Gaza

Buy this single for national airplay in the UK

The Freedom OneWorld single "Freedom for Palestine" is hanging around just outside the UK top 40. If it gets into the top 40 it will achieve national airplay on the BBC

We don't like to encourage orgies of consumerism, but what the hey, its all in the name of a good cause, so please buy the single. A tiny 79p well spent.

BBC censor 'Palestine'

Not long ago we exposed the apparent bias of a BBC story about a Jerusalem boxing club. The story was meant to show how Jews and non-Jews in Jerusalem came together for sport, but actually gave more weight to the Jewish side of the narrative, carrying quotes from a number of different Jews along with their pictures, whilst the Palestinian members of the gym were clearly not focussed upon in the same depth.

Now we learn that the BBC censored the very word 'Palestine' after it was rapped on a live radio show by UK artist Mic Righteous. This occurs at about 3 minutes into the video above.

In it's defence on censoring the word 'Palestine', the BBC issued a statement: 

Charlie Sloth’s Hip-Hop Mix is predominantly a music based programme and decisions as to which tracks and artists get featured are based on artistic merit. All BBC programmes have a responsibility to be impartial when dealing with controversial subjects however, and an edit was made in this instance to ensure that impartiality was not compromised.

Could it be that the issue was that the BBC did not think that political lyrics were appropriate for "a predominantly music based programme"? Does the BBC think fans of hip hop are not engaged in the political process and therefore do not want to hear political lyrics?

Hip Hop has a long history of political statement. From Grandmaster Flash talking about drug dealers:

A street kid gets arrested, gonna do some time He got out three years from now just to commit more crime A businessman is caught with 24 kilos He’s out on bail and out of jail And that’s the way it goes

To KRS One talking about institutionalised racism in the police force

Ya hotshot, wanna get props and be a saviour First show a little respect, change your behavior Change your attitude, change your plan There could never really be justice on stolen land

And those who to listen to Eminem lyrics know that he is not averse to sending messages to the elite of American politics.

Standing up in particular for Palestine Lupe Fiasco raps what we all thought

Gaza strip was getting bombed, Obama didn’t say shit

 and in the UK Lowkey is a well known supporter of Palestinian rights.

Given this proud seam of political thought within the hip hop art form, it is only to be expected that controversial - and often political - things be said or rapped on a hip hop show, in fact, it would be disappointing if something controversial didn't happen.

For the BBC though, it seems that misogynistic lyrics are fine. And lyrics depicting violence is fine. And lyrics talking about drug use are also fine.

But the word 'Palestine' is far too controversial to be heard in the early hours of a Saturday morning hip-hop radio show.

Somewhat ironic, or should we say, hypocritical, is that seconds after mentioning Palestine, Mic Righteous makes reference to floods in Pakistan and asserts that "nobody helps". And yet this is not deemed too controversial.

Palestine, like Pakistan, is a geographic area. So we can see that the controversy does not come from naming a geographic area and the troubles within it, but from naming Palestine as a distinct geographic area and the troubles with it.

Perhaps, it was not the word "Palestine" but the word which Mic Righteous preceded it which was the controversial element. Is it really the phrase "Free Palestine" that is controversial? Because to admit that Palestine needed to be 'free' would be to admit that it's status is not 'free' at the moment, which in turn would call into question the actions of Israel.

But no, a quick search for "Free Palestine" on the BBC website reveals 53 results. Similarly, searching for "Free Tibet" yields 184 results. The huge disparity in the numbers of these results alone may serve to buttress the argument that the BBC is biased against Palestinian viewpoints, but certainly proves that the phrase "Free Palestine" is not, in itself, banned across BBC output.

So, in the end, the reasons for censoring the word "Palestine" from the lyrics of a song rapped live during an early morning hip hop show are still cloudy. The word "Palestine" is available elsewhere across BBC output, as is the phrase "Free Palestine". It would be a lot easier for us if the BBC showed a shred of consistency in what they do, but also if they valued the truth above what they would present as a "balanced" view.

Perhaps the truth is just too controversial?

In addition to the story mentioned above about the Jerusalem boxing club, the BBC has clear previous form in putting the Human Rights of Palestinians second to the apparent need for 'impartiality'. 

In 2009 the BBC refused to show the Disasters Emergency Committee appeal, and has since then aired a programme about the Israeli attack on the Freedom Flotilla which was later found to have breached editorial guidelines, though, predictably, the BBC believed that the show achieved "due impartiality and due accuracy overall".

It takes a while, but Frum appears to admit that political 'power' is more important than law, be that international or national law. I can't believe Frum actually said this with a straight face.

We are used to the treatment Palestinians receive in the media.

We usually only hear about Palestinians when they are causing trouble for the Israelis and are having to be punished using disproportionate measures as a result. Or we hear that the 'peace process' has broken down and a Palestinian "spokesperson" (we are indeed lucky if we are told the name of this ethereal person) might manage to have their brief statement read out by a benevolent newscaster whilst Israeli propagandist-at-large, Mark Rhegev gets a few minutes to put his case directly to the viewer.

Recently, though, the BBC published an article about a boxing club in Jerusalem which reveals the multiple fallacies the media propagates about Israel, whilst apparently trying to dispel them.

The article lauds the existence of the Jerusalem boxing club as a a vehicle to promote tolerance between the different communities in Israel. A single line reveals both the truth and the lie of the story:

Ethiopian, Russian and Orthodox Jews all come here, as do Palestinians from East Jerusalem.

Israel is known as a 'Jewish' state. It can apparently overcome the dichotomy of being both a 'Jewish' as well as a 'democratic' state. And yet, the best example of this, after decades of Israel enforcing the 'Law of Return' for Jews around the world to emigrate to Israel, is a boxing club which - gasp! - sees Ethiopian, Russian, and Orthodox Jews all train in the same place!

It is well known that whilst on the face of it, the Jews of Israel share a religion, there is a deep segregation even between Jews of different ethnic backgrounds within Israel. The BBC article never alludes to this directly, but why point out that Jews of different backgrounds train at the Gym? Why is that even newsworthy? It is almost the same as saying that English, Scottish and Welsh people train at a club in London. It would be total non-news. But apparently not in Israel where, it seems, is Jewish, though some are more Jewish than others.

The BBC article tells us of Christina Stadnik, a 17-year-old Jewish girl who, having moved to Israel from the Ukraine, "is one of the club's star members, having twice won championships in Israel."

For her, the club is more than just a place to train.

"Ever since I arrived in Israel, I have spent most of my time with other Russian-Jewish people," she says.

"I never thought I'd talk to other Israeli people or Arabs as I hated them when I came here. But then I met people in this boxing club, and all of them, no matter whether they are Russian or Arab, are nice."

The basic story of Christina Stadnik is not uncommon. Russian Jews have a long history of being treated as second class citizens in Israel which continues to this day.

But the real shame in this story is that, whilst it purports to highlight that "Palestinians from East Jerusalem" go to the club, in fact, only one can be found to support this claim, and he apparently didn't want to be photographed. No matter, there are lots of other people to be photographed for the article, though none of them, apparently, are Palestinian.

We hear the story of Gershon Luxembourg - who runs the club along with his brother, and who's son, Ariel also features in the article - who took up boxing in whilst in Uzbekistan to defend himself against attacks "because we were Jews".

Clearly, Luxembourg was the victim of heinous discrimination. One wonders if Luxembourg would accept a similar statement from a person defending themselves against an attack "because we were Palestinians"?

So, we see that whilst the BBC intends this article to be about overcoming prejudice and promoting tolerance, it's vary nature shows how deeply prejudice and intolerance is engrained into Israeli society. The token Palestinian gets a few lines in order to lend some sort of legitimacy to the whole enterprise, whilst the Jewish subjects of the article clearly dominate the narrative.

Perhaps the most telling evidence that this boxing club promotes very little understanding amongst the Israelis and Palestinians is that the club goes out of it's way to support the Orthodox Jewish boxers:

...running a club for such a diverse group of boxers can be challenging.

The fact that most boxing tournaments take place on a Saturday poses a problem for those Orthodox boxers who observe the Sabbath, when Jews are required to rest and refrain from any work.

Yet the trainers have found a way around this.

"The Orthodox boxers arrive at the tournament [location] on the Friday," explains Ariel, the son of the one of the instructors, as driving is prohibited.

"Since the Orthodox boxers can't even take the tournament gloves from the hotel to the boxing ring [as carrying objects on the Sabbath is not allowed], we bring the gloves to them…

"All they need to do is get into the boxing ring, put the gloves on, box, and take them off. That's it."

Why would one not expect one Jew to support another? Especially within the context of a sporting club. Sporting success is often built around sacrifice and teamwork, and the example of the Orthodox boxers being supported by others is a great example of this.

We are curious though, what does the club sacrifice to support the Palestinians (who are not necessarily Muslims) within it's midst? Does it demonstrate teamwork when it's Palestinian members are stopped for hours at checkpoints? Or have their homes demolished? Or human rights abused on a daily basis?

Even the boxers say that beyond the Jerusalem boxing club, they don't spend time with people from different ethnic or religious backgrounds.

"Most of us live in closed communities [so] this is a great place to get some perspective," says Ariel.

Is 'closed communities' a new code phrase for illegal settlement?

The BBC, whilst trying to demonstrate some dim sliver of hope for the different communities in Israel 'tolerating' each other, have spectacularly succeeded in highlighting just how segregated the communities are.

'Young Jews' disrupt Netanyahu speech in New Orleans

We exist. We are everywhere. We speak and love and dream in every language. We pray three times a day or only during the high holidays or when we feel like we really need to or not at all. We are punks and students and parents and janitors and Rabbis and freedom fighters. We are your children, your nieces and nephews, your grandchildren. We embrace diaspora, even when it causes us a great deal of pain. We are the rubble of tangled fear, the deliverance of values. We are human. We are born perfect. We assimilate, or we do not. We are not apathetic. We know and name persecution when we see it. Occupation has constricted our throats and fattened our tongues. We are feeding each other new words. We have family, we build family, we are family. We re-negotiate. We atone. We re-draw the map every single day. We travel between worlds. This is not our birthright, it is our necessity.

Universal Jurisdiction