BBC Correspondent Apologizes For Omitting Anti-Israel Bias

London, February 9 – Veteran British Broadcasting Corporation reporter Peter Philips said today that he regretted reporting matter-of-factly on an attack by Palestinians against an Israeli motorist, and promised that he will redouble his efforts to always include something negative about Israel.

In a news item last week, Philips was seen narrating a segment about a crash on Route 443, part of which runs through the West Bank. A number of Palestinian men were hurling stones and Molotov cocktails at passing Israeli cars, and the driver of one such vehicle stopped his car and chased the group while wielding a handgun, scattering them and stopping the attacks. Philips devoted almost the same amount of time discussing the attack on the motorist as on his brief pursuit, thus departing from BBC policy of specifically painting Israel and Israelis as at fault in confrontations with Palestinians.

“I apologise first to the Palestinians, who depend on the BBC for unstinting propaganda support; second, to my colleagues at the BBC, for showing what could be construed as disrespect for our journalistic standards; and of course to our viewership, who might become confused if we do not paint Israel as thoroughly evil,” Philips wrote in a statement. He attributed the lack of sufficient spin to deadline pressures, but admitted he could have done better.

The immediate result of the initial broadcast was a series of angry text messages and e-mails from Palestinians, followed several minutes later by inquiries from Britain about the welfare of the driver and of others who had traveled 443 while the stones and homemade bombs were being hurled at them. The corporation immediately reviewed the segment and were aghast at the blatant lack of anti-Israel bias.

“It is BBC policy to grant our correspondents some degree of journalistic independence, but in this case Mr. Philips made an unfortunate error in judgement and has been appropriately disciplined. We accept his commitment to maintaining a sufficient level of thinly veiled antisemitism in his future filings,” said Middle East Division Director Nigel Forsythe. He expressed understanding that filing deadlines and pressures could have made standard bias-insertion procedures difficult.

If properly executed, said Forsythe, the report would have omitted mention of the Molotov cocktails entirely, and cast the incident as exuberant youths nobly resisting occupation forces with nothing but rocks. The civilian motorist would have been called an “armed reservist” and his handgun would have been called an “automatic,” implying a fearsome shoulder-fired weapon.

Further, the stone-throwing that sparked the chase would have been given short shrift, if any, with the story beginning at the pursuit, and, if possible, focusing on any injuries to the Palestinians involved, even those injuries sustained as a result of tripping, fighting with one another, or simply unrelated.

In fact, says fellow BBC correspondent Margaret Twilling, the incident could have been omitted entirely, in keeping with the BBC policy of underreporting Palestinian attacks on Jews and playing up acts by Israelis that could be made out as oppressive. “In my view this story could have been ignored, as its circumstances are too ambiguous,” she commented. “Peter usually has a good nose for incidents that give only a one-sided, anti-Israel impression, and I’m surprised, frankly.”

The Jewish driver was unavailable for comment, as he was too busy trying to fight the traffic ticket he received for parking illegally on the shoulder as he chased the assailants.