Letter to the London Times - June 19th 2001

Letters to The Editors,

The Times,

London.

Dear Sir;

I would like to refer to the Panorama program broadcasted by BBC on the Sabra and Shatila massacre.

I am amazed at BBC’s liberty. To begin with, Israel, was the only country in the world to hold a formal state inquiry about an incident in which innocent people were killed in time of war, in order to find out who is responsible. Sabra and Shatila is a horrendous tragedy. Ariel Sharon was found negligent. Those who knew the facts, including the Kahn Committee resolved that no Israeli officer or Sharon himself had mens rea [criminal intent].  Due to his failure to anticipate the outcome he had to depart from The Ministry of Defense. But war crimes without mens rea can only come about from BBC.

Following the Massacre, Time Magazine wrote an article about Sharon’s involvement. The magazine  lost a court case in New York. A formal US committee severely criticized the Time.  Any word about it in Panorama? Why should they? “Do not bother me about the facts”.

Indeed, when the Israelis are in a grave dispute with the Palestinians, the timing of the BBC is “unique”. Is the BBC planning to debate the same issue about Yasser Arafat and his cronies? Arafat had mens rea when his people bombed airplanes in midair [SWISSAIR], killing children in schools [Maalot, the Dolfinarium] conducting thousands of terrorists activities around the world, or to be historically correct, bring terrorism worldwide to a level where every human being is threatened? The supporter of the Red Brigade in Italy, Bider Meunhoff in Germany, various terrorist groups in Japan, The IRA. Any word from the BBC? No. Sharon is the criminal. Arafat a holly man.

Yasser Arafat

A BBC spokesman said last night that the issue was only broadcasted now as Sharon is the Prime Minister of Israel. BBC considers Arafat as “The president of The Palestinian Authority”. But rest assured that no Panorama program will debate him. “Objective journalism”? or perhaps hypocrisy?

There were distinguished world leaders who were responsible for the killing of vast groups of citizens. Churchill ordered the destruction of German cities. I do not think he is a war criminal.  Nobody was brought to trial after the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. One elderly officer was brought to trial after the French war in Algiers. Is Nixon a war criminal for bombing Hanoi? Who was brought to justice after the Mai Lai incident? The list is “an unfinished symphony”.

“In my book” says Judge Richard Goldstone in Panorama, Sharon should have known, thus he is more responsible then those who actually committed the crime. War crimes without Mens rea?  Where did the honorable judge get his ”book”? at BBC’s?

BBC’s liberty at this stage - when the dispute between Israel and the Palestinians is in such a crucial moment, when Palestinian terrorism killing children in Israel by the dozens, is known to all - to serve as a propaganda tool for the Palestinians in such a one sided manner, discriminating with other  world incidents, is a habit known to us from the past. Such was the custom of Pravada, or was it the BBC?

Zalli Jaffe,

Jerusalem.