As had been the case in previous rounds of releases of hostages under the terms of the ceasefire, on February 20th Hamas constructed a stage replete with propaganda ahead of the transfer of the bodies of Israeli hostages who were murdered in captivity.
As reported by the Jerusalem Post, the scenery on that stage in Khan Younis included an image of Israel’s prime minister as a vampire, false claims that the hostages had been killed by Israel and Nazi analogies.
One of the five reports on that story which appeared which appeared on the BBC News website on February 20th – “Israel’s ‘hearts lie in tatters’ as Hamas hands over first dead hostages” by Raffi Berg – included a two-paragraph portrayal of Hamas’ stage dressing:
“Early on Thursday morning, in choreographed scenes reminiscent of recent handovers of living hostages, four black coffins were laid out on a stage decked with propaganda in Khan Younis in southern Gaza in front of crowds of spectators.
One of the backdrops depicted a ghoulish image of Benjamin Netanyahu with fangs looming over a picture of the four hostages when they were alive. Another read: “The Return of the War = The Return of your Prisoners in Coffins”.”
A live page included distant, unclear or cropped images of the stage, with no explanation of the display of grotesque propaganda.
Another description of that stage appeared in a report by the BBC’s diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams titled “Return of bodies marks day of anguish for Israel”:
“It began, as all the handovers so far have begun, with a politically charged display by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups involved in holding Israeli hostages for over 500 days.
Once again, there was a stage, flanked by huge posters highlighting the catastrophic consequences of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and the Palestinian determination to stay put.
But instead of haunted, sometimes emaciated, survivors, there were four black coffins, each bearing a photograph and a name – Oded Lifschitz, Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, Ariel and Kfir – accompanied by the image of Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Missile casings bore the slogan: “They were killed by US bombs”. Hamas has long argued that all four were killed by Israeli air raids on Gaza, something which has not been verified.” [emphasis added]
Adams’ whitewashed portrayal of that propaganda prompted considerable reaction, with some commentators also noting his social media posts on or around October 7th 2023.
Anyone familiar with Paul Adams’ reporting from the Middle East over the years would not however be surprised by his statements, including that reference to a “dismal prison”. During one of his previous visits to the region in 2014, Adams told listeners to ‘From Our Own Correspondent’ that:
“Generations have experienced nothing but occupation, embargo, blockade, war and death. It’s had a slow, brutalising effect. Perhaps that’s why some of them are seized by such a furious desire to tunnel out and seek revenge. For Gaza is a giant prison surrounded by a wall, watch towers and the most sophisticated military in the Middle East. […]
But when so many of those dismembered and burned by Israeli rockets and shells are not the fighters but women, old people and especially children, then it’s really, really hard not to conclude that the Palestinians are being collectively punished.” [emphasis added]
Also in 2014, Adams chose to provide a platform for a Nazi analogy promoted by the director of a Gaza hospital used by terrorist organisations.
“Israel, he said, had made “a concentration camp of 1.8 million people”.
“No air. No land. No sea. You’re trying to tell the people what? I’m putting you in prison and I want you to obey, eat, sleep and that’s it. We’re human.” ” [emphasis added]
Since the beginning of the current war Adams has, among other things, promoted Hamas propaganda, misled BBC audiences on the topic of the ICJ and ‘genocide’ and spread baseless speculations about “another forced expulsion” of Palestinians.
And as those with long memories will recall, in November 2012 while based in Washington, Adams was quick to promote the false claim that the son of a BBC employee in the Gaza Strip had been killed by Israel.
Although Paul Adams has been expressing his personal views and sympathies in BBC content and on social media for years, that has never appeared to be a cause for concern for BBC management. It is therefore unsurprising to find that Adams allowed himself to whitewash a terrorist organisation’s propaganda with his tepid portrayals of “posters highlighting the catastrophic consequences of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza” and “the image of Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu” which fail to fully inform BBC audiences of Hamas’ repulsive messaging.
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The BBC is connected to Hamas, its latest production shown last Monday night and since taken down following the revelation by David Collier that the star of the production was the 14 year old son of. Hamas leader along with another couple of children also connected with Hamas. The BBC are blaming the production company claiming they did not do enough due diligence before broadcast so have now taken it down from iPlayer until they do some. I wonder who the owner of the production company was? There were talks of a number of deals done at the last world cup in Qatar. You can no doubt join the dots on that one.
#defundthebbc