Why BBC doesn't call Hamas militants 'terrorists' - John Simpson

Nighed@sffa.community to World News@lemmy.world – 626 points –
Why BBC doesn't call Hamas militants 'terrorists' - John Simpson
bbc.co.uk

I guess not strictly news - but with all of the vitriol I have seen in discussions on the Israel situation, that have boiled down to arguments over wording, I feel that this take from the BBC is worthy of some discussion.

Mods, feel free to remove if this is not newsy enough.

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Wikipedia is a lawmaking body?

I think you are missing the point.

Ah yes of course, someone links a source with a list of what you just asked and now you complain that the one making the list doesn't make the law...

Are you insane?

Law is not some immutable force. Many countries have laws.

In some of those countries, Hamas is a designated terrorist organization. In others, it is not, and even considered and ally (or has been previously, such as Afghanistan, Algeria, Iran, Qatar, Syria).

Hamas its self is a government. They have their own laws. So whose laws should we defer to?

The point is that who is or isn't a terrorist depends on the context and point of view you are speaking from.

There is no universality in that kind of word, and so its appropriate that the BBC isn't using it.

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