Zeenath Ul Islam unravels the BBC controversy enveloping the DEC humanitarian appeal for Gaza

‘Come into my parlour’ said the Spider to the fly. And so the deception began behind closed doors as the managers, not journalists, of the BBC refused to broadcast the DEC (Disasters Emergency Committee) appeal for Gaza.

The arachnid spinning its web of deceit lured the fly with vacuous statements of flattery. And indeed the Director General of the BBC, Mark Thompson, lured his cooperation into a moral nightmare and legal quagmire since that fateful decision.

In a Scotsman article, Mr Thompson stated that there was, “concern about whether the aid raised would actually be delivered on the ground. There have been considerable logistical difficulties in delivering aid into Gaza.” For eighteen-months Israel maintained a medieval siege on Gaza and continues to control all of its borders. If Thompson has ‘special information’ direct from the Israeli government that aid will be turned back at the borders then surely the tunnels from Egypt would naturally be utilised? After all they have been a vital way of getting food, oil and essential medicines into Gaza since the siege began.

The Red Cross, and the other 13 humanitarian agencies that the DEC umbrella group unites, currently operating in response to the crippling humanitarian disaster in Gaza, can better judge whether the aid will get through than a sedate corporate ‘fat cat’ sitting safely in a plush London office.

In fact Mark Thompson may be surprised to note that since the appeal launched, CARE has distributed fresh food, medical supplies, heaters, blankets and plastic sheeting to hospitals, families and feeding centres in Gaza, reaching more than 160,000 people; Save the Children have reached 44,000 people, delivering food (packages that are enough to feed a family of 7 for two weeks), water, baby kits - with thousands of nappies and hygiene kits. Oxfam are providing drinking water to 20,000 households per day and have provided 20,000 people with food. World Vision are providing food to 3,000 people and are preparing to distribute blankets, hygiene kits, food, and candles to more than 100,000. Tragically the need for basic water, food and medicine is greater than the supply and thus donations are urgently needed.

To further justify his actions, Mark Thompson explained that the decision was made because of “impartiality” and that there was a “risk of the impression that the BBC was taking sides in the conflict.” What Thompson has failed to realise however, is that the sole aim of the DEC appeal is immediate basic humanitarian aid: to provide clean water, food for the starving and medicines and medical help for the injured, of whom a significant portion are children and orphans.

Incidentally, the Chief executive of the DEC, Mr Brendan Gormley clarified, “we are not proposing to attempt to rebuild Gaza –that is not our role. We work on the basis of humanitarian need and there is an urgent need in Gaza today. Political solutions are for others to resolve, but what is of major concern to us all is that many innocent people have been affected by the situation – and it is them that we seek to help.”

The decision by aid agencies to launch a joint appeal on January 22 to relieve the humanitarian crisis, was made after a three week-long Israeli indiscriminate bombing campaign on Gaza which has left over 1,300 Palestinians dead, over 5000 injured and 1.1 million people dependent upon aid to survive. The devastation in the Gazan territory was “so huge” that British aid agencies were compelled to act, given that the DEC agencies have a humanitarian mandate irrespective of political volatility. Thompson should realise that it is universally agreed that humanitarian aid for civilians is a moral concern and is never dependent on how “politically contentious” the situation is. In fact, previous DEC appeals have sent aid to Burma and £9.7million has so far been raised for the victims in the DR(Congo) crisis. Unfortunately it remains apparent that the BBC’s Mark Thompson has confused impartiality with equal coverage.

Despite the BBC’s decision, when interviewed on the radio veteran MP Tony Benn made his own appeal on behalf of the DEC, “What I’m going to do now is to do the appeal myself and say if you want to make a cheque payable to the Disasters Emergency Committee Gaza Crisis, post it to PO Box 999, London EC3A 3AA or go to any post office quoting pre-pay number 1210.”

Attempting to weave a defence to protect its personal interests the spider has become entangled in its own web, whilst the reality of its cruel intention is publicly unravelled. The BBC’s defence is widely regarded as bizarre: to claim sending aid to devastated Gaza is a weakening of a supposed BBC record of balance and editorial neutrality. In 2006 a study conducted for the BBC governors confirmed “identifiable shortcomings” in BBC coverage that favoured the Israeli side. And a study in 2004 by Glasgow University’s Mass Media Unit, revealed that BBC coverage has long since been skewed towards the Israeli government. Mick Napier, chairman of Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign explained, “The BBC’s decision to impede the humanitarian crisis of Gaza comes on top of this well-substantiated record of pro-Israeli bias. The Sun never recovered on Merseyside from its appalling misreporting of the Hillsborough disaster, and the BBC may never recover from this similar violation of deeply–held convictions. The great majority of British people clearly feel that Palestinians have been savaged and denying aid to the victims is sadistic.”
The DEC has answered every question raised about whether and how aid can be delivered. If the BBC continues to refuse broadcasting the appeal, it will be setting a terribly dangerous precedent implying that civilians in politicised conflicts shouldn’t get humanitarian aid; that we have to stand aloof from their suffering to maintain some kind of amoral neutrality. David Hind, the chief executive of the Charity Commission regulator, said the BBC’s refusal would have a direct impact on the money raised, adding: “I can’t see how members of the public will confuse a humanitarian appeal for people in desperate need in Gaza with unbalanced reporting.”

Throughout this fiasco Mark Thompson wishes to impress that “the BBC takes its responsibility to report the human consequences of situation like Gaza very seriously.” Whilst Peter Horrocks, Head of the BBC news room told The Student that, “The BBC did a significant amount of eye-witness journalism from within Gaza during the conflict once it was possible for foreign journalists to enter Gaza.” But this highlights the amoral sentiment resulting in the BBC’s hypocritical stance. By acting only as a voyeur, the journalist can look at the dead babies and report the numbers of the dead and dying children, but ultimately as a cooperation they will not lift one of their a publicly funded fingers to help them.

At best Mark Thompson’s decision is self delusion at worst it is a betrayal of the licence payers. ‘Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practise to deceive!’