On the morning of September 8th the BBC News website published a report carrying the headline “Three killed in attack at West Bank-Jordan border”.
That headline was subsequently amended to read “Three Israelis shot dead at West Bank-Jordan border” and later to “Three Israelis shot dead at West Bank-Jordan crossing”. As readers can see, the image chosen to illustrate that report was changed from a photograph of ambulance staff responding to what all the BBC’s headlines failed to clarify was a terror attack, to a context-free photograph of Israeli soldiers carrying guns.
The version of that report currently appearing on the BBC News website is credited to Megan Fisher and opens as follows:
“Three Israeli men have been shot dead at a border point between Jordan and the occupied West Bank, Israeli officials say.
The gunman – identified by the Israeli military as Jordanian Maher Jazi – approached the Allenby Bridge crossing from the Jordanian side in a truck then got out and opened fire, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.
Security personnel “eliminated” the gunman and the IDF checked the truck over for signs of explosives, a statement said.
Jordan says it is investigating the incident, which happened in an Israeli-controlled area where Jordanian vehicles offload goods entering the West Bank. The border point has now been closed from both sides.”
In accordance with BBC editorial guidelines, the sole appearance of the word terrorist in Fisher’s entire report comes eleven paragraphs later in a quote from the Israeli prime minister.
The report goes on:
“Israeli media reported the victims were named Yohanan Shchori, 61, Yuri Birnbaum, 65, and Adrian Marcelo Podzamczer, whose age was not given.
The three men were said to be guards working at the border crossing, but were not military or police.”
Israeli media reported that Mr Podzamczer was 57 (and that his son is a survivor of the Nova Festival massacre on October 7 2023) and that he and Mr Birnbaum worked as forklift truck drivers.
Readers are later told that:
“Hamas officials did not claim responsibility for the attack, but described it as a “natural response” to the war in Gaza.”
Fisher does not report that in addition to that and other announcements from Hamas, the terrorist who murdered three civilians was also lauded by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, official Palestinian Authority TV and the American branch of ‘Palestine Action’.
Fisher tells readers that:
“The Allenby Bridge crossing, also known as the King Hussein Bridge, lies about halfway between Amman and Jerusalem and is the only official crossing point between the West Bank and Jordan. It is also the only entry point to the West Bank that does not go through Israel.”
Fisher does not bother to explain that the Allenby Bridge crossing is located in Area C in the Jordan Rift Valley which, per the Oslo Accords, is under Israeli control. That, of course is why it is managed by the Israel Airports Authority (rather than by a Palestinian body) and why Israelis work there.
She continues:
“Jordan and Israel maintain security, trade and diplomatic ties – though Jordan is critical of Israel’s actions towards Palestinians.”
BBC audiences are not informed that it took the Jordanian foreign ministry some 14 hours to issue a statement containing what could be seen as a brief condemnation of the terror attack and no mention is made of the celebrations seen in Jordan after news of the attack broke or of the mourning tent set up in the terrorist’s home town.
Despite the BBC’s obligation to provide its audiences with “a range and depth of analysis and content not widely available from other United Kingdom news providers”, Fisher has nothing to tell her readers about the extent of support for Hamas in Jordan or the Iranian attempts to destabilise that country in recent months.
Fisher goes on:
“Dozens of trucks cross from Jordan daily to supply goods for markets in both the West Bank and Israel.”
Readers are not informed that the Allenby Bridge crossing is also the route via which some of the aid to the Gaza Strip is transported.
Fisher refrains from reminding her readers about an incident last year in which a Jordanian MP was caught smuggling guns through the same border crossing and her report has not been updated to inform BBC audiences that on the same day that the terror attack at the Allenby Bridge took place, police thwarted an attempt to smuggle scores of guns into Israel via another border crossing with Jordan.
As regular readers will be aware, the BBC has long under-reported the topic of weapons smuggling via Jordan and the link between that and escalated terrorism in PA controlled areas. Fisher’s omission of any reference to that issue is particularly relevant in light of the fact that she chose to close her report as follows:
“The Palestinian health ministry says more than 600 Palestinians have been killed in West Bank violence since Hamas’s 7 October attack on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza.
During the same period, at least 18 Israelis were killed in West Bank violence, according to United Nations (UN) figures, which do not include deaths since 11 August.
Last week, Israeli forces withdrew from Jenin city and its refugee camp – an area in the West Bank – after a major nine-day operation there. The area is a stronghold of militants and has a civilian population of about 60,000.
Israel says it is trying to stem deadly Palestinian attacks on Israelis in the West Bank and Israel, and acting against terrorism.”
Once again the BBC fails to inform its audiences that – like Hamas – the Palestinian Authority health ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants and that the vast majority of the “600 Palestinians” killed during the past eleven months were terrorists, perpetrators of attacks or males engaged in violence at the time.
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What is missing is the truck was carrying “Aid” to Gaza. How come BBC did not know this?
If the driver was armed, did not the BBC report how it was NOT inspected by Jordan prior to entering the control area – or in other words show the Jordains do NOT inspect anything leaving their country