BBC and the parallel universe. Am I brainwashed?
I have been following the BBC coverage of the IDF’s operation in Jenin. When compared with the coverage of TOI and Jerusalem Post, it is like living in a parallel universe.
I think to myself, am I being brainwashed by local propaganda much like Russians are depicted on the same BBC as being brainwashed about the conflict in Ukraine?
But how can it be?
Not once has the BBC placed this operation in the context of the wider conflict with Iran. Nor has it mentioned the openly declared measures by Iran to fund and arm these Palestinian groups in the West Bank to open a new front against Israel. Nor Iran’s openly declared strategy to unite these ‘fronts’ – Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and now the West Bank – to attack and ultimately destroy Israel. Nor the visits in June by the Palestinian group leaders to Tehran where exactly such measures were openly discussed.
Not once does the BBC mention the first rocket attacks launched from Jenin towards Israeli civilian populations in the previous week. Nor does it remind us that Israel has long been subjected to large-scale indiscriminate rocket attacks from Gaza that send large parts of the country into bomb shelters for days on end. Nor does it remind us that those rockets are launched indiscriminately at Israeli civilians from the cover of civilian areas – a double war crime.
Is a nation’s efforts at self-preservation, at protecting its citizens, not worth mentioning? Is it not a legitimate part of the narrative here? Is Israel, uniquely among the nations, just supposed to sit back and let this happen?
Please advise me if I’m brainwashed and I’ve missing something here.