Panorama or point of view? *updated*

Must be great being a journalist. John Ware yesterday showed how it can be carried off with minimum work. Just sit back and soak in the briefings from Mossad.

It was rumoured previously that Ware was influenced by Israel’s secret service, but he wore it on his sleeve with pride on yesterday’s Panorama. With reference what “intelligence sources say”, he had, for example, information on secret meetings held by Palestinians 14 years ago, access to transcripts of prisoners held by Israel, and material seized by the Israeli army in the West Bank.

He seemed in awe of his informants. A Palestinian head teacher denied that her school had ever been raided by the Israeli army, but he maintained it had, and that a computer seized from there had pictures of violence on it. For Ware, she was lying, and the Israelis could do no wrong.

Ware’s goading of young boys in an orphanage as to how many of them wanted to be fighters was sick beyond words. It was unnerving how he managed to continually divorce himself from his surroundings in pursuit of his agenda. Who were these orphans? How were they orphaned? Why did it seem that there were so many orphanages in the Palestinian territories?

This is not Beverly Hills he was touring. This was a nation under military occupation. Children didn’t sing songs inspired by Hamas – these songs existed before Hamas. The circumstances that brought the songs were the same that brought Hamas – killing, displacement, occupation, humiliation.

Go outwith the Hamas-funded schools, to the UN ones, the ones run by the PA, and you will find children singing the exact same things. Somehow, given their lives, I doubt “baa baa black sheep” “or “hey diddle diddle” would cut it. This may be difficult for us living here where the most revolutionary person possible is a “punk rocker with flowers in her hair”, but there are people in the world with serious issues to contend with.

So what’s Ware’s solution? We stop funding Hamas? Resistance to occupation as I’ve said is not an exclusive preserve of Hamas – it’s natural. Hamas is also supported by 60 per cent of the people. How do you avoid them? Stop funding starving impoverished Palestinians altogether?

For the BBC to be used by Mossad in such a way is a disaster. ‘Panorama’ means we get the whole picture. The BBC usually prides itself on showing what’s happening on both sides of a dispute, even if it means giving the same airtime to one dead Israeli as ten Lebanese. But not for this documentary.

So here’s a job for a budding journalist. Where do funds for pro-Israeli charities go? How much of it is directed to illegal settler posts? What are bodies like the Jewish National Fund up to? Ware did make it look easy – but then you’ll have to find the answers yourself.

UPDATE: Interpal respond. Turns out that Ware is so biased that he did not mention any of Interpal's responses to the allegations despite spending hours with one of their trustees.

The allegations in the documentary are not new. I've had it confirmed to me that Ware's material was pretty much what the Board of Deputies tried to use in their court case last year. We know how that ended up.

Comments

[John Ware looks like a badger]

I agree about that incident in the classroom, and remember, a lot of children copy what other children are doing. As one child put his hand up, another followed, and another followed. So how many of these children put their hand up just because their peers did it (as kids do that kind of thing all the time). Mr Ware didn't take that into account. He also needs to dye his eyebrows!

[Abu Abdur Rahman]

Masha Allah, good post.

Someone should write to the BBC, no?

[Saracen]

It was a real joke. Everything fed by the Israelis was taken as fact. And what about the part where he points to an emblem showing a hand emerging from a globe covered in blood and he comes out with: "It conveys to me a picture of Islam dominating the world, and if necessary through bloodshed." I mean where is this guy coming from? I think anyone watching the programme will see that there's an agenda.

It's as if orphans whose parents were lost in conflict, whose uncles are locked up in Israeli prisons, whose trip to school goes through military checkpoints, whose family were displaced and live in a refugee camp are supposed to be diplomatic and forgiving.

The female headteacher of that girls' school did really well in my opinion. The others were reasonable, though the guy from the Charities Commission was a joke.

[Shavez]

I loved the bit where the woman head teacher said the flags were Saudi ones, and Ware was about to say "But this is Palestine", but checked himself and said "West Bank" instead!

He couldn't adjust himself to the fact that Hamas had been voted in and were not some fringe group, but the govt. He said Hamas "took power" like it was a coup of something, and that Hebron was "City of Hamas", not realising they're all Hamas cities now.

Scary phrases were used like "missionary da'wah", and an example of indoctrination was an orphan who said the Qur'an guided his life. Qaradawi was a threat because he was bringing "ideas" to Europe. Strapping ideas to his chest. Tut-tut.

Come on BBC.

Can make comments at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/5209466.stm#comments

[Yasmin Mahdi]

Why is 'Hamas is a terrorist organisation' seen as a statement of fact while no such thing can so uncontroversially be said of the Israeli state??

Oh and by association, anyone who supports the Palestinian resistance is a supporter of terrorism - how convenient. Let's have a go at Shaykh Yusuf Al Qaradawi and every Islamic organisation in Britain while we're at it then!!??

Was a sickening documentary....

[thabet]

Someone should write to the BBC, no?

Not just someone, but us. Me, you, him and her.

I thought this whole issue with Interpal was cleared up in the courts? What's been their response to this programme?

[Osama]

Have added an update on the main post with Interpal's response.

Though Ware's material was the same as the BoD's, I don't think Ware was as reckless as to call Interpal 'terrorists' directly as the BoD did. So doubt there is much grounds for a legal challenge, which gives Ware and others much leeway for mudslinging.

[George Carty]

How good do you think this documentary was as pro-Israel propaganda?

[thabet]

The BBC Editors make note of comments about the programme here. Let them know how you feel.

You can complain to the BBC here. We should all make a complaint.

[ummzeyad]

salaams, dear all check out alerts at mpac in response to this digraceful documentary, mpacuk have been encouraging people to complain about this for many months now:

http://www.mpacuk.org/content/view/2432/1/

pass it on keep complaints coming in!