Real History and attempts to halt Free Speech

Posted Wednesday, July 16, 2003

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July 10 2003

Israel asks Australian Broadcasting Corp to can a [television] program

By Cosima Marriner

THE Israeli ambassador will meet the ABC managing director in a fortnight in an attempt to persuade him not to show a controversial BBC documentary which alleges Israel has weapons of mass destruction.

David Irving comments:
I WATCHED this BBC film in the UK a few weeks ago and can strongly recommend it to any Australian viewer with a stomach for the unexpected, particular if he has a visceral dislike for that sh*tty little country in the Middle East of which a French ambassador recently spoke.
   View with pure delight as the nifty little female BBC interviewer films one top Israeli official and minister after another, and just see the smirk fade as they realize that they are not being soft-soaped, and that the real purpose of the interview is the proof of Israel's concealed production program for Weapons of Mass Destruction.
   The program had a difficult time in London. Originally scheduled for prime time viewing at 7 p.m. on the main BBC Channel, it was shifted to BBC Two at 11 p.m. instead. That cowardly act by the BBC governing body, evidently on Tony Blair's orders, caused uproar: but he had no choice, much of his Labour Party funding comes from wealthy Israeli backers and Lord Levy.
   The same is true in Australia, of course. That is how they do it. They pour massive money into the coffers of all the major parties.
   UNDERLYING Israel's panic is the fact that she has refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation pact to which most of the civilized nations of the world are party: and that any country which refuses to sign is disbarred by US Law from receiving American financial aid.
   Get the drift now? The United States has, ahem, turned a blind eye to her great ally's transgression, and hopes that nobody will come up with compelling proof that Israel is consistently violating US Law.
   One guy who came close to doing so was Mordechai Vanunu, and look what happened to him.
   So, ABC managing director Russell Balding, if you don't want to get lured into a "honey-pot" sex trap on Bondi Beach, beaten unconscious, kidnapped to Israel, and locked away in solitary confinement for the rest of your life, you'd better can that film. That's what they're probably telling him right now -- though in diplomatic, nay leadership, language of course.

The ambassador, Gabby Levy, said yesterday that he was in "no way" trying to censor the national broadcaster.

He was meeting the ABC managing director, Russell Balding, simply to express his government's view that the documentary, Israel's Secret Weapon, contained so many falsehoods it did not merit broadcasting.

The program claims Israel has used nerve gas against Palestinians and holds an arsenal of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.

Mr Levy said there was "absolutely no evidence" to support these claims. "The producers of this movie have exploited the issue to attack, bash and tarnish the image of Israel," he said. "The thrust of the documentary was really to criticise Israel, to demonise it as an undemocratic country and a police state . . . which everybody knows is far from the truth."

It is understood the ABC plans to show Israel's Secret Weapon next month.

An ABC spokesman said it received views from a "myriad" of sources about its programming. "Ultimately, though, it is the ABC alone who decides what it broadcasts and when. That is fundamental to its independence," he said.

The Israeli Government has boycotted BBC journalists after Israel's Secret Weapon was broadcast internationally last month, refusing access to officials and imposing visa restrictions on journalists.

However, Mr Levy said ABC journalists would not be subjected to the same treatment, even if the broadcaster went ahead with the screening.

"That is not going to happen here under my leadership," he said, noting the ABC had not produced the documentary.

D Irving I AM reminded by Steve Edmonton that the "nifty little BBC interviewer" I mentioned is Olenka Frankiel. Steve writes: " In the mid 1980s, she was the BBCtv Newsnight reporter responsible for exposing the Rudolf Hess 'suicide' theory. Months after that item was screened, Frankiel was shifted from Newsnight. Just "coincidence" of course."