With the announcement of the Iranian nuclear deal, there’s plenty of media coverage including Israel’s reaction. BBC Newshour on BBC World Service radio interviewed Israel’s Minister of Science, Technology and Space, Danny Danon.
Danon stated that Israel was “keeping all options on the table.” The presenter asked Danon to explain. Her reaction is both shocking and disturbing (click on the image below to listen):
But you’re not under threat by Iran. Nobody in Iran has threatened you for a very long time. You’re harking back to a time when President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad threatened Israel directly.
Just what reality is the BBC presenter living in? Only a few days ago, on July 10, Iran observed “Al-Quds Day” as reported in The Times of Israel:
Millions of Iranians took part in anti-Israel and anti-US rallies across Iran on Friday, chanting “Down with America” and “Death to Israel” on Al-Quds Day, internationally observed annually on the last Friday of the month of Ramadan.
The controversial holiday was proclaimed in 1979 by Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as a religious duty for all Muslims to rally in solidarity against Israel and for the “liberation” of Jerusalem. Tehran says the occasion is meant to express support for Palestinians and emphasize the importance of Jerusalem for Muslims….
Some protesters in Tehran burned Israeli and American flags. Posters showed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Saudi King Salman and US President Barack Obama in flames.
And only a few days before Al-Quds Day a prominent Iranian leader threatened Israel with destruction:
“The presence of the Israeli regime is temporary,” Iranian Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani told the Hezbollah-linked Al Ahd news website. “Eventually one day this alien forged existence that has been forced into the body of an ancient nation and an historical region will be wiped off the map.”
In November last year, Ayatollah Khameini tweeted why and how Israel should be eliminated:
Why should & how can #Israel be eliminated? Ayatollah Khamenei’s answer to 9 key questions. #HandsOffAlAqsa pic.twitter.com/IVPOuNfMQH
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) November 9, 2014
And what about Iran’s support for terrorist proxies that threaten Israel such as Hezbollah and Hamas, which is only likely to increase now that billions of dollars will be available to the Iranian regime as a result of sanctions relief from the nuclear deal.
The BBC’s interview with Danny Danon demonstrates a breathtaking ignorance concerning Iranian intentions towards Israel.
If this is a sign of how the BBC intends to cover the Iranian nuclear deal, then we can expect Israel’s legitimate concerns to be met with the usual BBC hostility towards Israel.
[sc:graybox ]You can register your complaint with the BBC through its online complaints form, selecting World Service Radio in reference to Newshour on July 14.
Featured image: CC BY-SA HonestReporting.com and freestock.ca
(HT: Oren Kessler)
