BBC scuppers TV fundraising appeal for Gaza victim

[mids]

Jan 26, 2009 13:30:41 GMT minge tightly said:

He is under the impression that it will damage the BBC's reputation for impartiality in reporting the Israel-Palestine question, but the fact is that the BBC does not have any such reputation, having for years been institutionally pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli.

www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article5586716.ece

That's pretty much spot on. I think the BBC have only got themselves to blame for this. They know full well that they've been far from impartial and hopelessly whatever the pro-Palestinian line is so they're now trying to cack-handedly address this by refusing to air this appeal. They don't seem intelligent enough to realise the way to appear impartial is to be impartial and that impartiality year in year out is preferable to a panicky kneejerk attempt at putting a sticking plaster over the vast, weeping wound of their anti-Israeli bias.

[bertrus2]

anti-Israeli bias

Comparable with an anti-Nazi bias. The facts show Israel to be a terrorist state.

[aleefx]

f**k 'em. They'll just spend it on rockets.

[bertrus2]

feircely anti-Israeli rhetoric

Opposition to the actions of a mass-murdering colonising state is appropriate for a humanitarian organisation or any decent human being.

[silkbreeze]

Hamas is popular for its lack of corruption, welfare work, provision of schools and medical services. This is an important reason why it was preferred to Fatah in the 2006 parliamentary elections. Israel's invasion of Gaza was intended as a punishment for this decision and to send the message that democracy is bad for your health

you've really got into the spirit of the new chinese year of the ox and added a nice pile of bullshit.... a few percentage points of truth in what you wrote does not detract from the facts on the ground that your statement does not address what hamas is.......

[avieder]

Giving donations to any cause is one of the highest manifestations of humanity.
But one should always give charity according to ones ability, otherwise its just stupid.

I mean, if you can donate 100 don't donate 1000.
Therefore, as you have 100 to donate you should look to see who is the most needy and who is the least and give your donation in proportion: Say 50 to the most needy 25 to the next ....

The second thing you should check is the benefit that your donation will bring, as in the saying "give him a net to catch fish rather than a fish".

The third thing is the directness of your contribution: How much of your donation goes to the needy and how much goes to finance the "donation machine". The greater part that the "machine" gets the less your donation will help the needy.

Now, about the situation in Gaza:
a) There is NO need for MONEY. The Hamas is rich beyond imagination.
b) The devastation due to the war is mainly of Hamas instalations or that Hamas used.
c) The channels by which those donations (money or goods) will have to pass are through Hamas who will make sure that the "porvety" will remain so that the Media can continue to transmit those pictures and the donations will keep coming.


I could continue, but I shall leave some more for my friends on this board to enlighten this issue further.

[thenomad]

Why should we give any money to the Palestinians?

Over the years we have given hundreds of thousands of tax payer's money to them via the EU, UN, directly from the UK Government.

The terrorists have had more than enough cash given to them to raise the standards out there, but obviously firing rockets at Israel until it decided to hit back was more important than the welfare of its own people. So no more, not one penny should be sent to the terrorist infested crap hole. Tell them to go begging to the Saudis they have loads of money to waste. Oh! but I forgot the Saudis do not care about you either.

[flatandy]

Now, about the situation in Gaza:
a) There is NO need for MONEY. The Hamas is rich beyond imagination.

So, because Hamas is rich, we must assume that Gazans are not in need of help? This is funny because I'm pretty sure Hamas doesn't have billions of dollars needed to rebuild Gaza. But even if it did, it's pretty apparent from the shithole Gaza is that Hamas are not spending their money on humanitarian aid, which suggests to me all the more need for humanitarian aid.


b) The devastation due to the war is mainly of Hamas instalations or that Hamas used.

You mean, say, like UN Schools that Hamas hid in, or hospitals that treated Hamas members as well as the rest of the Palestinian population? And because these are "used" by Hamas it's fine to punish everyone else?


c) The channels by which those donations (money or goods) will have to pass are through Hamas who will make sure that the "porvety" will remain so that the Media can continue to transmit those pictures and the donations will keep coming.

Which is why you should give to direct aid agencies like MSF or ICRC or whatever, for something like this.

That said, I'd rather the DEC appeal wasn't Gaza specific and offered to rebuild and give humanitarian help to either side in this conflict. As it happens, that would actually turn out to be almost exclusively Gaza, as far less of Israel is fcuked by this. But at least the appeal could claim to be non-partisan.

[bertrus2]

Israel receives more aid than Palestine. We can see where it goes. In helicopter gunships, fighter planes, white phosphorus, cluster bombs and the best that America can provide for mass murder of defenceless people.

[bertrus2]

Hamas are not spending their money on humanitarian aid

One of the reasons that the Hamas Change and Reform Party won 74 out of 132 seats in the 2006 parliamentary elections is that they do provide welfare, education and health services. The invasion of Gaza was, among other things, to destroy the ability of Hamas to provide these services.

[flatandy]

Funny, that, Bertie, because Gaza still looks like a grim poverty-ridden shithole slum. Not, exactly, somewhere that the government has been fantastically competent at spending the money channeled its way by a deeply sympathetic international community. Not somewhere the government is most concerned about humanitarian well-being of the citizens,

[mids]

Jan 26, 2009 14:42:05 GMT flatandy said:

I'm pretty sure Hamas doesn't have billions of dollars needed to rebuild Gaza.

I think Hamas probably do have billions of dollars. Arafat had billions and he was just one person.

[cobblers]

Like all fascist movements they aim to be everything for the people they claim to lead. What you can be sure of is that the money is used to consolidate their position.

[mids]

Maybe they'll make the trains run on time?

[flatandy]

That would make them an easy target for the Israelis, at least.

[dwad]

I have no idea on the financial status of Hamas but there was a little interesting PR campaign they ran recently giving envelopes of cash to bombing victims - literally a few guys in Hamas baseball caps giving out envelopes of cash. Don't know what I made of that really. Suppose it's a good thing regardless of motive?

[cobblers]

They give that money to all 'shahadas'. Obviously though the suicide bombers whose families they reward have actually agreed to become martyrs to the cause.

[dwad]

Well it was hard to tell the PR from the reality but the claim was that it was going to Hamas supporters and non-supporters alike.

[cobblers]

They're all 'shahadas' in Hamas eyes.

[bertrus2]

Gaza still looks like a grim poverty-ridden shithole slum. Andy

Hamas was elected to form a government in the Occupied Territories of the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza. The present state of Gaza has something to do with Israel/America's success in preventing a peaceful transition to a Hamas government. The current state of Gaza, if it looks like Germany after the Second World War, is connected to the hundreds of tons of bombs dropped on it and other munitions. Your part of London wouldn't look too good either if it had had similar treatment. Besides Israel maintains a total blockade of Gaza. Nothing and nobody, except through the tunnels, gets in or out unless it suits Israel. What suits Israel is starving the inhabitants and demolishing their property. You'd soon be in a grim, poverty-ridden shithole under these conditions. Besides, if you were dependent on aid, you definitely wouldn't be dining at the Fat Duck, not an income of less than $3,000 a year, even if you crawled through a tunnel to escape from your ghetto.