The Today Programme on BBC Radio is considered to be the UK's flagship news and current affairs radio programme.  As the BBC is funded by the general public through a licence fee we expect high standards of reporting and editorial control.  Unfortunately the BBC frequently fails, especially with regard to the reporting of Israel and the Palestinians.  This letter to the Today Programme was written by leading AFI member, Fran Waddams:

17 October 2009
 
Today Programme
Room G630
Stage 6
TV Centre
Wood Lane
London                     W12 7RS
 
Dear Sir Madam
 
I listened with increasing dismay to Katya Adler’s report on Gaza’s schoolchildren (Today, Tuesday 13 October 2009)
 
Adler’s message was clear.  Israelis are the stuff of children’s nightmares; Israelis don’t recognise the right of Gaza’s children to an education; Israelis don’t want a rebuilt Gaza;   No Israeli voice was permitted to interrupt this litany of blame shaped in the most emotive language and delivered mainly by children.
 
No one denies the reality of Palestinian suffering; but Adler’s presentation of its causes is two-dimensional.  Below is essential context that listeners were denied:

• Operation Cast Lead was an act of self-defense to stop the hail of rockets and mortars from Gaza whose intent was the murder of Israeli civilians -- over 12,000 since 2001.   Dozens of Israelis have died in these attacks and thousands left traumatised including many schoolchildren.  Where were their voices?  Do Israeli victims not matter to the BBC?  Does their suffering over the past decade not count?
• We were invited to sympathise with the ‘high value’ that Gazans place upon education.  But we were not told that in Hamas-run schools -- many named after suicide bombers -- pupils, far from learning how to live in peace with their Jewish neighbours or to build a stable society, are taught to hate Jews and aspire to martyrdom in the cause of Israel’s destruction.  Nor were we told about damage to Israeli schools sustained during rocket attacks often timed to coincide with the Israeli school run.  Why not?
• The recent UNHCR report castigated Hamas’ routine use of civilian centres, including schools and mosques as launchpads for attacks, and their use of civilians as human shields during Operation Cast Lead calling them war crimes.  These crimes contributed significantly to the death and destruction bewailed in Adler’s report.  A 5-second reference to ‘masked Palestinian gunmen firing from the streets’ at the end of the piece is not sufficient to alert listeners to the reasons why some Gazan residential areas became targets for IDF forces.
• Far from imposing a 'blockade' of goods, dozens of trucks carrying food, oil and other essentials enter Gaza every day from Israel.  True, Israel places limits upon building materials.  But why were we told that Israel does this to 'punish Hamas' without hearing Israel's (demonstrably true) riposte that Hamas will continue to hijack them to build tunnels for importing weapons and exporting terrorism -- as they have in the past?  Can’t we be trusted to make up our own minds about where the truth lies?

We expect the BBC to report impartially and in context in accordance with its Charter and guidelines.  Journalism like this -- partial and devoid of context -- becomes propaganda, not neutral reporting.
 
It raises further questions about the validity of the BBC's Licence Fee -- why should audiences be forced to fund reporting that is basically propaganda?
 
License fee payers deserve better.
 
I look forward to your comments.
 
Yours faithfully

Frances Waddams