In moral terms Israel’s recent operation in Gaza was an obscenity and an abomination. Whether or not it was illegal, under International Humanitarian Law, is for wiser minds than mine to argue over.
Equally unquestionable is that the conditions in Gaza’s refugee camps constitute a humanitarian crisis; unfortunately this crisis has been caused by an act of man and not God and is therefore a political one as well. There simply is no separating the two and the BBC simply cannot afford to undermine itself by broadcasting a third-party appeal of this kind. Commercial (or semi-commercial) institutions can be as selective as they like when it comes to the causes they support, public ones cannot.
One thing I don’t know is if the BBC has screened DEC appeals for previous humanitarian campaigns with political overtones (namely Darfur and the Congo); if it has then Mark Thompson’s a hypocrite and should be ashamed. Consistency is everything.
Another question worth asking is how the Beeb’s own Comic Relief and Children in Need fits in with all this?
Tags: bbc, dec appeal, dec appeals, gaza, international humanitarian law
February 3, 2009 at 7:26 pm |
Was interested to see wheteher bbc had screened aid appeals for zimbabwe etc, and stumbled across this other wordpress debate. Have a looksie if interested : http://worldhaveyoursay.wordpress.com/2009/01/26/on-air-does-an-aid-appeal-for-gaza-undermine-impartiality/