BBC should show charity towards Gaza victims

On the BBC's refusal of a charities' television appeal for Gaza:

Simon Barrow, co-director of the thinktank Ekklesia, which helps raise funds through affiliate deals with several of the agencies involved in DEC, said: "This is a major miscalculation by the BBC, and it is to be hoped that they have the integrity and humility to recognise this and to broadcast the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) Gaza crisis appeal, freeing others to follow suit."

He continued: "Backing humanitarian action in a region devastated by conflict - one facing what international agencies describe as a major crisis - is not politically partisan, but refusing to do so for fear of powerful lobbies with vested interests most certainly is. Ironically, the BBC is compromising its neutrality by putting political considerations ahead of charitable action - the exact opposite of its stated intent."

[Ekklesia has deplored both the Israeli bombardment and long-term blockade of Gaza and the Hamas rocket attacks on southern Israel, arguing for nonviolent action towards a just peace, security, an end to occupation and national recognition for both Israelis and Palestinians.]