In the departure lounge at Ben Gurion Airport in #Israel waiting for the flight back to London.
Six weeks. I wasn't here for a holiday but I certainly managed to squeeze some quality travelling in.
Some thoughts about what I've seen
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Israel is in an incredible place. There's no comparison to the state I first saw decades ago. The dynamism is everywhere. It is young, vibrant and ever-developing.
There are new buildings going up everywhere
The road system is incredible, inter City travel is easy and with the trains and light railways, you can see the country is ahead of the curve now. Everything is online, WiFi is fast, data is dirt cheap and even their notorious customer service has caught up.
I found the travel apps far better than those in the UK. Their integrated systems work better and moving around was cheap and easy.
I didn't rent a car to see how difficult it was. It wasn't. Israel is a country that wants to be seen.
The main city centres like Jerusalem and Tel Aviv are young, vibrant and fun. The mix of modern Liberal thought and religious orthodoxy sharing the same streets, is so unique and special here. A new tower block, next to an ancient archaeological dig. Old and New everywhere.
Israel's Arabs are far more integrated than they used to be. A real achievement. When you see young people out having fun in the city these days it is often impossible to know if they are Jew, Muslim, Christian or Druse. They are all Israelis and its great to see.
And the haters are all so insignificant and far away. Seriously. all the anti-Zionist aggro in Europe and the States doesn't even touch the sides here. Those haters do not have a clue about Israel & their ignorance is easily identified within a minute of walking the streets here.
Israel knows it is going places. The UAE deal just the latest sign. In time the Arab states will make peace with Israel because it is in their interests to do so. What threatens Israel, threatens them too - and everyone will prosper from the peace.
So my time time is over here now. And I am heading home. I loved every minute of it. I am refreshed, reinvigorated and with batteries charged.
Ready to fight the haters.
Which is really, really bad news for the antisemites.
Be seeing you.
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Just weeks after @BBCNews is forced to take down a documentary because the narrator was the son of a Hamas official - it completely whitewashes two terrorist families - both tied to key figures in the Islamic Jihad.
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The article was written after Israel's recent strikes against the terrorists. The BBC only had one thing in mind - to demonise Israel.
So it uncritically parroted Hamas numbers - and portrayed Israel as bloodthirsty child killers - a classic antisemitic trope.
The article was written by Jon Donnison - an anti-Israel hack who clearly knows nothing about Gaza at all. It relies on two fathers - both grieving - and portrays the families as innocent victims of Israeli brutality...
The Royal Television Society has a Royal charter.
It has several US based patrons (are they happy with RTS giving an award to terrorist supporters?)
We need to understand what @RTS_media is doing when they *honour* Palestinian journalists in Gaza.
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Most journos in Gaza are connected to terrorist orgs. It is not hard to prove and I can use Artists for Palestine's own image to do it.
There are 4 journos in the frame here. I didn't choose them - AfP did. Here are 3 of them. 1. Bisan Owda 2. Hind Khoudary 3. Wael al Dadhouh
1. Bisan Owda was a PFLP activist. Although both she and the group have been busy trying to hide the evidence.... images of her at PFLP events and in PFLP colours - are still available.
Just want to dispose of a few of the weak and transparent excuses being put forward to defend @bbcnews @channel4news and the documentary. Here are seven.
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1. 'It is difficult to verify news coming out of Gaza'.
If you know this then how can you justify spending £400k on a documentary knowing you will likely produce unverifiable Hamas propaganda? In other words the BBC is contradicting its own decision making.
2. 'There are no foreign journalists in Gaza - so we couldn't check the information. We did ask nicely several times if the family was Hamas.'
The information was found by a bloke living 10 miles from BBC HQ who had nothing more than a computer and motivation to find the truth.
We all know that @bbcnews put on a documentary that was fronted by the son of a senior Hamas official. The BBC was caught, took it down - and had its reputation shattered.
So now I want to talk about @Channel4News
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But I start in Gaza - before October 7.
I go back to at least 2022, when Abdullah the son of the Hamas official - must have been just 10 or 11 and was already in training.
Practicing speaking propaganda points to camera about how Gazans 'would never surrender'.
The Palestinians are masters in propaganda. And after the October 7 atrocities Hamas urgently needed to change the narrative - so these children were deployed. 1000s of cameras were activated and everyone became a 'journalist'.