BBC reports the parts of Abbas’ OIC speech that fit its narrative

Which parts of Mahmoud Abbas' speech to the OIC did the BBC chose not to report?

Like BBC World Service radio, on December 13th the BBC News website produced a report on that day’s meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Turkey.

Titled “Muslim nations urge recognition of East Jerusalem as Palestinian capital“, the article opened with a summary of the meeting:

“The leaders of 57 Muslim nations have called on the world to recognise “the State of Palestine and East Jerusalem as its occupied capital”.

An Organisation of Islamic Co-operation communique declares US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise the city as Israel’s capital as “null and void”.

It also says the move has signalled Washington’s withdrawal from its role in the Middle East peace process.”

The initial version of the report focused on remarks made by the Turkish president while unquestioningly amplifying his propaganda.

“Mr Erdogan also again accused Israel of being a “state of terror”. […]

“Those who fight with their friends forget to fight with their enemies,” he added. “We need a diplomatic solution. We have to stop Israel gaining more land from Palestine day by day. And we must not accept the policies and attitude Israel has been displaying day by day.”

Later versions of the report – which once again promoted the partisan map of Jerusalem produced by B’tselem – included remarks from Mahmoud Abbas.

“Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas earlier said the UN should take over.

In a speech to the OIC summit in Istanbul, Mr Abbas said it would be “unacceptable” for the US to be the mediator “since it is biased in favour of Israel”.

The Palestinians had engaged with the Trump administration in an attempt to agree “the deal of the century”, he noted, but had instead “got the slap of the century”.”

BBC audiences were not, however, informed of Abbas’ negation of Jewish history in Jerusalem, which he described in his speech as “a Palestinian Arab Muslim Christian city”.

Neither were BBC audiences informed that the long since unelected president of the Palestinian Authority went off script in his address to accuse Jews of ‘faking history’.

“In his speech before the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Wednesday, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas charged that Jews are “really excellent in faking and counterfeiting history and religion.”

According to a video of the speech, which was uncovered by the blog Israelly Cool!, Abbas, at one point said:

‘I don’t want to discuss religion or history because they are really excellent in faking and counterfeiting history and religion. But if we read the Torah it says that the Canaanites were there before the time of our prophet Abraham and their existence continued since that time. This is in the Torah itself. But if [inaudible] would like to fake this history, they are really masters in this and it is mentioned in the holy Quran they fabricate truth and they try to do that and they believe in that but we have been there in this location for thousands of years.'”

As pointed out at the Tablet:

“Typically, Abbas presents his critiques of Israel as anti-Zionist rather than anti-Jewish. But of course, the Qur’an does not mention Zionists or Zionism—a modern political movement. It mentions Jews. Thus, according to Abbas, it is Jews who are “really excellent in faking and counterfeiting history and religion,” who “fabricate truth,” and who “are really masters in this.” Ironically, in this passage, Abbas was attempting to argue that the modern Palestinian people is actually descended from the biblical Canaanites, a dubious claim with little evidence to support it. Thus, he accused Jews of being fabricators of history while engaging in the same.”

Just as BBC audiences are never told about Abbas’ personal role in the PA’s incitement to violence and glorification of terrorism or his refusal to recognise the Jewish state, they likewise do not hear anything about his longstanding denial of Jewish history in Jerusalem.

After all, such information would contradict the BBC’s exclusively promoted narrative of hard done by Palestinians desperate for a ‘two-state solution’.

Related Articles:

The BBC WS finds a use for the word terror, misleads on Jerusalem

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