'You People Are All the Same'

August 17th, 2006 2:26 PM

Little Green Footballs found an item from the New York Sun about BBC reporter Orla Guerin.

Daniel Freedman at the New York Sun remembers a previous encounter with BBC reporter Orla Guerin (recently caught playing fast and loose with the truth in Lebanon): How Orla Guerin Ruined My Afternoon; or, BBC Bias Exposed Archives.

I would have expected nothing less from her, since I’ve been on the receiving end of Guerin’s hatred toward the Jewish State myself. About six years ago, while wandering through the Old City of Jerusalem with a friend, I chanced upon Guerin preparing a broadcast. After quietly standing and watching Guerin and her crew for about one minute, we heard her cameraman ask her: “shall we start?” To which she replied, “not till these troublemakers leave.”

I then asked her in English “who are you calling troublemakers? We’ve only been here watching for a minute and haven’t said a word.” She hesitated, acting somewhat shocked that we heard the exchange, perhaps thinking us to be Israelis and not fluent English speakers, and then dismissively replied, “well you people are all the same.” I turned and left, and filed a complaint with the BBC. The BBC replied with some standard e-mail saying that they couldn’t verify my account and therefore could take no action.