Britain’s ‘public service broadcaster’ is keeping the public in the dark about UK support for Israel’s assault on Gaza, new research finds. Declassified researched the BBC’s online coverage of 16 aspects of UK policy towards Israel and the pro-Israel lobby. “It is high time for the corporation to be truly held to account and be reformed in the public interest”, leading media professor says.
by Mark Curtis
Part 3 - Arms exports
In sharp contrast to other UK government policies concerning Israel, the BBC has published many articles mentioning British arms exports to Israel.
In these reports, the BBC has occasionally cited concerns by human rights groups and MPs about the possible use by Israel of these arms, at the same time as citing pro-Israel figures.
However, article headlines have rarely been critical of these weapons sales.
The only overtly disapproving headlines Declassified could find were: ‘Brother of aid worker killed in Gaza criticises arming Israel’ and ‘Amnesty criticises ministers for arms firms funding’.
Another headline was: ‘Foreign Office official resigned over Israel arms sales’.
In these reports, the BBC has occasionally cited concerns by human rights groups and MPs about the possible use by Israel of these arms, at the same time as citing pro-Israel figures.
However, article headlines have rarely been critical of these weapons sales.
The only overtly disapproving headlines Declassified could find were: ‘Brother of aid worker killed in Gaza criticises arming Israel’ and ‘Amnesty criticises ministers for arms firms funding’.
Another headline was: ‘Foreign Office official resigned over Israel arms sales’.
By contrast, many headlines are conciliatory towards Israel. These include:
‘UK defends partial Israel arms ban as Netanyahu calls it “shameful”’
‘UK ban on selling arms to Israel would benefit Hamas, says Cameron’
‘Boris Johnson: Shameful to call for UK to end arms sales to Israel’
‘Deputy PM: It’s still legal for the UK to sell arms to Israel’
There are no headlines about the possible use of UK arms by Israel in Gaza, or any directly reflecting the repeated calls by groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, to halt all UK arms exports and military assistance to Israel.
The prominent legal action against the government for arming Israel brought by the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP), the Global Legal Action Network and Al-Haq, has been ignored by the BBC. Declassified could find no BBC written coverage of this at all.
‘UK defends partial Israel arms ban as Netanyahu calls it “shameful”’
‘UK ban on selling arms to Israel would benefit Hamas, says Cameron’
‘Boris Johnson: Shameful to call for UK to end arms sales to Israel’
‘Deputy PM: It’s still legal for the UK to sell arms to Israel’
There are no headlines about the possible use of UK arms by Israel in Gaza, or any directly reflecting the repeated calls by groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, to halt all UK arms exports and military assistance to Israel.
The prominent legal action against the government for arming Israel brought by the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP), the Global Legal Action Network and Al-Haq, has been ignored by the BBC. Declassified could find no BBC written coverage of this at all.
The most prominent group challenging British arms exports, the Campaign Against Arms Trade, has been mentioned six times on the BBC website in 15 months.
Declassified has uncovered three other disturbing aspects of Britain’s arming of Israel, none of which appears to have been covered by the BBC.
These include Britain continuing to provide military equipment to Israel after announcing limited sanctions last September, and allowing UK airspace to be used to supply weapons to Israel.
Also unreported by the BBC is that the UK has been sending components for F-35 warplanes to the US, where they can be then exported to Israel.
Declassified has uncovered three other disturbing aspects of Britain’s arming of Israel, none of which appears to have been covered by the BBC.
These include Britain continuing to provide military equipment to Israel after announcing limited sanctions last September, and allowing UK airspace to be used to supply weapons to Israel.
Also unreported by the BBC is that the UK has been sending components for F-35 warplanes to the US, where they can be then exported to Israel.
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