As the BBC plans to air a new Vanunu interview tonight, the Israeli Foreign Ministry lashes out again against the Beeb:
Foreign Ministry officials charge that the BBC is a “communications organization whose goal is to undermine the legitimacy of the state of Israel. It promotes hostile coverage of Israel… and the Vanunu affair proves that the BBC is a communications entity which shows complete disregard for journalistic standards and ethics. Their journalistic culture can be compared to that of media outlets in Arab states, or in the Palestinian Authority.”
One Foreign Ministry source said the ministry will now reevaluate Israel’s relations with the BBC. For five months, leading up to November 2003, Israel boycotted the BBC.
The Foreign Ministry is furious about what it regards as the BBC’s shirking of responsibility for an interview with former nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu, who was convicted of treason and recently released from prison. An exclusive interview with Vanunu is to be broadcast by the BBC this evening (and there was a report about the interview this morning in The Sunday Times).
“The BBC baldly lied to us after Vanunu’s release,” says the ministry official. “It lied when it denied having any connection with the apartment which was about to be rented for him in Jaffa. [Journalist Peter] Hounam worked for the BBC, and they are simply lying on this matter.”
