A part of the Israeli story consistently ignored by the BBC

Nearly two years ago we wrote about a terror attack which took place on Route 5 but – like so many others – was not reported by the BBC.Adele Bitton

Adele Bitton, who was three years old at the time, was badly injured when Palestinian stone-throwers (later arrested and currently standing trial) attacked passing vehicles. She suffered serious neurological damage and spent the next eighteen months in hospital and rehabilitation. Earlier this week Adele, who never fully recovered from her injuries, was hospitalized again after having contracted pneumonia and yesterday afternoon she died.

In the year in which Adele was injured (2013) an additional 115 people suffered injuries as a result of stone-throwing attacks on civilian vehicles but BBC audiences remain unaware of the scale of everyday terrorism in Israel because the vast majority of non-fatal terror attacks are simply not reported.

That policy does not only mean that the BBC fails to meet its commitment to enhance its funding public’s “awareness and understanding of international issues“: it also means that BBC reporters are able to misleadingly frame the incidents it does chose to report as “sporadic” or “rare“.

Whilst the BBC is not expected to report every single instance of rock or fire-bomb throwing in real-time like the local media, it is obvious that untold stories such as that of Adele Bitton and her family are no less important than the fatal attacks which do get headlines in helping audiences to understand Israel’s policies, counter-terrorism measures and the concerns of the Israeli people. Any media organization genuinely committed to fully informing its audiences would make efforts to periodically report that essential context. 

 

 

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