Generations of hatred for Israel (don't call them antisemites)

Dan Snow - getting paid to spread hatred of Israel

The Snow family earning their living from journalism and other media epitomises the hatred of jews and Israel to be found among British broadcasters (The Dimbleby family are another example. See here for Jonathan Dimbleby's defence of journalist and arch demoniser of Israel Jeremy Bowen). Nepotism assures that future Snow progeny will be assured of thriving in British media to spread the next generation of poison against Israel.

I'm used to the range of British media's war against Israel. The BBC likes to end news with a little Palestine snippet, something for listeners to take away with them and reflect on about the evils of the Israeli state. Daily the BBC animus reveals itself anew. Last week the BBC was forced to make a correction regarding its information on its website about the Olympics which allowed palestinians east Jerusalem as their capital whilst 'forgetting' that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. Israel seemingly doesn't have a capital. One is reminded of Ernst Bevin's missives to the “Jewish authorities in Tel-Aviv” shortly after the founding of Israel. Ben-Gurion returned such letter to the sender unopened. And then there was that photo to represent Israel, a soldier shouting at an arab. The only country so treated by the BBC.

Britain used to have men of calibre such as Lloyd George and Balfour, people steeped in the Bible who believed that the Jewish People would not be complete until their national home was reconstituted in its ancient lands. They understood the jewish connection to Israel. So did Tony Blair and PMs Brown and Wilson. This was despite the Labour Party being traditionally anti-Israel. Now the Labour Party is getting out of bounds for jews. And the Conservative party leaders such as Cameron ('prison camp' Gaza)and Hague are only too happy to bash Israel from Turkey or wherever else they think they can drum up some trade in the arab and islamic world.

But there were always those who hated the very thought of jewish nationalism or simply of jews, those British statesmen and military who from the very moment of the British occupation of the Land of Israel in 1917 did their best to frustrate the declared British pro zionist policy (for Britains own strategic, imperial and christian reasons). People such as Colonel Waters Taylor would even spread rumours such as that the zionists wished to attack the Temple Mount mosques, which led to massacres of jews in 1921.

The Snow family belong to those haters of Israel, a family that takes its opportunities to lambast the tiny jewish country surrounded with enemies.

During Israel's ineptly code-named Cast Lead war with Hamas in 2008, the normally urbane Jon Snow used an interview with the similarly urbane Mark Regev to excoriate Israel, to give Regev a dressing down in the old British imperial tradition when dealing with 'uncivilised natives'. Regev might have been shocked but he refused to reply in kind to Jon Snow. The interview was aimed at 'proving' that Israel had committed war crimes by creating civilian injuries in Gaza. The fact that Israel was trying to target Hamas fighting amongst civilians ( and thus taking civilian status away from such areas) whilst doing its utmost to spare civilians was ignored. Snow terminated the interview when Regev asked a question of his own, whether Snow agreed that Hamas was an authoritarian regime (and thus people were afraid to talk about Hamas violence, that Hamas munitions and attacks could also be responsible for injuries amongst the civilians).

'Israelis enjoy tourist and commercial relations with Turkey which have been hard won....you've now rewarded it by attacking a fleet and killing Turkish nationals'

”That's a great way to win friends isn't it?” Jon Snow

Jon Snow goes on to ask whether Israel will “lift the illegal blockade on Gaza”? Of course the blockade is recognised even by the UN as legal.

Snow then asked about another boat the “Rachel Corrie” supposedly bringing in aid to Gaza. Regev said that the boat could go to Ashdod and have all its aid delivered, or go to Egypt, the egyptians having made a similar offer. Snow ignored that fact and then launched a tirade about not being able to trust Israel. Egypt was ignored by Snow because it didn't fit in with his implied story of a hateful Israel trying to starve Gaza.

Snow finished off his hectoring interview by suggesting that Israel would be at war with Turkey soon if Turkish warships accompanied another flotilla. Regev looked bemused asking whether this journalist was serious? Snow's hatred of Israel is only too obvious.

The talkback on Snow's blog has this post:

“He simply would not let Mr Regev make his points. That is not professional, whether you agree with Regev or not, he should at least be given opportunity to answer the questions, and not be cut off  simply because the interviewer doesn’t like his answers.
It was interesting to see a different approach the following night when Jon interviewed Raymond McCord about the proposed compensation for victims of the NI troubles. Mr McCord was permitted to use similar arguments without being interrupted and cut off.
It looks ever so like one rule for the Jews, and another for everyone else. By the way, I’m neither Jewish, nor Zionist, just a thinking watcher of Channel 4 news (most nights).

Until today I didn't know that Peter Snow was also part of the hate Israel fest. I happened to watch the last half of a documentary made by him and his son Dan Snow about the Yom Kippur war. The information about the war seemed mainly accurate although when talking about a ceasefire at the end of the war, they without any evidence said Israel broke it. There was no mention of the fact that the ceasefire was forced on Israel to stop it destroying Egyptian aggression once and for all, that as soon as Israel began to win the war Russia and Egypt demanded a ceasefire.

But at the end of the film Israel's defeat of Egypt was glossed over. Israel got no credit for having ended the war with two Egyptian armies in its grasp, nor for resupplying them instead of annihilating them when they were at Israel's mercy. Instead the sufferings of the egyptian soldiers were discussed, how they were dying of thirst, how they had no food. There had been no such understanding of the sufferings of the many thousands of Israelis who had died in an unprovoked attack on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the jewish year, of the soldiers killed on the Bar Lev line, the sufferings of those who held out throughout the time that they were surrounded by Egyptian forces. And of course, Israel allowed those Egyptian armies to survive. It let them receive food and water. Of course that was too trifling a detail for the Snow family to mention.

If the Snow family describes suffering, it must only be arab suffering with jews only being linked with causing that suffering rather than its alleviation, which took the Snow duo to the next point.

Sadat's honour gained by almost winning the 1973 war (the Snow's couldn't even bring themselves to declare Israel as having defeated the arabs. This attitude comes from the Snows seeing Israel's wars through arab eyes. Mohhamad Heikl even wrote a book about the “War Egypt almost won”). So of course no credit was given to Israel for having made peace overtures to Sadat in the past, nor was Israel's having given the Sinai back to Egypt as part of that peace even mentioned by them.

This is a tragedy, that as with Germany in World War I, Egypt doesn't know just how soundly it was defeated in 1973. Because of this, egyptian society has been clamouring during the Arab 'Spring' to tear up the peace treaty. Egypt's army has not been so interested in this purely because its generals know the truth about the extent of the defeat. But just as the German people did not about their defeat, that Egyptians still don't know about theirs could lead to another war of aggression against Israel.

The Snow program about the Yom Kippur War finished of course with, the poor suffering palestinians, the supposed root cause of all problems in the middle-east. And the backdrop for spouting this nonsense which we see ever more clearly with the current Syrian civil war, was of course the “barrier,” the concrete wall with watchtowers, part of the security barrier which is mainly a fence. Much better to show the intimidating wall if you want to demonise Israel though. And of course there was no explanation of the second intifada, of the thousands of Israeli dead and injured in suicide bombings and other terror attacks which made the building of the fence necessary in the first place.

But then by their own account, the Snow family have a history of distorting information and diverting blame. One ancestor, a general at the infamous Somme offensive determined to lay the blame for his own part in the debacle at the feet of another general, and got him sacked.

So much for the Snow family.

When you ask yourself why there is so much British hatred for Israel, don't think of anything jews have done, of jews living in Judea and Samaria, but rather of generations of hatred, the old hatred of the jew that gets renewed and updated daily. British media puts out a never ending stream of propaganda about the middle-east where Israel is the villain and arabs are the victims.

British journalists get trained in universities, are thoroughly indoctrinated by Palestine days in student unions, and by history courses given by professors who write books where the history of Israel and the arab conflict is distorted to show that zionists always intended to drive out a peaceful and indigenous 'palestinian' population.

What makes trying to put over Israel's case worth while is however not in  attempting to convince the unthinking masses and their indoctrinated elite who swallow media lies whole, but that there are always the tiny few who are prepared to listen, to think for themselves and to come to their own conclusions. Peter F Whyte is one of those people. He very possibly doesn't like Israel at all, but at least he's prepared to listen without instantly discounting anything Israelis say as propaganda. Alan Johnson is another, as is Richard Kemp. The Rev James Parkes who wrote about the origins of anti-semitism was another rare and true friend of the jewish people. Parkes was a priest who specialised in jewish history and came to love jews, unlike most of the church cadre. When you think about it there are quite a few. Stephen Harper comes to mind, the PM of Canada who scotched Obama's '67 'borders' attack on Israel at the G8.

A few good friends is all we need.