Israel Matzav

The BBC still doesn't get it

What seems to evade BBC officials and others is the connection between the sermons of hate that have poured into the minds of Muslim youth and the kidnapping of one of their most respected correspondents. The BBC’s campaign for Johnston’s release is predicated on the idea that the seizure of journalists somehow crosses a bright moral line. "Alan...is a brave, dedicated and humane journalist who was deeply committed to reporting events in Gaza to the wider world," BBC director general Mark Thompson said in a statement last month. "The people of Gaza are ill-served by kidnappings of this nature."

It is of course understandable that the BBC would want to avoid antagonizing Johnston’s captors with tough talk about the illegality of his kidnapping. Yet it’s an odd way to frame this tragedy: The people of Gaza are ill-served by every kidnapping, every senseless atrocity, every merciless act of terrorism—whether it’s directed at journalists or government officials, Palestinians or Jews.

For the terrorist act itself, by exulting in the murder of civilians, is an assault on the moral norms of civilized states. It is utterly fantastical to believe that those devoted to this brand of wickedness—this deadening of the conscience—will make fine distinctions between "neutral" journalists and anyone else who gets in their way. If extremists, under the banner of Islam, can cut down Muslims on their way to prayer, why would they show restraint toward a Western infidel?

The Islamist descent into barbarism has proceeded in earnest for quite a long time, with the tacit approval of too many diplomats and political leaders, and not a few media elites. Israel’s deeply problematic occupation [It should go without saying that I don't agree with that characterization of Israel's administration of the disputed territories. CiJ], of course, has provided cover for those eager to condone Palestinian terrorism. Many sympathizers frequent the diplomatic halls of Geneva and New York. The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) — whose 57 members include terror-sponsoring states such as Sudan, Syria, and Iran — has prevented the United Nations from even defining terrorism. When the word does appear in U.N. proclamations, it usually is attached to Israel. As Adam Lebor writes in Complicity With Evil: The United Nations in the Age of Modern Genocide, "the U.N. is obsessed with Israel." In 2005, for example, the United Nations produced 107 resolutions, decisions, reports and other measures against the Jewish state—an average of two per week. No other country comes close.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:25 PM