BBC Prints Libel in Report About Gun-Grabbing Palestinian Terrorist Video
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by Rachel O'Donoghue
The BBC logo is seen at the entrance at Broadcasting House, the BBC headquarters in central London. Photo by Vuk Valcic / SOPA Images/Sipa USA.
The video evidence of a recent incident of Palestinian violence is clear: a Palestinian man was shot after attempting to wrestle a gun from an Israeli policeman.
We do not need to be psychics to know what the man’s intention was — to take the weapon and use it against the arresting officer.
Despite the incontrovertible evidence that proves this version of events, the BBC has instead chosen to print an outrageous libel in a piece headlined, ‘”Witnesses challenge Israeli policeman’s killing of Palestinian.”
The article reads:
An eyewitness to the killing of a Palestinian by Israeli forces has told the BBC he believes the man was shot simply for punching a policeman.
Ammar Mefleh was killed at close range in the occupied West Bank last Friday.
He is the 10th Palestinian shot dead by Israeli troops in the space of a week.
Video of the shooting drew a massive reaction online and sparked a diplomatic rebuke by Israel to a top UN official who said he was “horrified” at the killing.
Israeli officials praised the officer involved saying he responded after the Palestinian stabbed a policeman in the face, and his actions prevented a “mass terror attack”.
Palestinian leaders described it as an execution “in cold blood”.
Let us be completely clear, the man was not shot for “simply punching a policeman,” as the BBC reports, based on the testimony of several eyewitnesses. Rather, he attempted to steal a gun and was also armed with a knife, which he had used to stab a police officer in the face.
As such, the arresting officer’s defensive shots were not only justified, but completely necessary.
It should also be noted that the BBC only bothers to report the circumstances that led up to the shooting halfway into the article. Specifically, the officer was detaining the man after he used a rock in an attempt to smash his way into an Israeli couple’s car.
Lastly, the BBC’s shoehorning of Palestinian leaders’ condemnation is positively contemptuous. After all, these are the same leaders who offer generous monetary awards to Palestinians who go out and perpetrate terror attacks just like the one this man was prevented from committing.
The BBC has yet again chosen bias over balance — what a predictable shame.
