israelinsider: politics: Trial by TV: Israeli PM "Accused" by the BBC

Trial by TV: Israeli PM "Accused" by the BBC
By Reuven Koret June 15, 2001


		06/15 The Accused - program promo BBC News


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The Defendant: BBC Panorama suggests he "sent" Lebanese militiamen to commit a massacre and should face a war crimes tribunal.


	Uniting against the BBC


	The voice of Jerusalem Herb Keinon, Jerusalem Post

Israeli officials are incensed by the BBC One's intention to run a documentary on its Panorama program entitled "The Accused," featuring Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in the televised dock. The central question raised by the program, which is to be broadcast and webcast on Sunday, is whether Sharon should be tried for war crimes in connection with the Sabra and Shatilla massacre during the Lebanon War in 1982.

Justice Minister Meir Sheetrit said the scheduled program

Foreign Ministry: BBC committing a "media crime."

was further proof of the BBC's consistently "anti-Israel" and "pro-Palestinian" bias. Gideon Meir, the Foreign Ministry's deputy director general of information and communications, said on IDF Radio that he would demand the cancellation or substantial modification of the program.

However, after a day of intensive dialogue between Jerusalem and London, according to ynet, the BBC continued to insist on airing the program unchanged but agreed to allow Sharon to react to the charges against him in an interview following the program. However, ynet reports that the Foreign Ministry ruled out such a possibility, comparing it to allowing a Holocaust survivor to appear following a program denying the Holocaust.

Panorama: Sharon "sent" militiamen who massacred Palestinians
The Panorama web site features the following promo for the show, which is to be aired at 22:15 British time (17:15 US Eastern Time, 00:15 Israeli Time), including a streaming webcast from the site:

"Nearly 20 years ago the man who is now Israel's Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, sent Lebanese militiamen into the Palestine refugee camps of Sabra and Shatilla. When they left 36 hours later at least 800 people lay dead after a rampage of murder, torture and rape."

"The massacre provoked international outrage. In Israel itself 400,000 people took to the streets in the largest demonstration the country had ever seen. Ariel Sharon was forced to resign as Israel's defence minister."

"But he has maintained that he could not have foreseen the danger of a massacre in the camps. Fergal Keane investigates this claim, and talks to key witnesses and survivors of the massacre."

"In the light of developments in international war crimes prosecutions, the programme asks whether the evidence should lead to indictments for what happened in the camps. "

Foreign ministry fumes at suggestion of tribunal, threatens sanctions
Ra'anan Gissin, Sharon's media adviser, told ynet that the promo itself "bordered on incitement and libel," and that if the program followed the same line, the BBC would expose itself to a lawsuit. Sharon successfully sued Time Magazine for libelous language in connection with its claims concerning his role in the Sabra and Shatilla massacre.

Gissim said that the BBC had interviewed him for the program but had done so under false pretenses.

Meir told IDF Radio that the BBC had consistently demonstrated anti-Israel bias in its broadcasts. He mentioned that a BBC reporter had recently appeared at a Hamas gathering in Gaza and had publicly expressed solidarity with the Palestinian struggle.

Meir warned that there would be potential consequences if the BBC proceeded with its one-sided policies. He did not elaborate.