I know you’re not supposed to laugh when the BBC’s security correspondent, Frank Gardner, does his “Israel is a reckless threat to the world” shtick, but I have to confess that was my reaction this afternoon.
Commenting on the Israeli strike against Hamas leaders in Qatar, Gardner told us it was “exactly what many feared would eventually happen, given the determination by some in the Israeli government to continue a campaign of ‘score settling’ for the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led raid into Israel”.
There comes a point when the blinkers are screwed on so tightly that you can see only what you want to see. Gardner appears to have passed that point. Yes, “many” will indeed have feared Hamas terrorists getting what they had coming: oblivion. And they will doubtless indeed also dismiss it as “score settling” – as if it is so very petty of the Israelis to be interested in hunting down those responsible for the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Why can’t they just turn the other cheek, like decent chaps?
So yes, I know I shouldn’t be laughing now; this is serious. But Gardner and his ilk are so predictable that when they trot out the lines so perfectly, you can guess every word of what they are about to say. It’s amusing.
I happened to be watching the BBC’s news channel when news of the strike broke, and carried on for an hour and a half. Not once in that time did they have anyone – not a single soul – who sought to explain why Israel might have been trying to take out the latest group of Hamas leaders.
Israel has repeatedly vowed that this is what it will do, and did it in July 2024 when it assassinated Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. On August 31, Eyal Zamir, the IDF chief of staff, said that “the bulk of Hamas’s ruling leadership that remains is abroad, and we will reach them too”. Could that be any clearer? Israel believes – and who can seriously suggest they are wrong? – that Hamas needs to know there is nowhere on earth it should feel safe. Israel will get them. Always and everywhere.
And if the IDF chief of staff isn’t good enough, how about Donald Trump, who put it like this at the weekend in a social media post: “Everyone wants the Hostages HOME. Everyone wants this War to end! The Israelis have accepted my Terms. It is time for Hamas to accept as well. I have warned Hamas about the consequences of not accepting. This is my last warning, there will not be another one!”
It took nearly an hour and a half for the BBC to speak to anyone who might explain any of this to its viewers. Before that, it was Frank Gardner droning on about “peaceful…neutral” Qatar, and then Tom Bateman, the BBC’s State Department correspondent, bewailing how Israel has “literally blown up” the chances of peace. In between all this, a British ambassador to Qatar kept popping up, just in case viewers still hadn’t got the message that Israel had done a terrible “reckless” thing, blah blah blah. Reckless Israel this, reckless Israel that.
And then, when someone who actually had some insight into the Israeli mindset appeared – the always excellent Yaakov Katz – the host, Matthew Amroliwala, seemed unable to comprehend that Katz did not think this was an outrage. “You’re killing the negotiators!” he yelled at Katz, as if the Hamas leaders were a bunch of peace-loving diplomats whose efforts to make everyone happy had been rudely interrupted.
Israel isn’t finished. We know this, but the BBC seems shocked that when it says it will act, it acts. There are a large number of Hamas leaders in Turkey, and a Houthi base in Oman. Don’t be surprised if they are next.
I know you’re not supposed to laugh when the BBC’s security correspondent, Frank Gardner, does his “Israel is a reckless threat to the world” shtick, but I have to confess that was my reaction this afternoon.
Commenting on the Israeli strike against Hamas leaders in Qatar, Gardner told us it was “exactly what many feared would eventually happen, given the determination by some in the Israeli government to continue a campaign of ‘score settling’ for the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led raid into Israel”.
There comes a point when the blinkers are screwed on so tightly that you can see only what you want to see. Gardner appears to have passed that point. Yes, “many” will indeed have feared Hamas terrorists getting what they had coming: oblivion. And they will doubtless indeed also dismiss it as “score settling” – as if it is so very petty of the Israelis to be interested in hunting down those responsible for the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Why can’t they just turn the other cheek, like decent chaps?
So yes, I know I shouldn’t be laughing now; this is serious. But Gardner and his ilk are so predictable that when they trot out the lines so perfectly, you can guess every word of what they are about to say. It’s amusing.
I happened to be watching the BBC’s news channel when news of the strike broke, and carried on for an hour and a half. Not once in that time did they have anyone – not a single soul – who sought to explain why Israel might have been trying to take out the latest group of Hamas leaders.
Israel has repeatedly vowed that this is what it will do, and did it in July 2024 when it assassinated Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. On August 31, Eyal Zamir, the IDF chief of staff, said that “the bulk of Hamas’s ruling leadership that remains is abroad, and we will reach them too”. Could that be any clearer? Israel believes – and who can seriously suggest they are wrong? – that Hamas needs to know there is nowhere on earth it should feel safe. Israel will get them. Always and everywhere.
And if the IDF chief of staff isn’t good enough, how about Donald Trump, who put it like this at the weekend in a social media post: “Everyone wants the Hostages HOME. Everyone wants this War to end! The Israelis have accepted my Terms. It is time for Hamas to accept as well. I have warned Hamas about the consequences of not accepting. This is my last warning, there will not be another one!”
It took nearly an hour and a half for the BBC to speak to anyone who might explain any of this to its viewers. Before that, it was Frank Gardner droning on about “peaceful…neutral” Qatar, and then Tom Bateman, the BBC’s State Department correspondent, bewailing how Israel has “literally blown up” the chances of peace. In between all this, a British ambassador to Qatar kept popping up, just in case viewers still hadn’t got the message that Israel had done a terrible “reckless” thing, blah blah blah. Reckless Israel this, reckless Israel that.
And then, when someone who actually had some insight into the Israeli mindset appeared – the always excellent Yaakov Katz – the host, Matthew Amroliwala, seemed unable to comprehend that Katz did not think this was an outrage. “You’re killing the negotiators!” he yelled at Katz, as if the Hamas leaders were a bunch of peace-loving diplomats whose efforts to make everyone happy had been rudely interrupted.
Israel isn’t finished. We know this, but the BBC seems shocked that when it says it will act, it acts. There are a large number of Hamas leaders in Turkey, and a Houthi base in Oman. Don’t be surprised if they are next.