran must stop all uranium enrichment, export out of the country all of the enriched uranium, and close the underground enrichment facility at Fordow.”

Two recent polls conducted in Israel suggest that Atwan’s definition of “very, very right wing” may not be among the commonly accepted parameters of that term.

“Two opinion surveys conducted by different Israeli pollsters in December show that most Likud-Beiteinu and the further-right Habayit Hayehudi voters would support a peace agreement establishing a demilitarized Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, Israel’s retention of major settlement blocs and a division of Jerusalem. The two polls also revealed that two thirds of all Israelis support such an agreement. […]

The responses of Likud-Beiteinu and Habayit Hayehudi voters to the two surveys were surprising. The Dahaf poll showed 57 percent of the voters of these two parties as supporting such an agreement, with 25 percent opposed. Rafi Smith’s poll showed 58 percent in favor and 34 percent opposed. Among Habayit Hayehudi respondents to the Dahaf poll, 53 percent said they would support such an agreement and 43 percent said they would not.”

Abdel Bari Atwan’s ‘concern’ regarding war in the Middle East must, of course, be seen in light of his political views. He is, after all, the man who endorsed a terror attack on Israelis near Eilat, justified the murder of students at the Mercaz HaRav Yeshiva and declared that he will “dance with delight” in Trafalgar Square if Iranian missiles strike Israel. 

By the way, how does one categorise the politics of a person who publicly expresses a wish for the deaths of people based purely upon their ethnicity? Would the appropriate term be “very, very, very right-wing”, perhaps? And can one really imagine the BBC regularly hosting an ‘analyst’ with a track record of glorifying and justifying terror and violence against civilians if those civilians held any nationality other than Israeli? 

The BBC has long needed to get a grip on the subject of Atwan’s frequent appearances on ‘Dateline London’ and other programmes. My prediction is that in 2013 it will continue to neglect to do so. 

 

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26 comments on “Mystic Atwan’s crystal ball at the service of the BBC”

    • Don’t want to be boring but seems likely that Israelis are going to elect a very, very-right wing government which is unlikely to repel those laws and policies which violate Western democratic rules – the impossibility to have a civil marriage in Israel, the fact that the Israeli ID indicates whether their holder is a Jew or not, the settlement policy in contravention of international law, the occupation of the territory of another state, the double standards applied to Israeli settlers and Palestinians living in the same West Bank but being tried in front of different legal systems offering dramatically different protections (civiilain system for settlers, military system for Palestinians) …

      The BBC is 100% right.

      • “very, very right-wing” – unlike the enlightened leaders of our Arab brethren you mean? Isaac, bitter people like you should acknowledge where the real problems of the world are and who are the truly oppressed.
        Let’s not rehash the same old same old; Israel is a tiny sliver of land that outperforms heroically in every way as a shining beacon of decency and humanity. Its scientific technology is building the future and its artistic and sporting achievements are stunning. Its people are healthy and happy; the men are stong and the women are beautiful. They are living the good life, eating well, laughing, listening to music and travelling the world. What a shame for the likes of you….

        • Israel is a tiny sliver of land that outperforms heroically in every way as a shining beacon of decency and humanity. Its scientific technology is building the future and its artistic and sporting achievements are stunning.

          Too bad these achievements are undermined by the terrible image given by some 500 000 Israelis and their illegal settlements built on the territory of the state of Palestine. These settlers don’t seem to care about the achievements of the Jewish state,; they chose to move out of Israel and live in Palestine instead.

        • “They are living the good life, eating well, laughing, listening to music and travelling the world.”

          Those lucky enough to have a European or American passport are traveling the world on it – much safer than on an Israeli passport in this dangerous era.

        • “the men are strong and the women beautiful. They are living the good life, eating well, laughing, listening to music and travelling the world. ”

          I can see you spent a long time in Tel Aviv’s nightclubs, the perfect place to meet models.

          From time to time it’s also nice to venture into real Israel – you know, the country where people have to get up early in the morning to go to work and cannot afford to shop for clothes at Gucci because they need to pay the electricity bill so their children will not catch a cold.

          You know, children, these little things that you raise when you don’t spend your life repeating one-night stands with models in Tel Aviv. You know, like transmitting real values and teaching your kids that life is not only about looks and living like the Jet Set, but also about real values like friendship, about working hard to achieve your dreams, about protecting your family and your friends, about celebrating religious festivals with those you love…

          • Isaac, you know nothing about me. I’m really not a nightclub person and the models would not be interested in me!
            My sister lives in Israel and has has 2 kids who go to primary school. The same kids at risk from the recent missiles sent into Rishon. I’ve spent many weeks and months in my life in Israel mixing with the “real people” and I’m old enough to have discovered for myself the true values of life. However I’m happy that I give the impression that I’m a good-looking jet-setter surrounded by beautiful models!

          • Hey , you know what , Nat, \I live in England and I also hve to get up for woprk every day, and nevertheless I can’t afford Gucci clothes either (not that I’d even want them if I could, though!)

      • “Don’t want to be boring…”
        Too late for that, “Nat”. Every time you spill your nonsense here, when you spam incessantly, troll, employ sockpuppets — you force ennui on us all.
        Stop spamming, and if you’re really set on reforming yourself, stop lying too, idiot.

  2. You do an excellent job altogether Hadar :)

    I recall that one of the posters on my site sent a complaint to the BBC when they referred to the BNP as ‘far right’. The poster complained that actually the BNP were in fact – far left. The BBC respondent must of checked to see that this was in fact correct, but in typical BBC ‘never say we got it wrong’ mode, he replied that because the BNP were ‘so far left that it made them appear on the right’.

    You couldn’t make it up.

    So I wonder how far right the next Israeli government will have to get before the BBC refers to them as ‘left-wing?

    My guess is never, they’d rather the BNP and Israel government are seen as some sort of ‘allies’.

  3. This post deliberately confuses the policies espoused by parties and those of their supporters as declared in opinion polls. It may be the case that “most Likud-Beiteinu and the further-right Habayit Hayehudi voters would support a peace agreement establishing a demilitarized Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, Israel’s retention of major settlement blocs and a division of Jerusalem.” However the major move in party politics in recent weeks has been the growth in support for Jewish Home, whose leader has just declared that: “There is not going to be a Palestinian state”.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/07/naftali-bennett-interview-jewish-home

    Jewish Home will almost certainly be part of the ruling coalition and Netanyahu is already shifting his position further to the right to try to prevent more loss of extremist voters. Whatever the opinion polls say the ruling coalition is as likely to move towards a Palestinian state as I am to agree with SerJew and PetertheHungarian.

    • There is already an Arab Palestine to the east of the Jordan River. Of course there cannot possibly be another Palestinian state in the region allocated for the Jewish Palesinians, that section called Judea and Samaria, the ancient land of he Jews. The occupation of Israel finally ended in 1967, so why on earth must she now hand back to her occupiers vast tracts of Israeli territory simply to appease her enemies? The Arab Palestinians need to deal with the Hasmemites to get their freedom not try to rob the Jews of more land.

      • Sharon, you seem to be in a worrying state of mental confusion. Israel, Palestine and Jordan are three different states with three different governments and three different peoples.

        • Israel, Palestine and Jordan are three different states with three different governments and three different peoples.

          Jordan is more than 70% Palestinian and the next Jordanian king will be half Palestinian. Jordan is a Palestinian state in all but name.

        • er Isaac – I think the confusion is yours – specifically sexual confusion, as you reappear under different guises and different sexes Nat, Shoshana, and now Isaac…I guess the only constant is your Jew hatred.

  4. Atwam Bari is a clown. The fool had a video on YouTube where he extolled Arafat for being such an accomplished liar. I had linked to the video many times on CiF and he must have noticed and removed it.

    Nightline loves him. Even some of the anti Israel ‘plants’ that the BBC ‘cultivates’ on Nightline seem to be often somewhat at a loss to respond to his inarticulate crudeness.

  5. Hadar, good post. Your headline may be truer of Atwan than you might think. He probably believes in crystal ball gazing and fairies at the bottom of his garden.

    Nobbly Stick, I am not at all surprised that Atwan said what he did about Arafat and I’ll bet he did it without any trace of irony either. Irony, after all, is an index of some sort of intelligence.

    I remember a BBC radio interview with him after the scandal of the grooming of underage white girls in Rochdale UK. He told the interviewer that he believed that this was an attempt to smear Muslims. The interviewer said that it sounded as if he believed in conspiracy theories, to which Atwan replied, quite seriously, that if he wanted to believe in conspiracy theories then it was his right to do so. All this, again, without any sense of irony or perception of how he might come across.

    Nobbly Stick is right, the man is a clown, all of which begs the question of why Al-Beeb perceives him as some sort of “expert”.

  6. I complained to the BBC about Atwan years ago without any success….I was basically told that the BBC would make their own choices about who to invite on to their programs! Apparently it’s all about their Charter which calls on them to ensure a “balanced” view.

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