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Government spokesman Danny Seaman said the BBC "repeatedly tried to de-legitimize the State of Israel and its attitude "demonizes the Israelis."
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06/28
WorldNetDaily.com |
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| By Ellis Shuman June 29, 2003 |
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Israeli officials have decided to sever all ties with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in protest of the network's broadcast of a documentary critical of Israel's unconventional weaponry. Government Press Office director Danny Seaman said the BBC "repeatedly tried to de-legitimize the State of Israel" and its attitude "demonizes the Israelis." The last straw, Seaman said, was the BBC claim that Israel used nerve gas against the Palestinians.
Following the government decision, Israeli spokesmen will refuse invitations to speak on the BBC, Israel will not assist BBC correspondents asking to get around military roadblocks in the territories, and visa restrictions will be imposed on BBC staff coming to Israel. A discussion as to whether or not to expel all BBC correspondents is reportedly underway.
"The BBC will discover that bureaucracy can be applied with goodwill or without it. And after the way that they have repeatedly tried to de-legitimize the State of Israel, we, as hosts, have none left for them,'' Seaman told the Times.
The Israeli decision to cut ties with the BBC follows the network's broadcast on Saturday of a documentary entitled "Israel's Secret Weapon," first shown in Britain on BBC Two in March. The program was advertised with a series of provocative questions onscreen: "Which country in the Middle East has undeclared nuclear weapons? Which country in the Middle East has undeclared biological and chemical weapons capabilities? Which country in the Middle East has no outside inspections? Which country jailed its nuclear whistleblower for 18 years?"
"Our complaint is with the BBC as an organization rather than its bureau here, which does try from time to time to rectify its mistakes," Seaman told the Times. "The weapons program, which contains the ridiculous false assertion that we used nerve gas against the Palestinians, was the last straw.
"We decided that we had to draw a red line rather than just complain about a consistent attitude in which successive BBC programs attempt to place us in the same context as totalitarian, axis-of-evil countries such as Iraq and Iran.
"The attitude of the BBC is more than a pure journalistic matter; it is dangerous to the existence of the state of Israel because it demonizes the Israelis and gives our terrorist enemies reasons to attack us. There is no dialogue between Israel and the BBC and no recognition inside the corporation of the sensitivity of a people who have faced attempted annihilation.
"The questions about nuclear weapons asked by the BBC are never directed against the U.S. or Britain. Mr. Sharon is never mentioned without some critical reference to his alleged right-wing tendencies or military past, while Islamic terrorists are politely referred to as 'militants' out of a reluctance by the BBC to upset Muslims by telling the truth," Seaman said.
According to media reports, Israel repeatedly requested that the BBC not rebroadcast the weapons program. The decision to impose sanctions on the BBC was reached by representatives from the Office of the Prime Minister, the Foreign Ministry and the government press office who said the BBC's overall attitude towards Israel was "verging on the anti-Semitic."
In response, BBC News Director Richard Sambrook said, "We regret that the Israelis felt the need to take this action but we stand behind the veracity of the film."
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