Earlier this month we discussed the BBC’s framing of airdrops of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip even before they had been resumed:
BBC DOES ‘RINSE AND REPEAT’ FRAMING OF GAZA AID AIRDROPS
As noted at the time, neither that early framing nor subsequent reporting on the same subject bothered to inform BBC audiences that, in addition to the generously quoted objections from the UN, aid organisations and others, Hamas also opposes the distribution of aid via airdrops.
The BBC News website continued its framing of airdrops on August 17th with a filmed report from the corporation’s ‘fact-checking’ department BBC Verify.
The synopsis to that report titled “Gaza aid dropped into Israeli-designated danger zone, BBC Verify finds”, which credited to Merlyn Thomas together with Benedict Garman and Aisha Sembhi, tells BBC audiences that:
“After widespread reports of mass starvation in Gaza drew global condemnation in late July, Israel allowed some aid to be delivered by air.
But BBC Verify analysis reveals 10 separate occasions where aid was dropped into an area where the Israeli military has explicitly warned people not to enter, saying it would put their lives at risk.
Even when aid has been dropped in areas deemed safe, it can be deadly.
Merlyn Thomas has more.”
Thomas opens her monologue with very similar wording, going on to tell viewers that: [emphasis in italics in the original, emphasis in bold added]
Thomas: “As part of the aid deliveries, Israel announced daily pauses in military operations in other areas. Video footage shows several boxes of aid being dropped from planes and crowds of Palestinians rushing to get to the aid first.”
The aid is dropped on pallets attached to parachutes rather than in “boxes”. She continues:
“But BBC Verify found ten separate occasions where aid was dropped in a danger zone. Those areas are in red and are where the Israeli military has explicitly warned people not to enter, saying it would put their lives at risk.”
While some pallets may have ended up within the designated combat zone as a result of factors such as wind speed, altitude and the type of parachute used by the particular country carrying out the specific airdrop, it is of course highly unlikely that was intentional.
Thomas then goes on to refer to a July 28th report by Jeremy Bowen.
“The BBC’s Jeremy Bowen was inside a Jordanian plane during one of these airdrops, which are coordinated with Israel. We’ve matched this view out of the hatch with existing satellite imagery. It’s around a kilometre within the dangerous combat zone.”
At 00:44, viewers can see the parachutes attached to pallets being dropped from the plane.
At 00:51 viewers see the open area which Thomas claims is “around a kilometre within the dangerous combat zone” but she provides no evidence to show that the pallets seen earlier in fact landed there and no actual identification of the location.
Thomas continues with a description of another on-screen image:
“For example, this is the flight path of one plane of an airdrop conducted by Italy. And this is where it released the boxes of aid.”
The location of the release point – which is determined by taking into account factors such as wind speed and direction, altitude and the type of parachute used – is of course distinct from that of the landing point but Thomas nevertheless continues with the following claim:
“Now in some cases we can’t see precisely where they land but because of where they’re dropped and the direction planes are travelling in, we know that they’re descending over the dangerous combat zone.”
She goes on to promote messaging which the BBC has repeatedly used since it resumed reporting on the topic of airdrops in late July:
“The International Committee of the Red Cross told us airdrops are inefficient, unsustainable and can only supply limited quantities of items in a way that often doesn’t reach the most vulnerable people.”
While that may be the case, Thomas fails to clarify to viewers that the airdrops are only one way in which humanitarian aid is being delivered. Notably, she has nothing to tell her viewers about the actual amounts of aid delivered by over a dozen countries using that route which, in only the week before her report was aired, amounted to nearly 600 pallets, each carrying around a ton of aid.
Thomas then moves to the topic of safety.
“And even when aid does fall into areas deemed safe by the Israeli military, BBC Verify found that they’re often lethal.”
She goes on to cite one case in which a teenage boy was crushed by a pallet and another in which a balcony collapsed as people crowded to reach an aid package. However, Thomas refrains from telling BBC audiences that aid deliveries using the land route preferred by UN agencies and assorted NGOs have – as the BBC has itself reported – also resulted in the deaths of both people seeking aid and lorry drivers.
The most remarkable part of Thomas’ report, however, is the unqualified takeaway messaging promoted by a BBC department supposedly dedicated to fact checking and combating disinformation.
“More than 100 human rights organisations have called on Israel to stop the weaponisation of aid into Gaza, as starvation deepens. However, Israel denies there are restrictions on aid and says aid trucks and airdrops continue.”
Once again we see that BBC Verify uses its ‘fact checking’ facade to bolster the corporation’s chosen framing of a particular story.
