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Israel likens BBC program to Nazi press because it dared to address Israel's nuclear weapons
Jordan Times, 6/30/03
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli government official said Sunday
that a BBC programme charging Israel with secretly stockpiling nuclear and
chemical weapons demonised Israel in a way reminiscent of anti-Semitic
tracts published in Nazi Germany.
Government Press Office chief Daniel Seaman said a TV report entitled
"Israel's Secret Weapon" was the latest in a number of
programmes by the British Broadcasting Corporation questioning Israel's
right to exist. He declined comment on media reports that he intended to
impose sanctions.
The BBC said it stood by the programme.
The programme, part of the "Correspondent" series, was first aired in Britain in March but was only shown on cable in Israel on Saturday night. It cites a proliferation of experts as saying Israel has "the worlds sixth largest nuclear arsenal with small tactical nuclear weapons ... as well as medium-range nuclear missiles launchable from air, land or sea." It also says Israel has undeclared biological and chemical capabilities and used an unknown gas against Palestinians in Gaza in February 2001 that sent 180 people to the hospital with severe convulsions.
Israel at the time denied having used poison gas.
"The accusations are very reminiscent of the most horrible anti-Semitism," Seaman said. "This is very reminiscent of Der Stuermer," he added, referring to a virulently anti-Semitic newspaper from Nazi-era Germany." The Jerusalem Post reported Sunday that the Government Press Office intends to impose visa restrictions on BBC staff and to refuse to make officials available for BBC interviews, or to help BBC journalists facing problems with army roadblocks and airport security checks.
Seaman refused to say what sanctions he planned to impose.
"Let's say that the hospitality extended by the government of Israel through the GPO is not something engraved in stone," he said.
BBC spokeswoman Kate Atkins said the corporation had not been officially informed of any pending Israeli action.
"We stand by the Correspondent programme and regret any response the Israeli government might make," she said.
Israel is widely assumed to have nuclear weapons, but the government's public policy is purposefully vague, stating only that Israel will not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons into the Middle East.
Israel has refused to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, aimed at stopping the spread of nuclear weapons, because it objects to international inspections.
In 1986, Mordechai Vanunu, a former technician at the country's Dimona nuclear plant, gave pictures of what appeared to be nuclear weapons at the plant to a London newspaper. He is serving an 18-year term for treason and espionage.
Israel has fallen out with the BBC before, protesting bitterly over a June 2001 documentary in which legal experts said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon should be indicted for failing to prevent the 1982 massacre of hundreds of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
The killings were carried out by a Lebanese Christian militia allied with Israel. An Israeli inquiry found Sharon indirectly responsible and forced him to resign as defence minister in 1983.
"The BBC always questions and doubts Israel's integrity," Seaman said. "It is always putting it in some demonic context, not as a democracy fighting for survival."
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| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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