On February 27th 2013 an article appeared on the Middle East page of the BBC News website concerning the discharge from the Rivka Ziv hospital in Tsfat (Safed) of six of the seven wounded Syrian citizens treated there recently.
One might think that the tone of this report would, under the circumstances, be positive.
But note the BBC’s barely veiled accusation of wrongdoing on Israel’s part in this passage:
“A statement issued by the Israeli military said that the Syrians’ repatriation “was completed at an undisclosed location for their own safety”.
The military made no comment on why the six – whose identities have not been disclosed – were returned to Syria, where they could be in danger.”
Of course the BBC, like the rest of us, has no idea who these Syrians are or what their affiliations are – if any. Neither does the BBC know whether or not they even requested not to be repatriated and its declaration that they “could be in danger” can be nothing more than speculation. But none of that stops it throwing mud in Israel’s direction anyway.
Another strange – and seemingly contradictory – insinuation came from the BBC’s Wyre Davies in a Tweet on the subject, with the bizarre use of the words “allowed home”.
Interestingly, despite the fact that this article was last updated at 13:00 GMT on February 27th (15:00 local time), the BBC did not see fit to include in it any mention of the fact that a Syrian tank shell hit the Israeli village of Alonei HaBashan in the later hours of Wednesday morning – fortunately without causing any injuries. That news does not appear anywhere else on the BBC website either.
