BBC: where human life doesn't count if you are on the "wrong" side

REUTERS Sat Jul 15, 2006 12:16pm ET: BEIRUT (Reuters) - Israel killed at least 32 civilians on Saturday, including 15 children, in air strikes meant to punish Lebanon for letting Hizbollah guerrillas menace the Jewish state's northern border. (...) bringing the death toll in four days of Israeli attacks to 99. All but three of the dead have been civilians.

BUT ON THE SAME FACT TWO DIFFERENT STORIES:

REUTERS Sat Jul 15, 2006 12:16pm ET: An Israeli missile incinerated a van in south Lebanon, killing 20 people, among them 15 children, in the deadliest single attack of the four-day-old campaign launched by Israel after Hizbollah captured two of its soldiers and killed eight. (same link above)

BBC Last Updated: Saturday, 15 July 2006, 16:17 GMT 17:17 UK : An Israeli air raid has killed at least 13 Lebanese civilians who were fleeing southern border areas. Women and children were among those killed when the convoy was hit.

BBC Last Updated: 16:40 GMT 17:40 UK - from 13 to 17

See also:

- BBC censored the VATICAN

REUTERS: "In particular, the Holy See deplores right now the attack on Lebanon, a free and sovereign nation, and assures its closeness to these people who already have suffered so much to defend their independence," he told Vatican Radio. (...) "The right of defence on the part of a state does not exempt it from its responsibility to respect international law, particularly regarding the safeguarding of civilian populations," he said.

The BBC NEWS website does NOT report on this story at all

Update: it seems that BBC News website reported on the Vatican position after all. In Israel hits Hezbollah leader's HQ, the 22th paragraph reads:

French President Jacques Chirac said the Israeli air strikes were "completely disproportionate" and the Vatican described them as an attack on a sovereign and free nation.

That's all!

- BBC RACISM

Actress and columnist Maureen Lipman on BBC 1's This Week programme of 13 July, said: "Human life is not cheap to the Israelis, and human life on the other side is quite cheap actually..."

Of the This Week team - Andrew Neil, Dianne Abbott and Michael Portillo - only Abbott responded, calling the comment "unfair", before Neil quickly moved the discussion along. Read Arab Media Watch Alert