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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I have obtained internal BBC documents that prove not only did @bbcnews spread a blatant fake news story - but that prove the BBC uses Al Jazeera and Hamas channels as sources for its updates.
Unforgivable and inexcusable. 1/10
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Between January 22th and January 28th following fights between Hamas and Israeli forces - Palestinians said they buried over 200 bodies in the courtyard of Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis. No doubt almost all terrorists. 2/10
In April the Palestinians pretended to 'discover' a mass grave at Nasser hospital. It was blatant fake news. Anyone comparing images from the January 'burial' to the April 'discovery' could see it was the same spot. The same buildings are even clearly visible 3/10
As our university spaces turn into intimidating pro-terrorist encampments - the BBC just published a whitewash about a 'peaceful and proud' protest camp at Newcastle University.
Another @bbcnews piece written by an amateur hack who knows nothing and does no research. 1/6 ⬇️⬇️
The face of the Newcastle camp and a key driver of the recent anti-Israel activism on campus (and wider afield in Newcastle) is Hala Hanina a Palestinian PhD student. 2/6
The BBC present the protest as peaceful & want you to believe it is 'kumbaya for all'.
But Palestinian activism is all about destroying Israel.
Here is Hala on Oct 8 calling Hamas & Islamic Jihad terrorists 'honourable' and denying atrocities they carried out. 3/6
Dear @AlJazeera and western journalists who have been acting as Hamas propagandists today (like @AlexCrawfordSky from @skynews and of course @pressfreedom)
I have a question about Ismael Al-Ghoul who was arrested today.
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Thing is all his accounts are new - all very suspicious so I went looking for an old one. And I found one.
I used software to conform the identity from images. And this is the journalist Ismail Alghoul. He stopped using the account in November - when he opened his new one.
And guess what I found on the account of this arrested 'Al Jazeera' journalist...
Things like this - on the eve of the 2021 conflict - glorifying / threatening / promising rocket fire on Israel
Exclusive: On Friday BBC Verify ( @bbcnews @bbcworld) published an article about the aid convoy deaths in Gaza.
I was already working on a piece about BBC bias over other toxic articles from last week.
There is something truly rotten at the BBC. 1/14
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To blame Israel for the deaths the BBC Verify piece relies heavily on a Gazan journalist Mahmoud Awadeyah who tells the BBC that the Israelis fired at the civilians.
But Awadeyah works for Tasnim News which is tied to the Iranian IRGC - Iran's special armed forces. 2/14
And Awadeyah is not shy about his feelings. His social media is full of pro-terrorist messaging.
Did the BBC not 'verify' anything before using this man as a source? Here he is praising the terrorist attack on the 27 Jan 2023 which left 7 Israelis dead. 3/14