The BBC’s Arabic news channel “minimised Israeli suffering” in the war against Gaza in order to “paint Israel as the aggressor”, according to a leaked internal report.
Claims and allegations against Israel were said to have been “raced to air” without appropriate checks, while BBC Arabic gave more time to statements from Hamas.
The memo also says the channel had “a desire always to believe the worst about Israel”, while giving “unjustifiable weight” to Hamas’ claims about the death toll in Gaza.
Speaking with the Telegraph, the former director of BBC Television, Danny Cohen, said the BBC was “not safe” in the hands of its current managers, who should “hang their heads in shame and resign”.
The BBC’s Arabic news channel “minimised Israeli suffering” in the war against Gaza in order to “paint Israel as the aggressor”, according to a leaked internal report
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“Having made such serious and misleading journalistic errors, BBC executives chose to hide them from the public rather than correct the record,” he detailed.
“Protecting the BBC’s reputation came before the duties and principles enshrined in the BBC’s Charter obligations.
“That the BBC has helped to push Hamas lies around the world and fuelled anti-Semitism at home cannot now be in doubt.”
The revelations come as Michael Prescott, former Editorial Guidelines and Standards Committee for the BBC, sent a scathing memo to all board members of the broadcaster, horrified by their lack of action over numerous instances of bias.
According to The Telegraph, the memo includes an example of one man who said Jews should be burned “as Hitler did” – he appeared as a guest on BBC Arabic 244 times in 18 months.
Another individual described Israelis as less than human. They appeared 522 times in the same period.
Despite this, according to Mr Prescott’s memo “there is no sign of an open admission” by senior leaders about “systemic problems” within BBC Arabic.
BBC Arabic, which is part of the World Service, is funded in part by a grant from the Foreign Office and the through the license fee.
The broadcaster also came into question earlier in the year after a BBC Two documentary titled “Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone” was revealed to have been narrated by the son of a Hamas official.
Ofcom described the programme’s failure to disclose information on the narrator’s father as “materially misleading”.
“It meant that the audience did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the narrator and the information he provided,” a statement read at the time.
The BBC apologised after acknowledging “serious flaws” in the making of “Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone” and removed it as an available option online.
Ofcom also ordered the BBC to make a statement about the findings on its newcast.
The revelations on the BBC’s Gaza coverage come less than a day after the BBC saw yet more controversy after Panorama appeared to doctor a video of US President Donald Trump.
The videos appeared to suggest he had encouraged or incited the Capitol riots.