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What If Israelis Had Abducted the BBC Man?

[Telegraph-UK] Charles Moore - Watching the horrible video of Alan Johnston of the BBC broadcasting Palestinian propaganda under orders from his kidnappers, I found myself asking what it would have been like had he been kidnapped by Israelis, and made to do the same thing the other way round. The first point is that it would never happen. There are no Israeli organizations - governmental or freelance - that would contemplate such a thing. That fact is itself significant. But just suppose that some fanatical Jews had grabbed Johnston and forced him to spout their message, abusing his own country as he did so. What would the world have said? There would have been none of the caution which has characterized the response of the BBC and of the government since Johnston was abducted on March 12. The Israeli government would immediately have been condemned for its readiness to harbor terrorists or its failure to track them down. But of course in real life it is Arabs holding Johnston, and so everyone treads on tip-toe. Throughout Johnston's captivity, the BBC has continually emphasized that he gave "a voice" to the Palestinian people, the implication being that he supported their cause, and should therefore be let out. One cannot imagine the equivalent being said if he had been held by Israelis. Well, he is certainly giving a voice to the Palestinian people now. It is mad to try to expend Western culture's reserves of moral indignation on a country that is part of that culture in favor of surrounding countries that aren't. How can we have got ourselves into a situation in which we half-excuse turbaned torturers for kidnapping our fellow-citizens while trying to exclude Jewish biochemists from lecturing to our students?
2007-06-04 01:00:00
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