Wednesday 31 August 2011

Al Beeb















When I was at school, we were told the BBC was the most impartial news agency in the world.

Well, I was at school a long time ago and things have changed since then.

Compare these two stories of a Palestinian Muslim terrorist who hijacked a taxi in Tel Aviv after stabbing the driver and then headed to a nightclub filled with Israeli high school kids.

The BBC refers to the Palestinian as a “militant”, not a “terrorist”; it twice claims that terror attacks are rare; it makes no reference to the fact that the terrorists targets were school kids; it makes no reference to his Islamic motivation; it talks about Israel “blaming” Palestinian militants for “the series of attacks near the Red Sea ... on 18 August” and feels obliged to mention that “More than two dozen people died in the week of hostilities that followed, including leaders of Palestinian militant groups killed in Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip.”

Judge for yourself if the BBC deserves the title given to it by some of its critics: "Al Beeb".

Jerusalem Post:

Eight people were injured in south Tel Aviv early Monday morning, when a terrorist from the West Bank carjacked a taxi and rammed it into a police road block protecting a Tel Aviv nightclub, before going on a stabbing spree.

Police said the terrorist, a 20-year-old Nablus resident, entered a taxi near the beginning of Salameh Street, and hijacked the vehicle, stabbing the driver in the hand. He then drove for approximately a kilometer down Salameh Street towards the Haoman 17 nightclub, which was filled with high school children at an end-of-summer party. At the time of the attack, almost all of the teenagers were inside the club.

Border Police had set up a precautionary road block ahead of time at the entrance to the club on Abarbanel Street, in Tel Aviv’s Florentine neighborhood. The terrorist rammed the road block, and struck a number of civilians and a border policeman.

“He then got out of the car, screamed Allah Akbar [God is Great], and went on a knife attack,” a police spokeswoman said.

The suspect was tackled to the ground by Border Police officers and taken into custody. He was taken to the Wolfson Medical Center in Holon after being lightly injured. He was later released and was taken in for questioning under heavy security.

The eight people injured in the attack were all Border Police officers and club security guards. One was seriously injured, two were moderately injured and three were lightly injured. The remaining casualties were released from hospital after receiving medical treatment.

The cabdriver whose taxi was hijacked, Nachman Azi, said that the Palestinian man got in his cab at the start of Salameh Street and asked to be taken to the Central Bus Station, moments later, said Azi “he pulled out a knife and told me to get out of the cab. I grabbed the knife and started to fight him, but it cut my hand very bad and I told him he could take the car.”

Azi, his hand heavily bandaged and his shirt splotched with blood, said that the terrorist let him take some of his personal belongings, and that he believed he only wanted to steal the car.
A police source said that the road block had prevented a far worse outcome.

Israel Radio reported that the attack was coordinated to strike a large youth party being held in the area.

Police Insp.-Gen. Yochanan Danino said Monday morning that over 1,000 teenagers were inside the club which was targeted. He said Border Police preparations “were extraordinary and prevented a big disaster.”


The BBC:
A Palestinian man has wounded seven Israelis near a Tel Aviv nightclub, ramming a car into a checkpoint and stabbing five people, police say.

The man drove a stolen taxi into the checkpoint, injuring two guards. He stabbed two other guards, two passers-by, and the taxi driver.

Attacks by Palestinians in Israeli cities have been rare in recent years.

The incident comes amid heightened tensions after attackers killed eight Israelis near Eilat earlier this month.

Israel blames Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip, who crossed from Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, for the series of attacks near the Red Sea resort on 18 August.

More than two dozen people died in the week of hostilities that followed, including leaders of Palestinian militant groups killed in Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip.

On Monday, Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the attacker in Tel Aviv was a Palestinian in his 20s from the city of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank.

He was arrested soon after the early morning attack and taken to hospital with injuries sustained during the arrest. One of his victims was in a serious condition, Ms Samri said.

Attacks by Palestinian militants in Israeli cities were common during the Second Intifada - the Palestinian uprising against Israeli rule - that lasted from 2000 to 2005, but have been rare in the years since.

In May, one person was killed when a lorry driven by an Israeli Arab ploughed into traffic and pedestrians shortly after morning rush hour in Tel Aviv.


No comments:

Post a Comment