Protest outside BBC tomorrow over refusal to call Hamas ‘terrorists’
Protest will be held outside BBC tomorrow over its refusal to call Hamas 'terrorists' as backlash continues to grow against broadcaster over its 'disgraceful' policy
Published: 12:22, 15 October 2023 | Updated: 12:23, 15 October 2023
A planned protest will take place outside of the BBC[2] headquarters on Monday as the controversy still rages on over the corporation's decision not to call baby-slaughtering Hamas[3] 'terrorists'.
Organised by the National Jewish Assembly, the group will gather around the corner with Israeli[4] flags and placards.
They will then make their way towards the broadcasting house at around 6.30pm, protesting the BBC for calling Hamas 'militants', instead of terrorists.
Promoting the march, their banner reads: 'Come and make your voice heard against the BBC for calling Hamas 'militants'. Hamas was prescribed by the UK in March 2021 as a terrorist organisation. This is no time for the BBC to call Hamas anything but terrorists!'
Police and Jewish charity protection group CST will be in attendance, with gatherers told to 'exercise caution' when travelling to the venue.
A planned protest will take place outside of the BBC headquarters on Monday as the controversy still rages on over the corporation's decision not to call Hamas 'terrorists'
Organised by the National Jewish Assembly, the group will gather around the corner at Langham street with Israeli flags and placards
Kibbutz Be'eri in Israel where Hamas stormed and killed and captured hundreds of civilians
The BBC has previously defended its decision not to describe Hamas militants as 'terrorists' in its coverage of the deadly attacks in Israel, despite receiving a huge backlash from politicians and those within the Jewish community.
The broadcaster's refusal continues despite King Charles condemning the 'barbaric acts of terrorism' while the Prince and Princess of Wales spoke of their distress following 'Hamas's terrorist attack'.
Instead the BBC refers to Hamas as a 'militant' group and described the slaughter of civilians as a 'militant' attack.
Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis accused broadcasters of trying to 'wilfully mislead' by not using the word terrorist, saying: 'The murder of babies where they sleep is not the act of a "freedom fighter".'
Meanwhile Defence Secretary Grant Shapps called on the coorporation to 'get the moral compass out' while Labour leader Keir Starmer urged the broadcaster to 'explain' its reasoning.
The broadcaster justified its language use in the name of impartiality, adding its job is to explain 'precisely what is happening on the ground so audiences can make their own judgement'.
The decision has seen a number of BBC stars rally around their employer, including the corporation's veteran foreign correspondent John Simpson defended the coverage claiming 'calling someone a terrorist means you're taking sides'.
Last week, Mr Simpson took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to defend his employers decision, claiming 'British politicians know full well' why it avoids using the word terrorist.
He wrote: 'British politicians know perfectly well why the BBC avoids the word 'terrorist', and over the years plenty of them have privately agreed with it.
'Calling someone a terrorist means you're taking sides and ceasing to treat the situation with due impartiality.
'The BBC's job is to place the facts before its audience and let them decide what they think, honestly and without ranting.
Last week the BBC was covered in red paint in response to its controversial decision
The BBC has defended its decision not to describe Hamas militants as 'terrorists' in its coverage of the deadly attacks in Israel
Veteran BBC foreign correspondent John Simpson defended the coverage claiming 'calling someone a terrorist means you're taking sides'
'That's why, in Britain and throughout the world, nearly half a billion people watch, listen to and read us.
There's always someone who would like us to rant. Sorry, it's not what we do.'
Nick Robinson, a presenter on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, said on social media: 'I understand entirely why some want the word "terrorism" used. It is, though, the long-standing practice of BBC, ITV and Sky to report others using that language rather than using it ourselves.'
BBC director of editorial policy David Jordan said not using the word terrorist was a 'very long-standing policy' which had 'stood the test of time'.
He added: 'We've called them massacres, we've called [them] murders, we've called them out for what things are and that doesn't in any way devalue the awfulness of what is going on.'
Hamas has been proscribed as a terrorist group in the UK since 2021.
Former BBC journalist Jon Sopel said the corporation's editorial guidelines were 'no longer fit for purpose'.
Condemning the BBC's language, Mr Shapps told LBC yesterday: 'I actually think it is verging on disgraceful, this idea that there is some sort of equivalence, and they'll always say, well there's two sides.
'They are not freedom fighters, they are not militants, they are pure and simple terrorists and it's remarkable to go to the BBC website and still see them talking about gunmen and militants and not calling them terrorists.'
Meanwhile, Britain's largest Jewish community body slammed the BBC, saying its refusal to call Hamas a terrorist organisation 'feels little short of obscene'.
The group said it had asked that the Government 'pushes for an urgent review of the BBC's guidelines', saying it is clear that Hamas 'should be described as what they are - terrorists'.
Even the former director of television at the BBC, Danny Cohen, expressed disbelief at the organisation's reluctance to label Hamas as a terror group.
He said earlier this week: 'This is no time for the BBC or any other UK news organisation to call terrorism anything but what it is.
'Having worked for the BBC, I understand the delicate balancing act it aims to perform.
I also know that the BBC employs a great number of dedicated journalists, committed to their profession and their belief in the important role it plays in a healthy democracy.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak blasted the BBC for refusing to call the Hamas terrorists before attending Finchley United Synagogue in central London for victims and hostages of Hamas attacks on Monday
Danny Cohen, the former director of television at the BBC, expressed disbelief at his former employer's reluctance to label Hamas a terror group
Houses are left in ruins in southern Israel after Hamas militants shot at and killed civilians in homes days earlier near the border with Gaza
'This is why it makes it even harder to understand why BBC News is unable to see something for what it is - and call it what it is, without prevarication, without qualification.
'Words matter.
The BBC, and other UK news organisations, are failing the public when they fail to accurately report terrorism and war crimes for what they are.'
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declared in relation to the broadcaster's choice of language in its news programmes: 'This is not a time for equivocation, we should call it out for what it is.'
Last week, the spokesperson for the BBC said: 'We always take our use of language very seriously.
'Anyone watching or listening to our coverage will hear the word 'terrorist' used many times - we attribute it to those who are using it, for example, the UK Government.
'This is an approach that has been used for decades, and is in line with that of other broadcasters.
'The BBC is an editorially independent broadcaster whose job is to explain precisely what is happening 'on the ground' so our audiences can make their own judgement.'