If you enjoy good rumors, conspiracy theories, and unproven allegations, you’ll find plenty of them in the darker corners of the world wide web.
You can add BBC News to that list.
Care to guess what’s being pinned on Israel now?
A spate of killings in recent days has Bangladeshis on edge. Mahmuda Aktar, the wife of a police superintendent known for fighting Islamic terrorists, was stabbed and shot by three men on a motorcycle on Sunday. Sunil Gomes, a Christian, was hacked to death in a grocery story near his church. Twelve people were killed on May 29, when Bangladeshis went to the polls for local elections.
There were more murders prior to that too.
It’s not clear to me if or how the killings are related, but sectarian tensions are high.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
That’s given the Bangladeshi government an excuse to crack down on the opposition. One person in particular, Aslam Chowdhury, a senior official in the opposition Bangladeshi National Party, was recently arrested, accused of meeting an Israeli official and plotting to overthrow the government.
And now we have Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan claiming Israeli is linked to the wave of murders.
Is the south Asian country’s spiraling violence newsworthy?
For sure.
Is Khan’s claim about Israel worth noting?
Absolutely.
But making an unfounded charge like this in the headline?
That’s lowbrow journalism. The Home Minister hasn’t met any burden of proof, yet the BBC gives disproportionate attention to the conspiracy theory. While the BBC had the decency to give the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs an opportunity to issue a denial, this snippet smacks of lazy he-said-she-said journalism.
“Bangladesh has become the target of an international conspiracy. And a foreign intelligence agency has joined the conspiracy,” Mr Khan said.
When asked to elaborate, he said: “You must have noticed that an Israeli intelligence agent had a meeting with a politician, it does not need to be verified further, all Bangladeshi know about it.”
Israeli Foreign Ministry Spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon told the BBC the suggestion of Israeli involvement was “utter drivel“.
Khan’s smear will certainly appeal to people, judging from Sebastian Bustle‘s recent observations on how Bangladeshis regard Israel:
Bangladesh has no diplomatic relations with Israel. It is a country where Jews and Israeli people are being cursed in every Friday sermon, from more than 250,000 mosques. Imams across the country shout before the Friday prayer’s sermon audience that Jewish people are infidels.
Cheap, click-baiting headline like the BBC’s further fuels the fear and Israel-loathing in Bangladesh.
Image of Khan via YouTube/Bangladesh News;
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