17/07/2014 The Papers

much more coverage on the Malaysian Airlines crash throughout the

evening on BBC News. Hello and welcome to our look

ahead to what the the papers With me here in London is Oliver

Wright, the Whitehall Editor of The Independent and in our Glasgow

studio, Kevin McKenna, Scottish The FT leads on the passenger plane

crash in Ukraine, saying pro`Russian A rescuer is pictured amid the

wreckage on the front of the Metro. The Telegraph says wreckage was

strewn over an area nine miles wide. The Express says the incident has

sparked outrage around the world. "Murder in the Sky" is the headline

on the Guardian. The Star describes what happened

as "slaughter at 32,000 feet". And a stark message on the front

of the Mail: there'll be hell to pay

if it emerges Russia is involved. The front`pages are dominated by the

Malaysian Airlines crash tonight, as you would expect. We will talk about

coverage of what is happening in Gaza with the beginning of that

ground offensive we have been talking about. Let's look at how the

Metro is covering the crash of Flight MH17. Blasted out of the

skies ` and there is a man amongst the wreckage of this plane, 295

people die as missile hits jet. Kevin, we heard in the press

conference earlier in Kuala Lumpur that the Malaysian Prime Minister

said this is a tragic day in what has already been a tragic year,

referring to the loss of Flight MH370, the flight that went down off

Australia? Yes, of course. I think also it is a very tragic day for the

people of Holland as well, given the numbers of casualties that were

released by the UN. You mentioned the Metro. The Metro attempts a very

good front`page, something approaching a poster front with a

dramatic picture of a local person, it looks like, amidst the debris.

Ironically, the Telegraph, which doesn't have as dramatic a front,

has a more dramatic picture and I wondered if that was probably would

have been a better picture for the Metro. Let's have a look at the

Telegraph. It is an unusual front`page, isn't it? It is not

their usual layout, certainly, with that huge photograph at the top.

Airliner blown out of the sky, that is the headline. Pro`Russian

separatists blamed for killing 295 people on Malaysian jet. It is a

plane that appears to be in the right place, it looks like wreckage

and local people say they have seen bodies? These are quite restrained

images. Some of the stuff which has been on social media, that's been on

some of the Russian websites today, is completely unbroadcastable and

unprintable. And it is very distressing. To be honest, these

images are distressing enough. It is one of those occasions when people

want words to tell them what the facts are, but the enormity of it is

conveyed through the pictures. The suggestion that it might have been

shot down, Kevin, by mistake. We have seen a military aircraft has

been shot down by rebels in the eastern Ukraine and that's the

suggestion that they might have mistaken this commercial airliner,

but saying we don't have the capability for this, so the

investigation continues into who was responsible? Well, I think we can be

in very little doubt that these rebels do have that type of kit that

can bring down large airliners at high altitude. I think also that the

` it is natural that you would want to look at the Ukrainian, the

Russian rebels in Ukraine, they have form in this, they have already

brought down a couple of military jets and the initial narrative

appears to be they have mistaken this for a military jet, which, of

course, puts a lot of pressure on Putin, it puts a lot of pressure on

Obama as well because initial reports in America say there were 23

Americans and Obama is already under criticism in his own country for

perceived inaction in the latest crisis in Gaza. The suggestion,

Oliver, that this could be a game changer in what is happening in

eastern Ukraine, if it only brings greater international diplomatic

pressure to bear. As Kevin says, there were so many nationalities on

board, it brings in so many other countries? That's one key point.

There was also some interesting reports about a week or two ago

suggesting that some of the separatists had managed to capture

something called a Buk missile system, which was an old

Soviet`based missile system. That would have the capability of taking

down an airliner flying at 32,000 feet. I think if it is proved that

it is separatists who have carried out this attack, President Putin is

going to have to very quickly disassociate himself and Russia from

anything that is going on in Ukraine. As you say, so many

different nationalities, I suspect there will be quite a lot of

American casualties. We have got the nationalities, around 233 of those

people on board, so you are looking at another 60 people, quite a lot of

those are likely to be American. You have already seen these comments

from Joe Biden which is the headline on the Mail ` there will be hell to

pay. A different choice of photograph as well on the Daily

Express, looking at emergency workers examining smouldering

wreckage of the jet. While we are talking here about the who did what

and when and with what capability ` there are families in many parts of

the world waiting anxiously again for news of relatives and friends `

and for anyone connected to the Malaysian Airlines will be thinking

how could this possibly have happened again ` twice in a year?

Yes, the other complicated factor is that knowing that what's been

happening with regard to military jets being brought down by these

rebels, there's some surprise already being expressed as to why

any passenger airliner would be flying passengers anywhere near this

corridor. I understand that this corridor is supposed to be

international airspace. On the other hand, there have to be doubts

expressed as to why, or some questions, as to why it was thought

necessary to fly a civilian jet in this hotspot, this critical area of

Eastern Europe. Indeed. Many airlines have chosen to divert their

flights. I think that is a very good point, too little too late, planes

now diverting, especially when there does appear to be evidence that some

separatists did have control of weapons that could take down planes

and you had a track record of planes being taken down. It is surprising,

I think, that airlines were flying over that particular disputed

region. The other story that does feature on page 2 of the Express,

the ground offensive by Israel in the Gaza Strip. We do expect that

this will probably feature in later editions. Israel PM orders troops

into Gaza. This would be, Kevin, a ground offensive of artillery and

naval shelling of limited scope. Very much targeting tunnels, but of

course civilians too close by to be safe? Yes, this is something that

Israel will always be vulnerable to in terms of criticism because of the

large amount of civilians. I think this particular story says that

there are now 238 Palestinians who have lost their life since this

particular battle commenced and only one Israeli. Again, a cynic would

say that this happens periodically with Israel, they want to go in,

they want to clear out Hamas, Hamas have new leaders every few years.

There is no doubt, also, that Israel were spooked by the new unity

government of last year which brought Hamas and Fatah together for

the first time. And, again, there can be no winners here whatsoever.

The criticism from Egypt, which tried this week ` or today ` to

broker this ceasefire, there was a cessation of violence for five

hours. Yes. The criticism very much levelled at Hamas for pulling the

plug on any prospect of a ceasefire? Yes, there's one theory which is

doing the rounds, which is part of the rationale for Israel going in

now is that because the regime in Egypt has changed, the Muslim

Brotherhood are no longer in power, since that happened the Egyptians

have closed down or made it much more difficult for the supply of

weapons to come in through Egypt. At the same time, because of the Hamas'

close relationship with the Brotherhood, they are not getting a

supply of weapons from Syria and indeed Iran. So, part of the logic

to what Israel may be doing now is to get rid of the weapons on the

basis Hamas won't be able to re`supply them. This operation has

been planned for some time, I suspect. I do wonder at the timing

of tonight. While the world is looking in another direction, I am

not saying it wouldn't have happened anyway ` I'm sure it would. It is an

interesting timing. Israel could wipe out Hamas, if they so choose.

Then you create a vacuum in Gaza and who knows what will grow up in its

place? Well, that is a very interesting point. It was put to me

a few hours ago by a foreign affairs expert up here, in Scotland, that to

a certain extent Israel needs Hamas and Hamas needs Israel. And horrific

though the deaths of the three young Israelis were, if it hadn't been

that, it would have been something else that would Israel would have

found necessary to go into Gaza. While Hamas are in charge, there is

a split within Palestinian politics. You have the President who is from

the Fatah side of things, who isn't in control... He is in the West

Bank. There have been attempts to merge the political sides of Hamas

and Fatah, which has gone down fairly badly in Israel. The

interesting question is how long this goes on for and how extensive

it is. There is some suggestion in the last hour or so that Israel are

planning for a longer campaign. I don't know if that will prove to be

accurate. Clearly, if you are on the ground, it is a deeply distressing

situation and a lot of civilians are caught up in this. That is all for

the moment. Oliver and Kevin, thank you very much. We will all be back

again at 11.30pm for another look at the main stories.

Let's stay with the Gaza conflict. Hamas said that Israel will pay a

high price for this latest ground offensive. Lieutenant Colonel Peter

Lerner has confirmed ground forces have been mobilised