BBC News attempt to associate neo-fascism and racism with the Right

In Nazi deportees speak to Di Canio, one can read the following.

The BBC's Christian Fraser, in Rome, says Di Canio has become the darling of the neo-fascist right.

The use of the term “neo-fascist right” is an unsubtle attempt to stigmatise the Right, given that neo-fascism is undeniably a far right movement.

In the same article, the below paragraph also appears.

Lazio fans have a reputation as some of the most racist, right-wing fans in Italy.

This attempt at vilifying the Right is even more obvious than the one above, the article’s author trying to associate “racist” with “right-wing” by implying that the “most racist” are the “most right-wing”. There is a difference between the position on the political spectrum — from, say, centre-right to far right — and the degree of identification with a position on that spectrum — for example, vehement support for right-wing politics (conservatism or libertarianism) or more moderate centre-right views. “Most right-wing” should be understood as “most supportive of small government and free market”, not “furthest right” as the article’s author implies.

There is also the saddening possibility that, as a commenter over at Biased BBC once wrote, on the political spectrum inside the “BBC bubble”, the centre is in reality the left and the far right, what is actually the right.

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BBC News omits radical aspect of imams’ “moderate” roadshow

BBC News reports on the “imams’ roadshow” in London, a tour of “moderate” influential Islamic scholars giving their views on the Qur’an’s teachings to supposedly steer Muslims away from extremism, in Imams hit road to beat extremism. Not once, though, does the BBC refer to the radical leanings of speakers at the event, some of whom have alarming records of advocating jihadism, as revealed The Daily Standard more than two weeks ago.

* Tariq Ramadan, the Swiss Islamist intellectual who has been barred from entry into the United States. Ramadan has been praised as a moderate by Time magazine and others, but he has been treated with greater realism in Arab media, including the Beirut Daily Star, which noted that Ramadan has "has failed to condemn Palestinian suicide bombers" and that he defended Qatar-based Shaykh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a notorious extremist who has also supported suicide terrorism, on a British television talk-show. The Star further quoted Marc Gopin, director of the Center for World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University, who said "after closely examining Ramadan's works and positions" he was " 'disappointed in Ramadan's approach' to the crises in the Arab and Muslim world . . . Gopin added [that] Ramadan's message did not provide a real approach to fundamental Islam that would make it 'more peaceful, nonviolent and pluralistic.'"

* Tariq Suweidan, from Kuwait, has also been excluded from the United States. Suweidan preached at a meeting of the Hamas-front Islamic Association for Palestine in Chicago in 2000, "Palestine will not be liberated but through Jihad. Nothing can be achieved without sacrificing blood. The Jews will meet their end at our hands."

* Hamza Yusuf Hanson, formerly Joseph Hanson, who, in 1991, gave a provoking speech about why "Jihad is the Only Way," at an International Islamic Conference held at the University of Southern California. That group is the local unit of the Islamic Circle of North America, a front for the al Qaeda-allied Jama'at-i-Islami movement in Pakistan.

* Yusuf Islam, formerly Cat Stevens, who is also known for his radical proclivities.

In the BBC News article, one can also read the following.

It is a completely different face of Islam from the angry, banner-waving Muslims seen recently after cartoons satirising the prophet Mohammed sparked outrage in Britain and around the world.

The Muslim prophet Muhammad is here referred to as “the prophet Mohammed”, though the first letter of the term “prophet” is no longer capitalised; will the BBC ever specify that he is the Muslims’ prophet?

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BBC News reports Hamas’s truce, disregards Israel’s

In BBC News reports on Hamas (such as Victorious Hamas must tread carefully, Hamas urges EU not to end funding and Hamas 'ready to talk to Israel'), one can often read the following.

Hamas has largely observed a truce in its fight with Israel for the past year.

The following excerpts are taken from the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs’s 2005 Terrorism Review.

During 2005, the terrorist organizations have increased their efforts to establish infrastructures for producing mortar rounds and rockets … eight such infrastructures (four affiliated with Hamas …) were uncovered.

…

Hamas was intensively involved in terrorist actions throughout 2005 despite the "tahdia". Hamas was responsible for the suicide bombing at the Beersheba bus station on 28 August 2005 in which two security guards were seriously wounded. In September 2005, Hamas terrorists abducted and murdered Jerusalem businessman Sasson Nuriel.

While refraining from publicly claiming responsibility for terror attacks, maintaining the outward semblance of abiding by the "tahdia", or declared calm, Hamas assisted other terrorist groups in carrying out attacks against Israel.

In Victorious Hamas must tread carefully, Jim Muir wrote the following.

But in practice, although it carried out many suicide attacks in the past, Hamas has largely observed a unilateral truce for the past year.

Hamas announced that it was committed to a truce, though calling it “unilateral” is somewhat misleading, giving the impression that Israel has not declared a truce when in fact it has.

BBC News is eager to report that Hamas has “largely” observed a truce in its fight with Israel for the past year, yet nowhere says that Israel has, too, greatly observed a truce in its fight against Palestinians in 2005, as revealed by the following graph of the Palestinian death toll from 2004 onwards, including the deaths of militants (figures given by the Palestine Red Crescent Society).

As can be seen, the number of Palestinian deaths has greatly decreased since Israel declared a truce, though BBC News does not make this known, too busy, it seems, reporting that the Israeli death toll is the lowest in years, thanks to the truce observed by those ever trustworthy “militant” groups.

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BBC double standards alive and well

In Italy judge throws out Jesus case, one can read the following.

An atheist who sued a small-town priest for saying that Jesus Christ existed has had his case thrown out of court.

…

But Mr Cascioli said his opponent would have a hard time trying to demonstrate that he had committed slander since this would mean proving that Jesus Christ existed.

Follow excerpts from Islam-West divide 'grows deeper'.

As he spoke at a conference in Kuala Lumpur, thousands protested outside at cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

…

The satirical cartoons include an image portraying Muhammad with a bomb in his turban. Islamic tradition explicitly prohibits any depiction of Allah and the Prophet.

…

A Swedish internet service provider shuts down the website of a right-wing anti-immigrant party which invited readers to send in cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad

In the former story, Jesus Christ is referred to by his name whereas in the latter report, as in much others, the Muslim prophet Muhammad is called “Prophet Muhammad” or simply “the Prophet”, the first letter of the term invariably capitalised. Why is Jesus Christ not referred to as “the Lord Jesus Christ” or “the Saviour”?

The BBC’s former chief executive having recently identified its double standards in dealing with Islam, one would think that it would have taken notice — and one would be wrong, it appears, to do so.

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BBC News admits to falling for fake Muhammad cartoon

In A clash of rights and responsibilities, by the BBC News website World Affairs correspondent Paul Reynolds, one can read the following.

Twelve cartoons were originally published by Jyllands-Posten. None showed the Prophet with the face of a pig. Yet such a portrayal has circulated in the Middle East (The BBC was caught out and for a time showed film of this in Gaza without realizing it was not one of the 12).

I believe the above statement is the first in which BBC News admits to falling for one of the fake Muhammad cartoons, considerably more offensive than Jyllands-Posten’s original 12, distributed around Muslim countries in an attempt to stir up even more hate.

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BBC News misleading on status of Hamas

In Israel to pay frozen tax revenues, one can read the following.

Israel suspended the funds because it regards Hamas as a terrorist group committed to the destruction of Israel.

The above statement is somewhat misleading, in that it makes it sound as though only Israel considers Hamas a terrorist group committed to the country’s destruction. In fact, it is also listed as a terrorist group by the European Union, Canada, the United States and Australia. Former Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi said that the movement “will remove Israel from the map”, a motivation corroborated by the Hamas charter, from which the following excerpts are taken.

Israel will rise and will remain erect until Islam eliminates it as it had eliminated its predecessors.

…

The Hamas has been looking forward to implement Allah’s promise whatever time it might take. The prophet, prayer and peace be upon him, said: The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them); until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! there is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him!

…

The Arab states surrounding Israel are required to open their borders to the Jihad fighters, the sons of the Arab and Islamic peoples, to enable them to play their role and to join their efforts to those of their brothers among the Muslim Brothers in Palestine.

BBC News’s statement would have been more accurate if formulated as follows.

Israel suspended the funds because Hamas, regarded as a terrorist group by the European Union and the United States as well as by itself, is committed to the destruction of Israel.

Jim Muir perhaps sets the editorial guidelines.

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BBC News blind to Iran’s violation of human rights

Why is it that BBC News seemingly refuses to report on Iran’s violation of human rights?

The story of the teenage rape victim sentenced to death by hanging for having killed one of the three men who had tried to rape both her and her niece was nowhere to be seen on the BBC News website, an omission which BBC’s NewsWatch tries to excuse by saying that the story “became known on a weekend” and that stories missed by BBC News and “covered widely elsewhere” the BBC avoids covering. An excerpt of the NewsWatch reply to a comment on the issue follows.

However, the fact it isn't running shouldn't be seen as an act of censorship - we have covered the issue of Iran's human rights in the past:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4184598.stm

“In the past”? Biased BBC writer Ed Thomas puts it best.

'In the past'- oh, ok, we only bother with Iran as a kind of academic, history exercise. It's not like their business is news or anything. And it was the weekend- the three billions of public money just couldn't cover that

The story linked to goes back 5 months and was published only on the basis that Amnesty International expressed “growing concern” — how else can such scarce coverage of Iran’s violation of human rights be explained?

The American Expatriate revealed BBC News’s extraordinary interest in US executions. Iran executed at least 159 people in 2004, yet BBC News apparently published only the following articles covering executions in the country in that year.

• October: Iran child killer to be executed
• December: UN chides Iran over human rights

In 2005, there were more than 120 executions in Iran since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s term began on the 3rd of August, 2005 and many more before that date. It seems BBC News published only the following articles reporting on this issue last year.

• January: Iran denies execution by stoning
• March: Iran's 'desert vampire' executed
• July: Iran 'must stop youth executions'
• August: Execution plea over Iran youths

Those that rely on BBC News for impartial coverage of violation of human rights have a lot hidden from them, as revealed by sites such as Iran Focus, Human Rights Watch and the National Council of Resistance of Iran’s. The following list enumerates BBC News articles covering Iran’s abuse of human rights in 2004 and 2005.

• June 2004: Report slams Iran rights abuses, Iran rebukes EU on rights abuses
• December 2004: UN chides Iran over human rights
• January 2005: US concern over Iran human rights, Iran's Khatami raps US on rights
• February 2005: The price paid for blogging Iran, Iran girl gets 100 lashes for sex
• May 2005: Iran's top judge attacks police

BBC News does not report on, say, Iran’s secret police arresting hundreds of union activists, the three men flogged in public for drinking in December 2005 and the two men hanged for homosexuality in November 2005. There are many other such stories of which even the most appalling aren’t reported by the BBC.

Why are these events not covered by BBC News?

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BBC News readers’ opinion on Muhammad cartoons misrepresented

In Anger grows over Muhammad cartoon and Danish plea for calm on cartoons, BBC News selects the two following quotes from readers’ opinions expressed in Have Your Say: Should 'anti-Islam' cartoons have been published?.

We fought for freedom of religion...France Soir's owner should be ashamed

Marcel de Vries, Netherlands

Freedom of speech has its limits when it concerns others...How would it feel if Jesus Christ was the one insulted instead?

Randa Ahmed Essa, Egypt

“Cartoon row: Your reaction” being the text for the link to readers’ opinions, one would think that the above reactions are generally representative of those expressed. In reality, readers have massively recommended opinions favouring the publishing of the cartoons, with more than 50 such posts — that’s into the fourth page — being recommended over all others.

The supporters among BBC News readers of the publishing of “anti-Islam” cartoons are visibly in overwhelming majority, so is it not quite deceitful to select the opinions of two readers who are in the minority?

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