Back in March we noted that the BBC had not reported the discovery of an IED on a bus in the town of Beitar Illit:
“Remarkably, the story of a town with over 60,000 residents being put under lockdown overnight as security forces searched for a terrorist did not receive any BBC News website coverage.”
Two months later the Israeli Security Agency announced the arrests of members of the cell behind that attack.
“According to the Shin Bet, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine cell was behind the attempted attack on March 9, when a makeshift bomb was planted on a bus in the Beitar Illit settlement.
The explosive malfunctioned at the time and did not cause any injuries. The settlement went into lockdown for several hours as troops searched for the suspects. A day later, the military arrested a Palestinian accused of planting the bomb, along with four others in the West Bank town of Battir.
The Shin Bet on Monday said the PFLP cell planned to carry out additional attacks.
The agency named the six suspects as Wassim Ayuna, Ahmed Abu Naima, Mazen Abdallah, Muhammad al-Barak, Rami al-Ahmar and Nur Mahmoud, from the towns of Battir and Beit Jala, and the Dheisheh refugee camp in the Bethlehem area.”
That story also has an aspect which has been serially ignored by the BBC to date: the part played by terror groups in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon in the rise in violence in Judea & Samaria.
“The investigation of the terror cell also revealed the involvement of the PFLP leadership in the Gaza Strip and in Lebanon, which allegedly directed the cell to carry out the attempted bombing, as well as attacks by other terror cells, the Shin Bet said.”
As we noted in February when the BBC News website published a backgrounder titled ‘Why is Israel-Palestinian violence surging?’, for months the BBC has avoided the topic of the fuelling of terrorism in Judea & Samaria by groups based elsewhere, including Hamas and Hizballah.
“…the word Hamas does not appear even once in Berg’s backgrounder. Readers hence learn nothing about the smuggling of weapons into areas ostensibly under Palestinian Authority control or about Hamas’ practical and financial roles in the establishment, arming and direction of new and existing terror groups.”
We have also documented previous examples of the BBC’s failure to report stories which highlight those connections between operatives on the ground and terrorist groups in the wider region.
In March the PFLP claimed responsibility for two shooting attacks in Huwara, neither of which was the topic of any stand-alone reporting on the BBC News website.
The fact that the BBC has failed to report PFLP terror attacks, including the attempted bus bombing in Beitar Illit and subsequent arrests, is particularly relevant given that the corporation’s coverage of Israel’s counter-terrorism operations and resulting Palestinian casualties – as well as other topics – has repeatedly included contributions from NGOs affiliated to that terrorist organisation.
Related Articles:
BBC NEWS WEBSITE AIRBRUSHING OF PIJ AND HAMAS
BBC NEWS IGNORES SIGNIFICANT TERROR RELATED ARRESTS
AN UNHELPFUL BBC BACKGROUNDER ON ‘ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN VIOLENCE’
The BBC has set up, then promoted the notion that Judea and Samaria are areas that should not be owned, populated nor controlled by Israel. Hence it will not report murders by Hamas and Hezbollah terrorists – because such incidents are merely part and parcel of this notion. The BBC is a disgrace to the world.