Former ITN and BBC news correspondent Alan Hart has hit out at Israel for the "reported" slaying of BBC reporter Alan Johnston. The BBC reporter has been missing for over a month since his kidnap in Gaza, and no terrorist group initially admitted responsibility for the kidnapping. A previously unknown organization, the Tawhid al Jihad Brigades, did announce during the week that it had killed Alan Johnston in protest over Israel's continued detention of Palestinian prisoners. The BBC have stated they have not independently verified this claim, but with no word from Johnston in such a long time, I am beginning to wonder whether he is alive or not. Hart believes that Alan's kidnap cannot have been carried out by an Arab group, for they would have too much to lose from his demise. So instead of condemning the Palestinian group that reportedly carried out the murder, he suggests that if anyone is to be blamed, it should be Israel and the "Bush and Blair regimes" that want to "break the will of the Palestinians to continue their struggle for an acceptable minimum of justice".

Quote: "There is a case for saying (repeat "a" case) that the party with most to gain from Alan Johnston's permanent disappearance was Israel. It would not be the first time that Israeli agents had dressed as Arabs to make a hit. If Alan Johnston is dead, it's my hope that the BBC at executive management level will rise above its fear of offending Zionism too much and allow its reporters (Frank Gardner and Jeremy Bowen are second to none) to make a full, thorough and honest investigation.

If Alan Johnston is dead, Hart hopes the BBC will commission an investigation into Israel's involvement! Unbelievable. And I don't think Jeremy Bowen could make an honest investigation to save his life, he is as bad as our friends Hart and Johnston when it comes to anti-Israel bias. Earlier in the week, the British National Union of Journalists voted to boycott Israel over its "savage, pre-planned attack on Lebanon", and urged the UK government to impose sanctions on the Jewish state. Hart's diary shows us just how twisted the minds of some of these UK reporters are.

Source Alan Hart Diary