BBC’s Guerin collaborates with a pointless PR trip

On the evening of October 21st the IDF Spokesman released information concerning the location of Hizballah financial assets.

“The Israel Defense Forces on Monday declassified intelligence on the Hezbollah terror group’s finance hub, including a bunker hidden underneath a hospital in south Beirut that it said contains hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and gold. […]

During the briefing, Hagari presented a map showing the location of the bunker, under Al-Sahel Hospital in the southern Beirut suburb known as Dahiyeh, where Hezbollah is largely based.

He called on Lebanese authorities and international organizations to prevent Hezbollah from using “the money for terror and to attack Israel,” and warned that the Israeli Air Force is monitoring the compound.

Asserting that Israel is at war with Hezbollah and not the Lebanese people, he said that the IDF would not launch a strike on the hospital.”

Nevertheless, the director of that hospital – who apparently also happens to be an MP on behalf of the Amal party which is aligned with Hizballah – later announced that it was being evacuated and the following day staff took foreign journalists on a trip around the facility.

One of the journalists who participated in that organised tour was the BBC’s Orla Guerin and later on October 22nd the BBC News website published her filmed report: [emphasis added]

BBC tours hospital Israel says sits above millions in Hezbollah gold

“The BBC’s Orla Guerin has been taken on a tour of Al Sahel Hospital in Beirut where Israel claims millions of dollars in cash and gold are kept in a hidden Hezbollah bunker underneath.

Doctors denied the allegation and took the BBC through the building, including to the first and second level below ground. They insisted there is nothing underneath.

On Monday night the hospital had to evacuate around 50 staff and 15 patients – none of them critical – when Israel made its claim.

Hospital officials have insisted that Al Sahel has no connection with any organisation, or group, or faction.”

Notably, Guerin’s report makes no mention of aspects of that tour which were described as follows by the Guardian:

“The hospital opened its doors to journalists on Tuesday afternoon in an attempt to refute Israel’s claims that the facility was being used by Hezbollah to store money. Doctors and officers from Lebanese state security watched as journalists inspected hospital beds and a mostly empty underground storage space. Members of Hezbollah stood at the perimeter of the hospital complex, but did not interfere.”

The same video also appears in a written report by Guerin published on the same day:

‘Everyone flew through the air’: Survivors describe Israeli strike on Beirut that killed 18

“Not so for the Al Sahel private hospital, about 2km away, which was emptied out last night.

“We evacuated instantly, like crazy,” says Dr Mazen Alameh, the general manager.

“We cannot risk anyone’s lives. We cannot take it as granted that they (Israel) will not bomb.”

The hurried evacuation of 10 patients and 50 staff came after a public claim by the Israeli military that the hospital was sitting on top of a Hezbollah bunker, full of riches.

The IDF gave no proof but produced a 3D animation, claiming to show a bunker beneath the building. “There are hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and gold inside the bunker, right now,” said the IDF spokesman Rear Adm Daniel Hagari.

It sounded like an invitation to a heist.

At the hospital today management and doctors gathered to deny “Israel’s false allegation” and give us a tour, including the two floors below ground. The hospital is in the southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, but staff insist strongly that it is not linked with any group.

“It’s really shocking to say that Sahel Hospital is affiliated with any party in Lebanon,” says Dr Alameh. “It’s a private hospital. It’s a teaching hospital for doctors, physicians and other medical students.”

He dismissed Israel’s claim of a hidden bunker. “The hospital was founded 40 years ago on an old house,” he said.

“It’s impossible to have any tunnel or infrastructure underneath. Any person in the world can come here and see everything they want.”

We were encouraged to check in every corner. Nowhere was off limits, not even the morgue. Bundles of surgical scrubs, and packets of surgical instruments were opened to show there was nothing concealed.

After the tour, we were allowed to move around freely. We saw empty wards and anxious staff, but no hint of a bunker.”

The same video also appeared in another article which was originally published by the BBC News website on the evening of October 21st and amended the following day. That report – now titled “Lebanon says 18 killed in Israeli strike near southern Beirut hospital” and credited to Ian Casey, David Gritten and Hugo Bachega – states:

“Separately, the Israeli military said it had identified a Hezbollah bunker concealed under Sahel hospital in Haret Hreik, which was later evacuated.

Military spokesman Rear Adm Daniel Hagari said, without providing evidence, that the bunker held hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and gold that was being used to fund Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel. He also said Israel would not strike the hospital itself.

Doctors denied the Israeli allegation and took the BBC through the building on Tuesday, including to the first and second level below ground. They insisted there was nothing underneath.

“We are an institution helping people,” said Dr Walid Alameh, the hospital’s medical director. “[The hospital] is private. It used to be and will remain. Hopefully, [the Israelis] will believe us. What we are doing is helping people.””

As pointed out by the IDF’s international spokesperson and the IDF’s Arabic Spokesperson while that press tour was ongoing, the entrances to the site concerned are not in al Sahel hospital itself but in nearby buildings. Guerin’s written report shows she was aware of that but nevertheless chose to produce a pointless filmed report about her tour of the hospital.

Guerin states:

“Israel claimed the entrance was in a neighbouring building. We went there too and had free access to the parking lot underneath. If there was an entrance to a secret bunker, we did not find it.

The only door we saw led to a lift, which we could not open. But that door was not concealed, and seemed an unlikely access point to a hidden chamber full of gold.”

However, a Lebanese media team produced a somewhat different report.

In other words, the BBC chose to collaborate with a PR exercise by producing reports about an irrelevant organised tour of al Sahel hospital and promoting talking points about “no proof”, while making no effort whatsoever to inform its audiences on the issue of Iran’s financing of Hizballah as outlined by the IDF Spokesperson in the briefing that prompted Guerin’s trip.

 

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3 Comments

  1. says: Miv Tucker

    It’s been said that Guerin has a voice that would freeze marble. Apparently, she’s got a face that would do the same.

    1. says: Pierre Sanchez

      I detest such jealousy. There are plenty more liker her over 50 in the Emerald Isle if interested and not zionist inclined ?

  2. says: Pierre Sanchez

    Orla not being paid sufficiently by BBC has apparently trained & qualified as a military engineer / surveyor. Due to her diligence alone she assures us (on scout’s honour) there is no Hezbollah dosh stashed in the bowels of this hospital. We can rest confident if Orla says so it is so ! However, remember not long ago the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul was very eager to show western journalists the body and or parts of Mr Jamal Khashoggi were not lurking in the cupboards there! We know the rest tragically

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