No wonder BBC WS presenter Razia Iqbal got Iranian threat to Israel wrong

h/t Oren Kessler on Twitter

The July 14th afternoon edition of the BBC World Service radio programme ‘Newshour’ was devoted mainly to the topic of the JCPOA agreement announced earlier in the day between the P5+1 and Iran.Newshour 14 7

One of those interviewed on the topic by presenter Razia Iqbal was the Israeli minister Danny Danon – from 09:30 here.  A couple of minutes into the interview listeners around the world heard the following exchange.

Razia Iqbal: “Why are you not willing to seize the opportunity, the potential, that this could be a shared commitment to peace in the region?”

Danny Danon: “When you live in our region you look at things differently. And I think [inaudible] should listen not only to the Israelis but also to the Saudis, the Egyptians, the Jordanians and other countries that are worried today because we hear what the Iranians are saying very clearly – that they are fooling the people in the region, they are fooling the people who actually negotiated with them. And we remember very clearly what happened with North Korea. Yes, there was agreement. Yes, there was signing but at the bottom line North Korea became a nuclear power. We are not part of this deal and we do keep all options on the table and we will wait…”

Razia Iqbal [interrupts]: What does that mean? What does that mean, Mr Danon, keeping all options on the table?”

Danny Danon: “It means that we do have the capability to defend ourselves. We understand that we will have to count only on ourselves…”

Razia Iqbal [interrupts]: “But you’re not under…you’re not under threat by Iran. Nobody in Iran has threatened you for a very long time. You’re harking back to a time when President Mahmoud Ahmedinijad threatened Israel directly.”

Danny Danon: “Well when I see only two days ago the Israeli and American flags being burned in the streets of Tehran I believe those pictures. And when I see the Iranians sponsoring terror activities in Lebanon, in the Sinai Peninsula and in other parts of the Middle East, I understand what will be the next step that they will take and if we will see or feel that we are in danger, we do keep our right to defend ourselves.”

Iqbal ends the interview there.

In his final remarks Minister Danon was of course referring to last Friday’s ‘Al Quds Day’ rallies which took place in Iran and elsewhere – including on the BBC’s literal doorstep in London. As was noted here earlier, the BBC refrained from reporting on those events on its English language services and has in the past tried to downplay and distort that annual day of Iranian state sponsored hate.

Of course had the BBC not censored coverage of that event and had it made more of an effort in the past to report on the many additional examples of Iranian regime threats against Israel and to cover the issues of Iranian terrorism and Iranian patronage of terrorist organisations such as Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hizballah more accurately and comprehensively, then its own presenters might be capable of displaying the modicum of understanding of the topic under discussion as expected by audiences worldwide and able to avoid misleading listeners with inaccurate – and plainly embarrassing – statements.

Related Articles:

BBC amplification of unchallenged Iranian messaging

Iranian military activity in southern Syria under-reported by BBC

Superficial BBC reporting on Iranian involvement in AMIA attack

BBC News reframes Iranian arms shipment story, censors information

Palestinian visitors to Tehran not newsworthy for the BBC

BBC blurs Iranian regime role in 2012 attacks

Resources:

Razia Iqbal on Twitter

‘Newshour’ on Twitter

BBC World Service – contact

BBC complaints

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