In November of last year we documented the BBC’s three-month-long promotion of a narrative concerning supposed Israeli “police inaction” on the issue of crime in the Arab sector:
“Bereaved families and Arab officials claim that police inaction is one of the main reasons for the endemic violence plaguing their neighbourhoods.”
THREE MONTHS OF BBC COPY-PASTING OF A REDUNDANT CLAIM
Several written reports promoting that narrative remain online as what the BBC describes as “permanent public record”.
One year on – on November 25th 2022 – the BBC World Service radio programme ‘Newshour’ aired an interview with Thabet Abu Rass of the NGO ‘Abraham Fund Initiatives’ on the topic of an agreement reportedly reached within the framework of coalition talks whereby Itamar Ben Gvir would take on the post of National Security Minister should Netanyahu manage to form a government.
During that interview [from 14:05 here] Abu Rass told host Julian Marshall about the current Minister of Public Security and his deputy who took office in June 2021: [emphasis in italics in the original]
“…the last government we had a minister called Omer Bar Lev and his deputy Yoav Segalovich that worked hard; they work hard to combat crime and violence and they knew how to build the trust between Arab leaders and Arab mayors and the ministry and the police forces.”
That is clearly a markedly different perspective to the one repeatedly promoted by the BBC between August and November last year. Nevertheless, it will disappear from public view a month after broadcast whereas the BBC’s chosen narrative of “police inaction” will remain available online.
