In response to those who believe the BBC is being 'unfair' in refusing to air a video calling for aid to Hamas...

The BBC recently announced it will not air a commercial asking for aid money to be sent to Hamas. In response - as you can imagine, shoes were thrown at the BBC, and all sorts of claims of 'human rights violations' were screamed about.

The BBC is a cesspool of anti-Israel sentiment, yet it happened to do one right thing in refusing to air a call for funding Hamas. That's about the only thing to say. This action does not mean the BBC suddenly has become a pro-Israel institution.

The reality is that the "appeal for aid" was an appeal to fund Hamas, and nothing less. The BBC, for once, decided it has principles (I know, shocking!) and does not want to air an ad requesting funds to go to a jihadist terror organization.

Anyone who thinks this is a "human rights violation" or that the BBC is being unfair should ask themselves why exactly appeals for aid to Hamas should be aired on the BBC. I will ask a follow up: should the BBC air appeals to aid for Al Queda? At what point do they have even a minimal responsibility to protect the public? Or should the BBC air every terrorist propoganda video on earth, and/or every video on earth calling for aid to terror organizations?

Given the history of the BBC's craven capitulation to jihad, I expect they will cave on this soon, and air a commercial asking for aid to be sent to Hamas. I find the whole thing pathetic, that people have the shocking gall to believe this renders the BBC somehow biased in favor of Israel. The reality is that this means is that the BBC has at least a tiny vestige of principles left, but nothing more. It should be a given that it is wrong to air an appeal to aid a jihadist terror organization.

As an aside, here is a link to an article which discusses money from a UK Islamic 'aid' society going to Hamas.

UPDATE: This is a must read article which details exactly why the BBC is right - for once - in its refusal to air the disgusting "appeal to aid" for Hamas.

Here is an excerpt:

Who adjudicates on which victims to support via such charitable aid - and according to whose political morality? Why did the BBC not launch an appeal for the victims of collateral damage during Nato's bombing of Serbia in 1999 during the Kosovo campaign? And had it done so, would it have given money to ethnic Serbs as well as to Kosovars and Bosnian Muslims, all of whom were “cleansed” during the Balkan wars of that decade? What about the victims of insurgencies and counter- insurgencies in Sri Lanka, Kashmir, Chechnya or Georgia? Or Israeli victims of the next Hamas suicide attack? Indeed, what about the Palestinian victims of Hamas's hideous human rights abuses, still so shamefully under-reported by the British media as a whole?

And who are these supposedly impartial charities who are attacking Mr Thompson's (albeit belated) attempt to uphold the Corporation's traditional standards? While groups such as the British Red Cross and Christian Aid are generally impartial in other areas of the world, that cannot be said to apply to their role in the Israeli-Palestinian struggle, where they regularly view the conflict through a deeply partisan lens.

In the months prior to the decision by Hamas to end the six-month ceasefire and resume rocket attacks, these charities issued a flood of one- sided denunciations aimed at Israel. Their campaign repeated tendentious and often highly inaccurate terms such as “collective punishment” and “violation of international law”. On March 6, 2008, CARE International, Cafod, Christian Aid and Oxfam (among others) published a widely quoted report under the headline “The Gaza Strip: A Humanitarian Implosion”. The authors did not bother to hide their political bias against Israel, repeating standard Palestinian political rhetoric and including claims that Israeli policy “constitutes a collective punishment against ordinary men, women and children” and is “illegal under international humanitarian law”.

Read it all.

Ceasefire Hopes

Hamas supporters are in celebration that Israel has announced a cease-fire as Hamas continues to fire at Israeli civilian centers. Is everything that simple, or is the Israeli government using a card up its sleeve?

Consider the protests around the world defending Hamas and demanding a ceasefire. Their voices have been so loud. Imagine how impotent their voices will become if and when Hamas continues to fire at Israeli civilians after Israel announces a unilateral cease fire.

If Hamas continues to attack Israeli civilians, how long will Israelis allow that to happen before they demand military actions to resume? If the Israeli government is wise, this ceasefire will give Hamas two options.

1. Continue to attack Israelis, and invite reprisals.
2. Stop attacking Israel. (This may be the best solution to prevent Fatah taking power.)

Time will tell.

What are your thoughts?

The conflict in Gaza in a nutshell

During the present war between Israel and Hamas, there has been a great deal of misinformation. As such, Culture for All aims to bring you as many FACTS in an easy to understand format as is possible. As such, I thought you, dear readers, would appreciate the following:

1) FACT: Israel did not break the 'ceasefire', rather, there never was a working 'ceasefire.' In November, Israel sent a few missiles to simply go after rocket launchpads in Gaza. Israel did this because Hamas and Islamic jihad were launching rockets, ceaselessly, at Sderot and Southern Israel (over 10,000 since 2001).

2) FACT: Israel operated with both hands tied behind its back for eight years on end, letting about 10,000 rockets get lobbed at Sderot (and making life intolerable for the citizens of Sderot). The country failed in its duty to protect its citizens, and this fact alone made me cynical about the leadership of the Israel. It is the absolute duty and obligation of any country to defend its citizens, which, for eight years Israel was not doing. NOT ONLY did Israel fail to defend the citizens of Sderot for EIGHT YEARS, it was called a 'warmonger' when it took only small steps to eradicate the rocket attacks! Moreover, Israel left Gaza, including leaving greenhouses for the Gaza 'Palestinians' to use to set up an actual economy, and these greenhouses were destroyed in order to use these greenhouses as rocket launch sites. Let me repeat this, just so you have a deeper understanding of exactly how far Israel went to appease 'Palestinians' in the name of 'peace': The IDF went to Gush Katif (the Jewish-run 'settlement' in Gaza) and forced out about 7,500 Jews out of Gaza, all in the name of 'peace.' In response, there was a threefold increase in rockets towards Sderot. Here is a great timeline - well documented - of rockets and statistics from 2005 ('disengagement') to the present day.

3) FACT: Hamas operates its rocket launch sites next to 'civilian' areas on purpose, hoping to maximize their own 'civilian' (and I use the term 'civilian' loosely) casualties, for the world press. By doing this, and by using human meat shields against Israel, it has the blood of all those 'civilians' who have died in Gaza on its hands. Now, you might ask why I use the term 'civilian' loosely. That is because Israel, in my opinion counter-tactically, flies leaflets over areas it intends to bomb, asking 'civilians' to leave. In response, Gaza 'civilians' have actually run to the very bomb targets, hoping they will either prevent the IDF from attacking a military target, or will die as martyrs. As such, these 'civilians' often are not 'civilians' as you and I define the term. A Soldier's Mother writes more of this right here.

Israel goes out of its way to kill as few 'civilians' as they can, even to the point of decreasing their military effectiveness. What army in the world informs their target where they are going in advance? No army but Israel! And yet Israel still gets blamed as killing all these 'civilians'? That only shows the bias of the world press and world governments.

Without exception, the death of every single 'civilian' in Gaza is the fault of Hamas. There would not be a war if Hamas did not send over 10,000 rockets into Southern Israel, with the intent of killing as many ACTUAL Israeli civilians - women and children - as possible. Then, when Israel dares to fight back - after EIGHT YEARS (and making Gaza Jew free in the process) Gaza 'civilians' are used as human shields. As such, every single death - both Israeli and 'Palestinian,' is the fault of Hamas.

4) FACT: There is a distinction between killing and murder. Not all killing is murder, and this has to be understood. Killing someone in self defense is not murder. Killing a baby in cold blood is in fact murder. As such, given every single 'Palestinian' killed by the IDF in Gaza was killed in self defense, none of these deaths were murder. Every single Israeli killed was killed in cold blood - THAT is murder. Moreover, Hamas just murdered 35 'collaborators' (i.e., Fatah members) in Gaza. THAT is murder.

5) FACT: The majority of Gaza 'Palestinians' support jihad against Israel. I am speaking of a majority of these 'Palestinians,' according to public opinion polls, as well as the blatant actions of 'Palestinians.' As a recent example, at least 300,000 Gazan 'Palestinians' recently showed up for a "Death to Israel, Death to America" hate rally in Gaza City. A 'Palestinian' dressed up as Gilad Shalit, the IDF soldier being held prisoner in Gaza, and 300,000 'Palestinians' in the crowd laughed and jeered. That shows a sick and diseased society. The fact that the society is sick and diseased means that you will see such sickness as 'Palestinian' 'civilians' running to be bombed by the IDF, you will see Pallywood productions of fake deaths, you will see bombs/rockets/missiles being launched from schools, you will see children recruited as homicide bombers, and you will see schools/mosques/media besieged by the worst form of hate education.

If you would like to see true 'peace' in the region, the only way for this to happen is for Israel to take over Gaza, throw out Hamas, take over the schools, and send an army of teachers, teaching non-hate education. This will not happen, as Israel has made it clear that this is not the goal of the IDF. As such, the most I am hoping for is for Hamas to be crippled substantially enough that they will not be sending thousands of rockets a year into Sderot, claiming they are abiding by a 'ceasefire.' This is all that I can sadly hope for. 'Peace' is utterly impossible unles the hate education is dismantled, and Israel refuses to do that, as it would require an extreme amount of casualties for it to occur. The 'two state solution' will not accomplish 'peace,' and is dead in practical terms. Meanwhile, the world (specifically, the UN and the 'quartet') continue to fund hate education and villify Israel. Those who think they are being 'generous' and 'open-minded' and think 'both sides are wrong,' do not realize that sometimes there is a right and a wrong.

This is the world we live in. In this world, there is absolute truth and right and wrong, whether people want to acknowledge this or not. When I go to 'pro-Palestinian' demonstrations, I see open calls for the murder of Jews and Israelis. That is wrong. Supporting Israel against the jihadist onslaught is right.