Diplomat hounded out of university: this time, the BBC reports

Well well: it transpires that the BBC is not, after all, averse to reporting the hounding out of diplomats from universities at which they have been invited to speak – just as long as the diplomat concerned happens to come from their own country. 
In sharp contrast with its failure to report on the February 20th incident at Essex University in which the deputy Israeli ambassador to the UK had to be evacuated under threat, as well as its previous failure to report a similar incident in 2010 at Manchester University, the BBC has produced two items so far (here and here) relating to the incident on March 5th 2013 in which the British Consul General  in Jerusalem was hounded out of Birzeit University near Ramallah. 

Fean Birzeit

In a glaring fail of accuracy, the written version of the report states:

“Some held up posters of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and placards condemning the Balfour Declaration of 1917 – a British imagepledge of support for the establishment of a Jewish “national home” in Palestine, then under a British mandate.” [emphasis added]

Of course there was no such thing as a mandate – British or otherwise – in November 1917 when the Balfour Declaration was made, because the mandate for Palestine was allocated to Great Britain at the San Remo conference on April 24th 1920, with the draft of the mandate being approved by the League of Nations on July 24th 1922 when the 51 member countries unanimously declared:

“Whereas recognition has been given to the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country;”

The mandate’s terms became operational on the 29th of September 1923, so in this above statement the BBC has jumped the gun by almost six years. 
One trusts that a correction will be made. 
Update: One day after the appearance of this post, the above paragraph was amended to remove the ahistoric claim and now reads:

“Some held up posters of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and placards condemning the Balfour Declaration of 1917 – a British pledge of support for the establishment of a Jewish “national home” in Palestine.” 

More from Hadar Sela
Corrections secured to inaccurate BBC News website maps – part one
Following a complaint, a map that included inaccurate information has been amended...
Read More
Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *