On the evening of January 14th, the BBC News website published an ‘explainer’ titled ‘What we know about the Gaza ceasefire deal’ and credited to Raffi Berg.
Remarkably, that entire 843-word article purporting to explain to BBC audiences both the terms of a potential ceasefire agreement and the background to the story does not include even one mention of the word terrorists.
The article opens with a reference to an “armed Palestinian group”: [emphasis added]
“Israel and Hamas are thought to be close to agreeing a deal which could halt the war in Gaza and see the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners. […]
It would be the most dramatic breakthrough in 15 months of war, which began when the armed Palestinian group Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023.”
In its final section – sub-headed “What happened on 7 October 2023 and what has happened in Gaza?” – readers find a mention of “gunmen”:
“Hundreds of Hamas-led gunmen launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel, bursting through the border fence and targeting communities, police stations and army bases.
About 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 hostages were taken back to Gaza. Hamas also fired thousands of rockets into Israel.”
In fact, thousands – rather than “hundreds” – of terrorists from various organisations, together with civilians, invaded Israeli territory via 119 breaches of the fence:
“Some 3,800 terrorists from the Hamas terror group’s elite Nukhba forces smashed through the border fence, the report said, among a total of 6,000 Gazans who crossed into Israel that day. […]
Additionally, 1,000 terrorists inside Gaza were involved in firing rockets at Israel that day, the report said, meaning that a total of some 7,000 Gazans took part in the onslaught.”
That section of the ‘explainer’ continues with the promotion of false equivalence between Israeli attacks on military targets and terrorists’ attacks on civilian targets:
“Israel responded with a massive military campaign, first by air and then a ground invasion. Since then, Israel has attacked targets across Gaza by land, sea and air, while Hamas has attacked Israel with rockets.”
It concludes with amplification of unverified casualty figures – and ratios – provided by the terrorist organisation which launched the invasion that sparked the war and whitewashing of Hamas’ theft of humanitarian aid:
“Israel’s offensive has devastated Gaza and led to severe food shortages, with aid struggling to reach those most in need. More than 46,600 people – the majority of them civilians – have been killed by Israel’s attacks, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.”
Additional avoidance of the use of the terms terrorists and terrorism comes in portrayals of “Palestinian prisoners”. A section sub-headed “What could be in a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas?” tells BBC audiences that:
“It is hoped that a ceasefire deal will mean an agreement to stop the war which has been raging in Gaza.
It is also expected to see an exchange of hostages and prisoners.
Hamas seized 251 hostages when it attacked Israel in October 2023. It is still holding 94 captive, although Israel believes that only 60 are still alive.
Israel is expected to release about 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, some jailed for years, in return for the hostages.”
In fact, 98 hostages are still being held by Hamas and other terrorist organisations in the Gaza Strip, including two civilians and the remains of two soldiers held for over a decade. Berg refrains from informing readers that 76 of the hostages were killed or murdered.
A section headed “How would the ceasefire work?” includes the following:
“Of the 1,000 Palestinian prisoners Israel is thought to have agreed to release, about 190 are serving sentences of 15 years or more. An Israeli official told the BBC that those convicted of murder would not be released into the occupied West Bank.”
Notably, Berg avoids telling BBC audiences that among the prisoners Hamas has demanded be released are convicted terrorists as well as a reported 48 who were released in the 2011 Shalit deal but re-arrested after returning to terrorism. Even terrorists who participated in the unprecedented massacre of October 7th are described merely as “prisoners”:
“For its part, Hamas has demanded the release of some prisoners which Israel says it will not free. This is believed to include those who were involved in the 7 October attacks.”
Berg’s portrayal of the story also includes avoidance of the topic of Hamas’ repeated breaches of ceasefires, including on October 7th 2023:
“Any ceasefire is likely to be fragile.
Ceasefires between Israel and Hamas which have halted previous wars have been shaken by skirmishes and eventually broken down.”
As we see, the BBC’s ‘explainer’ of a potential “ceasefire deal” between Israel and the Hamas terrorist organisation, which would include the release of convicted terrorists in order to secure the return of hostages abducted and held by terrorists who launched a massive terror attack from a territory controlled by a designated terrorist organisation, manages to completely avoid any mention of the word terrorist.
Sadly for members of the BBC’s funding public who rely on the corporation for ‘accurate and impartial’ news, that is not merely some unfortunate omission.
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