On the subject of media bias in the Middle East....

I shouldn't laugh as I was opposed to the muhammed cartoons.

I thought you were going to be complaining about Spooks last night when I saw this thread bumped

I don't watch BBC dramas.

but its hardly suprising that the BBC is now funding antisemitic dramas.... I cna't wait for their take on the elders of zion

You're missing out, it was utterly awesome, again.

You would probably have not enjoyed the SAS owning Mossad though.

with out the paedophilia.... so there goes the appeal for you

although both religions have similarly amusing costumes

I don't think any religion looks as daft as chassidic jews, big furry hats and heavy black suits (designed for a bitter eastern european climate) in the middle of the Israeli desert is insane then add the side curls, 2 hats (they wear a skull cap under the furry hats), school girl socks, a beard, boxes strapped to various body parts and you're onto a winner

from the BBC:

CONFLICT FACTS
Fighting began on 12 July
Ended 14 August
Israeli dead: 116 soldiers, 43 civilians
Lebanese civilian dead: >1,000
Hezbollah dead: unknown

How can you have a confirmed civilian figure and an unconfirmed militant figure, and then report it as fact?

stinks of bias.

Amnesty put the death toll higher than 1000, and I'd like to know how deaths for Hezbollah could be confirmed accurately. I think they've actually gone easy on you there.

The death toll was grossly disproportionate even if you use Israels own figures.

I see they are now negotiating a prisoner exchange!
why the fuck did they not do that before they killed the
Israeli dead: 116 soldiers, 43 civilians
Lebanese civilian dead: >1,000
Hezbollah dead: unknown

I see that hamas have offered a 10 year cease fire to allow relations with Israel to be normalised.
of course everybody has refused to talk to them about it but the leader of hamas says he would end up 'like Micheal Collins' if he said he recognised Isreal.

sooner or later this will be settled by negotiation and it is a shame that face saving all round means more violence will ensue

How can you state over 1000 civilians were killed when you have no way of differentiating between terrorists and civilians?

Also what are you talking about when you say why couldn't they of done this instead of going to war? Israel were fucking invaded soldiers were slaughtered and kidnapped and then northern Israel was engulfed in a torrent of ballistic missiles... Why on earth would Israel release terrorists in response to an unprovoked invasion?!?!?

You're deluded mate.

There was already a fucking ceasefire which Hamas broke!!!!

Let's get our timeline right here.

The soliders were kidnapped, clearly the provocative causative factor.

Israel responded in a fashion most in the international community deemed excessive.

Then the missile strikes started, they stopped during Israel's 2 day cease-fire to investigate its killing of those 50-or-so civilians, and they stopped when Israel ceased its offensive, after the UN resolution.

However irresponsible the kidnappings, it's clear that the rocket attacks were a response-to-the-response, and while this still doesn't justify them, it means that they are not a justification for the heavy handed initial retalliation we saw from Israel.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6127250.stm

I'm happy to accept that this article would have been improved by a statement from the Israeli army explaining their actions.

do you not imagine the beeb would have requested one?

I'm sure they had - but noone is reporting an israeli defense beyond 'we did it to stop rocket attacks'.

6 of those killed involved were children.
You could see from the reports that the area involved was heavily civilian populated.

I'll wait to see if there is a robust Israeli defense....but if there isn't a good one, then this is yet another disgusting, disproportionate and indiscriminant attack, for which civilians have suffered.

I know now why the BBC didn't report the numbers of Israeli deaths that precipitated this attack.

THERE HAVEN'T BEEN ANY.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1942943,00.html

it's hard to read this and not get angry. or to see the photo on the centre pages of todays Guardian.

A Palestinian man whose family were wiped out in the Israeli attack last night said he had wanted peace with Israel before this but now he wants to see them all driven into the sea.
on and on it goes killing and reprisals and more killing. It is not strength that Israel shows but weakness. The weakness that all bullies have in their hearts is all the Israeli government can bring to this struggle. What they need are leaders with the guts to break this vicious cycle.