Anna Foster
 Anna Foster     (reporter, presenter) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1979 |
| Alma mater | Durham University, City University London |
Anna Foster is an English news reporter and presenter, she presented the drive time programme on 5 Live until 2021 and currently presents the BBC News at One and is the BBC's Middle East correspondent in Beirut.[1]
Propagandising for Israel
In September 2024, in the midst of the Israeli–Lebanese conflict, Jonathan Cook reported:
The BBC has been exemplifying the weaponisation of language to erase Israel’s crimes in Lebanon, just as it earlier did in Gaza.
On the BBC News at Ten on Monday, as Israel launched a massive bombing campaign days after it had blown up pagers across Lebanon, the anchor led with this assessment: "Nearly 500 people are killed after heavy Israeli bombardment of Hezbollah targets."
The next day its website took the same tack. A BBC headline all but answered its own question: "Where did Israeli strikes on Hezbollah hit yesterday?"
On Wednesday’s evening news, the BBC’s Anna Foster, based in Beirut, stated breezily that Israel had "hit more than 2,000 Hezbollah targets". She added that the waves of bombing had destroyed "rocket launchers, weapons storage sites and other infrastructure". All unverified Israeli claims treated as facts.
Meanwhile, she noted Hezbollah was striking "civilian and military sites".
Similarly in the rest of its reporting, the BBC’s default assumption has been identical to Israel’s: that whatever Israel hits is a Hezbollah “target” by definition. Israel’s claim is proof enough.
But if that were really the case, why have so many Lebanese women and children been killed by Israeli bombs – a repeat of Israel’s slaughter over the past year of tens of thousands Palestinian women and children in Gaza?
Could it be that Israel is randomly attacking south Lebanon to terrorise its inhabitants into flight – to ethnically cleanse them – just as it earlier terrorised the population of Gaza out of their homes? Might that explain why at least 90,000 Lebanese are reported to have fled their communities so far?
Could it be that Israel’s assertion that Hezbollah is hiding weapons in south Lebanon’s homes is just as self-serving and deceitful as its earlier claim that every hospital, university and mosque in Gaza had a Hamas command and control centre underneath?
Could it be Israel’s claim that Hezbollah, like Hamas, has turned its civilian population into “human shields” is a one-size-fits-all excuse, designed to obfuscate the very genocidal war crimes the World Court has put Israel on trial for.
More to the point: why is it so inconceivable to western media outlets like the BBC that any of these possibilities are worthy of consideration?[2]
Related Document
| Title | Type | Publication date | Author(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Document:The BBC is weaponising its Lebanon reporting to help disguise Israel's crimes | Article | 27 September 2024 | Jonathan Cook | By the third week of September, Israel had killed more than 750 Lebanese, compared to 33 Israeli deaths. The differential is even starker now. And yet the western media has not framed Hezbollah’s attacks as its "right to defend itself" – a right we are continuously reminded Israel has. |
References
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