So we should. What really inspired me was Tony Benn’s interview on BBC News today (here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7849026.stm )

Powerfull stuff

I just clicked the link to donate and I find that apart from all the usual credit card details my payment will not be accepted unless I also give DEC my telephone number! I declined with regret.

I have emailed them my concern and hope that this intrusion will be ended. I can’t be alone in not wishing to give out unnecessary personal information.

BBC’s stance is rather exceptional.

I find it outrageous that the Jewish lobby can dictate to the BBC what it can or cannot do for non political, charity organisations.
If its impartiality they are worried about, how about the fact that the Israelis are given 90% of air time as opposed the Palestinian 10%
Mark Thompson should be ashamed of himself, this is yet another reason for the Arab world to distrust the British people.

No longer proud to be British

Ah Eric Rivron. The BBC have been under more pressure from people like you than Israel or any Jewish lobby. Israel given 90% air time compared to 10% Palestinians?! What BBC are you watching?! It’s exactly the other way around!!!!

I’ll meet you somewhere with some popcorn and a BBC news report, and we’ll go through it together if you like.

Anyway people, to those so concerned with humanitarian crises, why not donate to Magen David Adom and the people in the town of Sderot, living under a siege and in fear of their lives.

http://www.mdauk.org/donate/

“When I used this term a few days ago I got a lecture from that well known fence sitter Lee, about how wrong it is. Funny he is not here telling you not to use that term.”

Stop trolling me Sally, I wasn’t watching this thread.

So we should. What really inspired me was Tony Benn’s interview on BBC News today (here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7849026.stm )

Powerfull stuff

Tony Benn is Tony Benn, which is such a laden term there is no need to say anything further on that interview.

When I used this term a few days ago I got a lecture from that well known fence sitter Lee, about how wrong it is. Funny he is not here telling you not to use that term.

The Jewish lobby is very, very powerful both in the US and increasingly here. The fact that The BBC has bottled out on this shows how powerful they have become in the UK in the last 20 years. As long as they can get away with screaming “anti Semitism” at anyone who dare to criticise Israel things are only going to get worse.

Some people do object to your use of “Jewish Lobby” as if there is a global Zionist conspiracy against the common people’s wishes, it is as bad as the idiots you occasionally stumble across who refer to the “Jew World Order” and a “global Jewery.” It is ridiculous, as if Judaism is a threat to us all.

As to the suppression of viewpoints, it isn’t just the “Jew Lobby” which takes part in such tactics (I dispute they even do outside of Melanie Phillips’ column…) it is Christians and Muslims as well:

http://www.christianvoice.org.uk/

http://www.socialcohesion.co.uk/files/1229079816_1.pdf

So rather than being a problem with the “Jew Lobby” it is a series of vocal religious groups which is the problem (not the religion itself).

And on topic, I ignored the Time hatchet job of an article which claimed Oxfam was anti-semitic and donated some money to the DEC. I hope it goes to good use.

David wrote “Anyway people, to those so concerned with humanitarian crises, why not donate to Magen David Adom and the people in the town of Sderot, living under a siege and in fear of their lives.

http://www.mdauk.org/donate/”

Why not? Because they don’t need the aid a thousandth as much, because, unlike the people of Gaza, they aren’t under blockade, don’t rely on aid money for food, don’t lack clean water and don’t have poorly funded medical services overwhelmed by thousands of injured people.

Your donation site for Sderot provides luxuries – the DEC appeal for Gaza is about providing basic necessities to people who don’t have enough food, clean water or medical care.

The rocket attacks on Sderot are wrong, but it’s ludicrous to pretend that people in Sderot need aid as much as people in Gaza.

Aid money should go to those who need it most – that means Gazans, not Israelis living in one of the richest countries in the world.

OHOC wrote “Some people do object to your use of “Jewish Lobby” as if there is a global Zionist conspiracy against the common people’s wishes, it is as bad as the idiots you occasionally stumble across who refer to the “Jew World Order” and a “global Jewery.” It is ridiculous, as if Judaism is a threat to us all.”

I agree with you on that OHOC. There is no “Jewish lobby”, there’s a pro-Israeli lobby, some of whom are Jews and some of whom aren’t.

Many Jews and people of Jewish descent like Gerald Kaufmann MP and Professor Norman Finkelstein have been some of the most vocal critics of Israeli war crimes.