As regular readers will be aware, since the beginning of this year there have been five separate incidents in which missiles were launched into Israel from the Sinai peninsula and nine additional missile attacks from the Gaza Strip.
The BBC’s English language services have not reported any of those fourteen attacks.
Fortunately – and not least because Israeli civilians are well-drilled in taking appropriate precautions when such incidents take place – none of those attacks resulted in serious injuries or fatalities.
On November 4th a missile fired at the Saudi Arabian city of Riyadh from Yemen was intercepted and no injuries were reported.
The BBC News website published two written articles and one filmed report on that incident, reporting that:
‘”The missile was launched indiscriminately to target the civilian and populated areas,” said Turki al-Maliki, a spokesman for the Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen.’
And:
“Human Rights Watch said the launch of an indiscriminate missile at a predominantly civilian airport was an apparent war crime.”
Readers of the second report were also provided with a guide to the “Houthi missile threat to Saudi Arabia” that noted one previous incident in 2016.
So while one attack against Saudi Arabia was covered in three English language reports, fourteen separate attacks against Israel have not prompted even one word of coverage on the BBC News website.
