BBC: Lie of the Day
Charles Johnson
Sun Feb 20, 2005 at 8:16 am PST • Views: 397
Last week, BBC Radio 4’s “Thought for the Day” was a cheerful little anecdote about an Arab conscript into the IDF who, according to the Reverend John Bell, was jailed for refusing to murder Palestinian children.
On Friday, Bell and the BBC “apologized” for his bogus story—but specifically did not retract the charge that Israel is deliberately murdering Palestinian children.
The BBC has apologised after receiving complaints over a recent edition of BBC Radio 4’s Thought For The Day.
In the programme, on 10 February, the Reverend John Bell of the Iona Community spoke of meeting an Arab man conscripted into the Israeli Army.
Dr Bell told listeners the 19-year-old corporal had been jailed for refusing to shoot Palestinian schoolchildren.
However, the remarks angered many members of Britain’s Jewish community, who said the account could not be true. Several people told the BBC that Israeli Arabs are exempt from conscription into the army. Moreover, it would be impossible for a 19-year-old to rise to the rank of corporal.
Dr Bell has since admitted, in a letter to the BBC, that his account contained “two factual errors”.
“One was that the soldier was 21 and not 19, thus he would have been of the age to be a corporal. The second is that he did not say he was conscripted. My presumption regarding conscription is wrong as regards Arab Israelis.
“I perfectly understand that at a time when Jewish sensitivity in Britain is running high because of anti-Semitism that part of my remarks might have been interpreted as furtive racism.
“However, such a conjecture would be completely untrue. For any unintended dismay I may have caused, I apologise unreservedly.”
Once again we see the nasty assumption of the antisemite—that only Jews could be offended by such a foul accusation. Suggested new name for this BBC Radio program: “Bigoted Libelous Thought of the Day.”
Frank says: