BBC Journalist: ‘Grill’ the Israelis

By Published On: January 5, 2009

bbc saad hattar.gif

Jordan Times reports today:

BBC Radio Amman correspondent Saad Hattar said a professional journalist, however, should not ignore any side of a conflict, adding that reporters should “grill” Israeli officials who hold “destructive” ideas.

“Talk to them, grill them and try to convince them that what they are doing is wrong,” he told The Jordan Times, adding that reporters should confront Israelis with facts, such as the percentage of civilians among victims of the weeklong attack, which UNRWA officials in Jerusalem place at around 25 per cent.

Got that? “Grill” the Israelis, but not the Palestinians. With them, pass over the Palestinian decision to launch attacks on Israel from Gaza instead of engaging in nation-building in the territory that the Israelis left behind and pass over Hamas’ use of homes, mosques and hospitals to store weapons.

The BBC’s Hattar is not the only journalist in Jordan who advocates “serving the Palestinian cause”:

“In such a situation, professionalism should be placed aside and the national mood should take priority,” former president of the Jordan Press Association Tareq Momani told The Jordan Times, noting that Israeli officials’ remarks and statements “portray the victims as criminals”.

But Hatter perhaps me be the only journalist working for a Western media outlet who openly admits his partisanship.

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