Death of Gaza man prompts BBC mention of missile into Israel

On January 3rd a report titled “Palestinian shot near Gaza border ‘dies of wounds’” appeared on the Middle East page of the BBC News website. 

Jabaliya incident

The report relates to the death of a man named as Adnan Abu Khater who – as noted here last week – was injured the previous day when, together with a group of others, he tried to damage the border fence near Jabaliya and refused to heed warnings to move away from the area. Photographs taken by local photographers at Abu Khater’s funeral show him wrapped in a Hamas flag.

The BBC report states:

“Israel maintains a no-go buffer zone along the perimeter inside Gaza which it says is necessary to prevent militant attacks.” [emphasis added]

Apparently the recent killing of an Israeli civilian by a sniper who infiltrated that buffer zone has not convinced the BBC of its necessity.

The article closes with the following ‘last-first’ report:

“On Friday, Israeli F16 fighter jets carried out a series of air strikes on training posts belonging to militants in Gaza, Hamas security sources said, adding that no injuries or damage were caused.

The raids were in response to a militant rocket attack on southern Israel on Thursday night, according to Israeli Radio.”

Whilst it is good to see the BBC mentioning that missile attack, one cannot but wonder whether, had Abu Khater not succumbed to his wounds, it would have been noted at all or if – like the one three days before – it would have joined the many other missile attacks on Israeli civilian communities which the BBC elects to ignore. 

More from Hadar Sela
Another superficial BBC report on crime in Israel’s Arab sector
In August 2021 the BBC Jerusalem bureau’s Yolande Knell produced several reports...
Read More
Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published.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