Two days, two BBC reports, two accounts of the same events

An article concerning the discovery of a cross-border attack tunnel (discussed here) which was published on the BBC News website’s Middle East page on April 18th included an account of the circumstances which led to the conflict between Israel and terrorist organisations in the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2014.

“The Israeli military launched Operation Protective Edge in July 2014 with the stated aim of stopping rocket attacks by Hamas and destroying the group’s capabilities to conduct operations against Israel.

After an initial phase focused on air strikes, the Israeli military launched a ground offensive that sought to degrade militants’ infrastructure in Gaza and destroy their network of tunnels.

The operation concluded that August, when both sides agreed to a ceasefire.”

Although that account could have done more to inform readers of the scale of the missile fire against Israeli civilians that preceded the operation and the attempts made by Israel to diffuse the tensions beforehand, it is in all a reasonable portrayal of events.

Just one day later another article was published on the same BBC News website Middle East page in which audiences were given a different account of the same events.

In a report from April 19th titled “Mohammad Abu Khdair murder: Israeli ringleader found guilty” readers were told that:conviction Abu Khdeir case

“A Jerusalem court found 31-year-old Yosef Haim Ben David guilty, rejecting a plea of insanity. He will be sentenced next month.

Two youths have already been jailed for murdering Mohammad Abu Khdair, 16.

He was killed in apparent revenge for the murders of three Israeli teens in the occupied West Bank.

Mohammad Abu Khdair’s body was found in a forest in West Jerusalem on 2 July 2014, two days after the bodies of the Israelis abducted and murdered by Hamas militants that June were found.

The killings were part of an escalating cycle of violence, culminating in a war between Israel and militants in Gaza.” [emphasis added]

That “cycle of violence” theme has been promoted by the BBC in many previous reports dating from August 2014 onwards and as has been pointed out here on numerous occasions:

“[The] framing of the summer 2014 conflict as having been brought about by a “cycle of violence” erases the real cause of the hostilities.

In the weeks which preceded Operation Protective Edge attacks from the Gaza Strip escalated with 52 missiles fired during June 2014 and 237 missiles and dozens of mortars fired in the first week of July – eighty of them on July 7th alone.”

That escalation in missile fire from the Gaza Strip began immediately after the disappearance of the Israeli teenagers on June 12th [2014] and continued throughout the three weeks of search and rescue operations.

It was of course that incessant missile fire on Israeli civilians – which is repeatedly erased by the BBC in its portrayal of events – that was the reason for the military operation, with the later discovery of dozens of cross-border tunnels prompting the subsequent ground operation.”

As we see from the April 18th article quoted above, the BBC knows that full well. Nevertheless, it continues to concurrently promote the redundant “cycle of violence” myth which actively hinders audience understanding of the topic.

Related Articles:

BBC still misleading audiences on cause of 2014 conflict

BBC News still promoting ‘cycle of violence’ myth

More from Hadar Sela
The BBC, ‘settlements’ and cognitive dissonance
On March 10th a report appeared on the BBC News website’s Middle...
Read More
Leave a comment

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