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Israel-Palestine
The BBC sees Red Crossing into Gaza
2004-11-23
This is Gaza, site of a particularly bloody conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis. Somewhere in the middle of this battlefield, attending to the fallout of war, supplying food, water and accommodation, tracing dead bodies and their parts for burial, assisting the wounded, the bereaved, the tortured,....
....er, what was that? Oh, I see. The torture will remain unexplained. There'll be no further mention of it during the following half hour of being tortured by the BBC. People will think that 'torture' refers to the actions of those vicious Israelis. They wont stop to think that it could refer to torture of Paleostinians by Paleostinians.
....the homeless and the imprisoned is the International Committee of the Red Thingy Cross — ICRC. And here its sister organization, the Palestinian Red Thingy Crescent Society. In this series, the BBC World Service accompanies Red Thingy Cross and Red Thingy Crescent staff working to help the victims of war, famine and national disaster.
There will be no mention of Israel's Magen David Adom — MADA — and the extraordinary work it does assisting victims of terror. There will also be no mention of the fact that MADA has been refused recognition by the ICRC and therefore cannot work in conjunction with this distinguished body. The Star is spurned by the Cross and the Crescent (and, of course, by the BBC).
I'll be finding out why the Red Thingy Cross, after a hundred and forty years of following its aim to help the helpless is itself facing crisis in a world of insurgency and terrorism.
The BBC mentioning terrorism?!
The ICRTC delegation was blown up last year in Iraq because Islamic militants....
....and here I was getting excited.
....believed the symbol of the Red Thingy Cross represented western domination.
That's how the BBC views terror. A kind of noble guerrilla struggle, all the fault of the west, naturally.
And here, the local organization in Gaza, the Palestinian Red Thingy Crescent has also been treated with distrust.
Oh, I see, blowing up a building and killing and maiming humanitarian workers is the natural outcome of 'distrust' of domination. But wait, it gets better:
An ambulance driver was shot by the IDF on suspicion that he was smuggling weapons.
Shot on suspicion?? Perhaps they stopped him, walked up to him and shot him through the head because they thought he might be smuggling weapons?? Or he was the one who didn't stop at a checkpoint after the IDF had become aware that ambulance drivers were in fact smuggling weapons. And was he killed or just injured? And were they shooting at him, or trying to immobilize the ambulance?
Right after the 'shot on suspicion' accusation presented as fact, a Red Thingy Cross worker explains that as long as they identify themselves clearly, they encounter no problems from the Israeli side. But what about the Red Thingy Crescent? We are left to assume that the driver was killed or wounded simply because he worked for the Red Thingy Crescent. Very devious, and very effective.
At the end of the programme, we are taken down to the ocean:
There is an eerie beauty to the coast of Gaza. But despite this long stretch of golden Mediterranean beach, there's no holiday making here. There's the occasional swimmer and people washing clothes. Otherwise just a promise of what peace might bring. (Sound of waves breaking close to shore).
'Inside the Red Cross' by Alan Little (01:00 — 01:30 GMT 11/23/04)
A 'Just Radio' Production (Neat double meaning of 'just'.)
Produced by Kate Bland (The BBC is only bland on the surface.)
Can be heard at:
BBCworldservice.com/programmes/archive
(I can't access it yet. I suppose it takes a bit of time to archive)
Posted by:Anonymous Poster

#3  They left out the "downtrodden". What are they supposed to do?
Assholes.
Posted by: tu3031   2004-11-23 4:05:03 PM  

#2  Yes, and their propaganda is getting better and better. It only becomes clear when you sit down and pick it apart.
Posted by: Bryan   2004-11-23 3:01:45 PM  

#1  The International Red Thingy Cross is way too postmodern for its own good.
Posted by: Steve from Relto   2004-11-23 10:45:03 AM  

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