Mick Hartley

Eitan Fischberger at Tablet on The New Rules of Western Journalism, as straight-up Hamas propaganda gets an Emmy nomination from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS):

In late July, NATAS nominated a Gazan journalist and apparent member of a terror group, Bisan Owda, for a news and documentary Emmy Award for her AJ+-produced It’s Bisan from Gaza and I’m Still Alive. The docu-short, which has already clinched Peabody and Edward R. Murrow awards, is up in the “outstanding hard news feature story: short form” category. The documentary presents the harsh realities experienced by the people of Gaza in the early days of the Israel-Hamas War, which was initiated when Hamas massacred 1,200 people 11 months ago in southern Israel and took 250 others hostage.

Remarkably, Bisan’s eight-minute documentary makes no mention of the medieval horrors inflicted upon innocent Israelis that terrible Oct. 7 day that started the war. Instead, Bisan presents her unsuspecting Western audience with a sanitized version of history in which Hamas and Gaza’s other terror groups are nonexistent, even inside the Hamas stronghold of Shifa Hospital, and in which she is somehow an objective journalist caught up in horrors being inflicted on innocents by Israeli “occupiers,” rather than an apparent adherent of a terror organization that deliberately murders innocent people, and helped bring about the events she depicts.

Even more troubling than the bizarre absence of Hamas in Bisan’s documentary and the subsequent episodes released by AJ+ from the standpoint of basic journalistic ethics and practice, is what she does choose to show. Interspersed throughout the footage of the immense and genuine human suffering in Gaza is propaganda straight from the Hamas media office. By deliberately mixing truth with lies, such as the assertion that “women, children, and the elderly make up 73% of the dead in Gaza,” numbers that several experts have referred to as “statistically impossible,” Bisan’s content is purposefully designed to sway the hearts and minds of millions of viewers who don’t know better toward the terrorists.

Bisan takes an even less nuanced approach, however, when uploading short videos to her Instagram account for her 4.7 million followers. There, she veers into outlandish antisemitic territory, such as the grotesque allegation that Israel is stealing the organs of dead Palestinian children of Gaza—which comes straight out the pages of age-old antisemitic blood libels. In a video from Oct. 18, the day after an explosion infamously rocked Gaza’s Al Ahli Hospital, Bisan filmed herself in tears over the “800 people killed” by Israel (300 more than Hamas’ number). In a now-infamous twist, the explosion turned out to be caused by an errant rocket fired by the Islamic Jihad terror group. European intelligence later placed the likely death toll at 50—or 93.75% less than the total Bisan claimed.

The terror group Fischberger is referring to is the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). There are videos of Bisan at PFLP rallies in full PFLP regalia. 

Despite Bisan’s open affiliation with a terrorist organization, and reporting that violates every norm of ethical journalism, NATAS has defended the nomination. Bizarrely, NATAS President & CEO Adam Sharp stated that “NATAS has been unable to corroborate these reports, nor has it been able, to date, to surface any evidence of more contemporary or active involvement by Owda with the PFLP” and that the “content submitted for award consideration was consistent with competition rules and NATAS policies.” Sharp’s response completely ignores the ample evidence of Bisan’s terror ties (including her own confirmation that she participated in the PFLP rallies) and her propensity for spreading antisemitism and openly lying in the service of terrorist propaganda campaigns. In reality, multiple Gazan journalists working for Al Jazeera (which owns AJ+) have been linked to terror groups, while the PFLP and Hamas have been openly training journalists in the Strip for over a decade—some of whom participated in the Oct. 7 terror attack as combatants and even held Israeli hostages in their homes.

Sharp, NATAS, and the other journalistic institutions who honored Bisan are virtue-signaling, yes, But they are also displaying complete ignorance as to the nature of journalism in the Gaza Strip and a callous indifference to the lives of Jews and Americans who have been murdered by Hamas and by the PFLP. Moreover, Bisan’s manipulation of journalistic standards, and journalistic cover, mirrors the practices of her broadcaster AJ+, a U.S.-based subsidiary of Al Jazeera, which is funded by the government of Qatar, a longtime Hamas funder that provides safe haven for its leaders. In 2019, the media platform released a video questioning the Holocaust, and more recently, has repeatedly justified the Oct. 7 massacre.

No matter. Normal journalistic standards don't apply when it comes to Israel. As long as duplicitous Jews are the target, all concerns about objectivity fly out the window.

What NATAS, the sponsors of the Peabody and Edward R. Murrow awards….have apparently agreed on is that there should be two sets of journalistic standards: one for them, and one for Jews. It’s hard to think of a more shameful development in the annals of modern journalism.

From MEMRI TV:

During his September 13, 2024 Friday sermon at the Muslim Community Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, Imam John Ederer said that he fears Muslim children believe what they are told in class about 9/11. He said: “They are being told in class that Islam and Muslims were the cause of this terrorist act.” Ederer stated that “Islam and Muslims had nothing to do with what happened on 9/11,” because “Islam is completely opposed to someone killing a bunch of civilians who went to work.” He added that you cannot make a Muslim guilty for 9/11, and he claimed that the Muslims were the biggest victims of 9/11. Ederer accused the United States of being a “terrorist state.” The sermon was streamed live on MCC Charlotte Media on YouTube.

Just the President of Ireland writing a chummy letter to the new president of Iran then falsely accusing the Israeli embassy in Dublin of leaking it 🤦🏻‍♀️ https://t.co/BLVEGfAI7x

— Anya Palmer (@anyabike) September 23, 2024

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

From the Times of Israel:

Irish President Michael Higgins accuses Israel of leaking the full text of a letter he sent to Iran’s new president as he was sworn in in July, an allegation rejected and denounced by the Israeli embassy.

The July 11 letter congratulating Masoud Pezeshkian — whose existence was made public on July 26 by Ireland’s Foreign Ministry but whose full text was then published online on July 29 — drew backlash for its friendly nature; its claim that Iran will play a “crucial role” in achieving Middle East stability, cooperation and “peaceful resolving of disputes”; and its omission of Tehran’s major role in malign activity and violence against its own people and across the region.

Iran playing a "crucial role" in achieving Middle East stability? The naivety – no, the sheer crass stupidity – is beyond belief.

From the Embassy of Israel in Ireland:

"Unfortunately, in Ireland, since the October 7th invasion by Hamas and massacre in Israel, which triggered this awful war, Israel has been subjected to a high level of malicious statements and accusations that have often manifested as incitement to hatred.

“This baseless accusation is highly inflammatory and potentially slanderous and the embassy rejects it completely.

“The fact remains that the letter was written and therefore it is the burden of the author to defend its content, which did not mention the threat Iran poses in the region, that it calls for Israel’s destruction, that it arms and funds terrorist organisations like Hamas and Hezbollah, not to mention the violations of human rights against its own citizens.”

WTF is wrong with the Irish?

If you have tears, prepare to shed them now:

Last Friday, Sandy Brindley, the chief executive of Rape Crisis Scotland, was collecting her daughter from primary school when a journalist rang to ask if she would comment on JK Rowling’s demand for her resignation. By the time the reporter hung up, Brindley was in tears.

“I’m never upset in front of my daughter. She said, ‘What’s wrong?’” Brindley recalls. “I said, ‘Someone’s calling for my resignation’. She asked: ‘Who?’ I told her: ‘JK Rowling.’”

Brindley’s little girl looked up at her and said: “That’s one of my favourite authors, Mummy.”

By now Brindley’s eyes are twinkling as she recounts the incident….

“I feel like this is where I am just now, that space of complete vulnerability,” Brindley says. “It’s not something that I can do long term. I can acknowledge the personal cost: it impacts my daughter, it impacts my family.”

A comment: "Reframe your trauma, Brindley. You're not the victim here."

Photographer Chris Dorley Brown's manor is the East End. I've featured him here before with East End corners, where he used multiple exposures to build up pictures of street life with a stage-set feel, and London drivers in the 1980s which features, yes, London (East End) drivers stuck in traffic.

Now, from his website, Near Dark – "Reflecting East London at the beginning or the end of the daylight hours, these images mostly were made in the period from 2016 to 2022":

Bell Lane

Kingsland Road

Bethnal Green Road

Bunsen Street

Cambridge Heath

Cannon Street Road

Lamb Lane

Manor Park

Ropery Street

Whitechapel Road

Squirries Street

Stratford High Street

Marian Court

Tap Street

Whitechapel Road

Three Colts Lane
[All photos © Chris Dorley-Brown]

As ever, click on the images to enlarge.

Also…

Dear Sandy,

While you've been in charge at Rape Crisis Scotland, a man now serving time in prison for multiple sexual assaults was 'treated' at the Edinburgh centre.

The man in charge of the Edinburgh centre called rape survivors who wanted single sex services 'bigots.' 1/9 pic.twitter.com/Fzbwfueqo7

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) September 22, 2024

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Full thread:

Under your leadership, multiple women self-excluded from the Edinburgh centre because of the male CEO you defended and praised.

On your watch, a 14-year-old girl who'd been raped felt unable to access support because she wasn't guaranteed a single sex space. 2/9

You claim I misrepresented what happened at the meeting at which rape survivors were harangued by your trans activist partner, who shouldn't have been there at all. Here's the survivors' own account of what happened. 3/9
https://parliament.scot/-/media/files/committees/equalities-human-rights-and-civil-justice-committee/correspondence/2022/gender-recognition-reform-heal-survivors-group-letter.pdf

For years, you've been told by women's groups and rape survivors themselves that your policies were harming vulnerable girls and women. You didn't care. You wouldn't listen. Backed by government funding, you behaved with arrogance and complacency. 4/9

I can only assume your cosy relationship with the SNP government, which is a big fan of gender identity ideology, made you feel untouchable. 5/9

You weren't ever going to respond to women's concerns unless someone high profile challenged you.

Finally, you've decided to respond publicly to one of the women with concerns – me. And how do you address those concerns? You claim you're my victim. 6/9

Perhaps you should 'reframe your trauma', as the man you backed publicly told rape survivors to do? Or we could have an in-person meeting where you express your pain, and my partner, who you didn't know would be present, harangues you – exactly as you did to rape survivors? 7/9

I set up Beira's Place, a single sex service for victims of sexual assault in Edinburgh, because survivors who found it deeply traumatising to be told they must consider men as women if the men want to be seen that way had literally nowhere else to go. 8/9

You've placed higher importance on validating trans-identified men than on needs of female survivors. If I'm not moved by your tears, it's because too many women have cried as a consequence of the ideology you insisted they should embrace they were at their most vulnerable. 9/X

Euan Malcolm in The Scotsman on the Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre farrago, and the silence of Scottish politicians:

The intellectual vacuity is bad enough but it’s the moral cowardice that really sickens. More than a week after an independent review found rape victims were damaged by catastrophic failings at Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre, senior politicians remain silent on the matter.

Of the parties represented at Holyrood, only the Scottish Conservatives and Alba have spoken out on a scandal that others would very much prefer to simply vanish….

This is entirely unsurprising from a parliament full of inadequates who have bought in wholesale to dangerous gender ideology which seeks to erase the rights – indeed, the very existence of biological women.

In December 2022, amid jubilant scenes at Holyrood, MSPs backed reforms of the Gender Recognition Act that would permit anyone to self-identify into the legally-recognised sex of their choosing. Campaigners against the change in the law, including lifelong feminists whose entirely legitimate concerns over making it easier for trans-identifying males to enter women-only safe spaces have been proved right by the scandal at ERCC, were ignored by the majority of MSPs. Former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon did not keep quiet. Rather, she cruelly and arrogantly condemned those dissenters as bigots.

On the afternoon of Thursday, December 22, 2022, before MSPs voted on the Gender Recognition reform Bill, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton was especially oleaginous. In a performative speech, he told MSPs: “I am clear that no provisions in the bill on changes to gender recognition create a new or additional threat to women.” There you go, ladies – Alex has had a look into it and there’s nothing to worry your pretty little heads about.

Cole-Hamilton and 85 other MSPs voted in favour of the bill, while 39 were opposed. When the result was announced, the Lib Dem leader and other frontbenchers stood and turned to face a group of trans rights activists – including a number who had posted abusive and threatening messages about biological women online – and applauded. It was a nauseating display by slow-witted men and women whose desire to be seen as being on “the right side of history” trumped any serious consideration of the matter or any concern for women whose right to female-only spaces they were thrilled to remove….

The failure of senior MSPs to address the scandal at Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre means the head of Rape Crisis Scotland, the national charity that sets standards for support centres across Scotland, has been allowed to continue in her post.

Sandy Brindley – a great ally and supporter of Wadhwa – has spent the past week defending herself.

In 2021, Brindley took gender ideologue Sharon Cowan, a professor in feminist and queer legal studies, to a meeting with rape survivors, concerned about self-ID laws. Cowan was not identified to those concerned women, who believed her to be a fellow survivor.

This shocking betrayal of trust should be enough to see Brindley resign in shame. It is certainly more than enough for First Minister John Swinney to call for her to go.

Instead, Sandy Brindley – whose organisation continues to work on its definition of “woman” – remains in post and Swinney remains silent.

And the harm to rape victims, abused by gender ideologues, remains an afterthought.

To make matters worse Sharon Cowan, the queer legal studies professor, is in fact Sandy Brindley's partner.

Meanwhile Brindley has been offering reporters the phone numbers of rape survivors who she thinks will support her.

I posted about David Lammy's latest blunder the other day. Dominic Lawson in today's Sunday Times has more:

David Lammy has a peculiar knack for getting the simplest facts upside down, as anyone who recalls his — very game — appearance on Celebrity Mastermind might attest. Or the time in 2013 when the BBC tweeted, “Chimney of Sistine Chapel as conclave votes for Pope — will smoke be black or white?”, and Lammy, sitting in the Commons chamber, responded, “This tweet is crass and unnecessary. Do we really need silly innuendo about the race of the next Pope?”

His Celebrity Mastermind contribution, which Lawson kindly omits, was that the successor to Henry VIII was Henry VII. He's suggested elsewhere that women who believe in their right to single sex spaces and sports are ‘rights hoarding dinosaurs’, and that a male trans woman can grow a cervix.

But when you are foreign secretary, rather than just an attention-seeking backbencher, such ignorance is no laughing matter. Which brings us to Lammy’s brand new blog on Substack, launched last Sunday. He announced: “This is the first edition of Progressive Realism, a foreign policy newsletter where you will find an in-depth look at my approach to the UK’s foreign affairs, and how it is shaped by the principle of progressive realism.” Its logo, in red, is “PR” — which of course it is, for Lammy.

This lengthy first post is in the personal style, telling us of his close bond with the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken: “Tony and I are good friends, who share a love of music and have a similar outlook on the world of today.” Nice to know. But when it gets into complex policy matters, something bizarre appears. Lammy rightly denounces Putin’s false claim to be “seeking to ‘liberate’ Ukrainian civilians” but then veers wildly into the Caucasus: “The states of central Asia look increasingly east and south. Azerbaijan has been able to liberate territory it lost in the early 1990s … Only a few fragile regimes like Belarus, DPRK [North Korea] and Iran still align with Moscow.”

To be clear, what the foreign secretary extols here is the completion of the capture of the area of Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenia by Azerbaijan. As Professor Mark Movsesian of St John’s University law school observed: “The foreign secretary’s reference to the ‘liberation’ of Nagorno-Karabakh is shockingly callous and ignorant. In fact, exactly a year ago Baku ethnically cleansed the region of 120,000 Christian Armenian inhabitants in violation of an order from the International Court of Justice.”

And, as I wrote only last week, Azerbaijan is getting closer to Moscow, not further away: “President Aliyev and President Putin enjoy the best of relations. The Azeri leader welcomed the Russian to Baku in August, returning the hospitality he had received at the Kremlin four months earlier.” I also quoted Aliyev’s sinister remarks in a speech in 2022, which referred to ethnic Armenians as “barbarians and vandals” who “established a state for themselves in someone else’s land … Present-day Armenia is our land.”

As one long-standing member of the Labour Party with appreciation of this dispute furiously WhatsApped me, referring to Lammy’s extraordinary blog: “The muppet’s chosen to back a kleptocratic dictatorship over a post-Soviet nascent democracy.”

Lammy’s blundering intervention has not gone unnoticed in the US, where there is a large Armenian diaspora. The Democrat congressman Brad Sherman declared that “David Lammy’s comments on the Armenia crisis are a stain on UK foreign policy. He has endorsed ethnic cleansing.”

Add this to the partial ban on UK arms sales to Israel – our supposed ally now engaged in an existential war against Islamist forces bent on its complete elimination – and the signs are, to put it mildly, not good.

If Lebanon cares so much about solidarity with Palestinians, why do they force them to stay in refugee camps?

Palestinians in Lebanon are denied basic rights like owning property, and almost half of them live in overcrowded, impoverished refugee camps. They are banned from… pic.twitter.com/4vIIAzmt4V

— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) September 21, 2024

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

"They are banned from working in 39 professions, including lawyers, doctors or engineers."

Well, it perpetuates their refugee status and reinforces the idea that Israel, the "Zionist Entity", is just a temporary blip on the map that'll eventully be destroyed, and the refugees will return to their rightful home. 75 years since Israel was founded. All the other refugees from the great ethnic cleansings of the mid-20th century have long since settled – not least the Jews expelled from their homes across the Middle East and North Africa. Not the Palestinians though… 

At Frieze Sculpture 2024 in Regent's Park:

The Duet, Theaster Gates

The Dancer, Leonora Carrington

Ennui Head, Yoshitomo Nara

The Form, Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim

seeing both sides, Woody De Othello

steadfast (scrotum flower), Theresa Chromati

Pillar V, Frances Goodman

Lightning Rod, Kirstine Roepstorff

Ent-(non-earthly delights), Libby Heaney

The Ghaf Tree, Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim

For more on the wonderful Leonora Carrington (second down) see here.