Eretz Israel is our unforgettable historic homeland...The Jews who will it shall achieve their State...And whatever we attempt there for our own benefit will redound mightily and beneficially to the good of all mankind. (Theodor Herzl, DerJudenstaat, 1896)

We offer peace and amity to all the neighbouring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all. The State of Israel is ready to contribute its full share to the peaceful progress and development of the Middle East.
(From Proclamation of the State of Israel, 5 Iyar 5708; 14 May 1948)

With a liberal democratic political system operating under the rule of law, a flourishing market economy producing technological innovation to the benefit of the wider world, and a population as educated and cultured as anywhere in Europe or North America, Israel is a normal Western country with a right to be treated as such in the community of nations.... For the global jihad, Israel may be the first objective. But it will not be the last. (Friends of Israel Initiative)

Sunday 5 August 2012

Nice (BBC) Work If You Can Get It!

Nice work if you can get it!  Imagine this.  You have a job funded by the general public who, in the face of prosecution and imprisonment, have no other option but to cough up the extortionate compulsory virtual poll tax that goes to keep your employer mega-mega-mega-rich (and because "easy come, easy go," scandalously wasteful of financial resources) and you in work.  You become an "expert" in a particular field because of what you learn on that job that's paid for out of public funds.

You are then given by that publicly-funded employer time off to write (yet another) book based on the knowledge you've gleaned from your day job, i.e. the work the general public pays you to do and which you wouldn't have were it not for the general public.  You then flog your book through (as you triumphantly tweet) "all good bookshops and websites" – not even offering a discount to the hapless licence-payers who've paid through the nose to make you the "expert" you are.

Nice work if you can get it, indeed.  And if you've got it, then chances are you're Al Beeb's "Middle East editor" Jeremy Bowen, and you've started plugging your soon-to-be-published book about the Arab Uprisings.

Let's hope that the new book is not as laced with anti-Israel bias as the one you wrote about the Six Day War, and let's hope that you've become disabused of the notion that the Muslim Brotherhood is (as you once embarrassingly told us) a "moderate" organisation:
"Unlike the jihadis, it does not believe it is at war with the West. It is conservative, moderate and non-violent. But it is highly critical of Western policy in the Middle East."
Oh, and by the way.  When you stop plugging your book and signing autographs (nay, earlier, if you would be so good) please tell that eager apprentice of yours, Jon Donnison, not to make tweets like this one.

Making value judgments of a reporter's own, even about those dastardly Israelis, contradicts the BBC's Charter and avowed commitment to impartiality, as I'm sure you know, even though you very often seem to need reminding...

And even though, unlike those who withhold the licence-fee, flouters of the Charter aren't liable for prosecution.

(btw, this is delicious!)

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