I warned the BBC it was spreading Hamas propaganda. It refused to …

Last week, the BBC's Executive Complaints Unit refused to uphold complaints [1] about the BBC News Channel's coverage of the situation in Gaza, including its serious propagation of false information about the Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City on 17 October 2023. Effectively acting as a mouthpiece for the Hamas terrorist organisation, BBC News outlets ran with variations on "hundreds feared dead or injured in Israeli air strike on hospital in Gaza, Palestinian officials say". The caveat of the source for this claim being Hamas was lost entirely as commentators mused on the frequency of Israeli war crimes and alleged that Israel habitually targets civilians.

The disinformation from the "trusted" BBC was further disseminated by high-profile individuals, including the Archbishop of Canterbury. The BBC's subsequent walk-back from its initial reporting has involved gross misrepresentations of what was actually said, and what BBC officials claim was meant by it. The explanation the network finally offered did not even address its most disturbing failure.

It shunned its responsibility for wilfully broadcasting false information when it had been warned. I know because I was there. I was booked for an interview at 19:00 that evening to address and analyse the application of the law of armed conflict to the developing situation.

At 19.10, while waiting on the line for the live broadcast, I received a call from George Mann, assistant editor of the BBC News Channel, to tell me they would have to "bump" me off to run with the rolling coverage of the "Israeli airstrike" on the hospital. Mr Mann was apologetic, and insistent that I would be invited back as soon as possible. Thus began my bid to appeal to reason, common sense and basic journalistic integrity.

I had been watching the coverage that evening already in disbelief. I explained that now, more than ever, the channel needed me on to provide balance. There was a desperate need to keep to the BBC's commitments of due accuracy and impartiality.

I had already seen many online reports that the incident had occurred in the context of a barrage of rockets from Gaza towards Israeli [2]civilian communities. The BBC's line simply didn't add up. I explained: there are things we don't know and things we do know.

At this moment, we don't know who or what hit that hospital (it later transpired to be only the car park that was hit). We do know, however, that, unlike Hamas, Israel does not target civilian or protected individuals or buildings. We know that Hamas and other Palestinian terror organisations keep weapons caches in and around schools and hospitals.

We know that the rockets they fire towards Israel frequently fall short in Gaza, indiscriminately killing civilians there. We knew by then also that the BBC had, a few days previously, similarly wrongly attributed the bombing of a civilian convoy evacuating to the south of Gaza (US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan had earlier that day confirmed that this had been a Hamas attack). I appealed to reason.

I could predict the impact that spreading disinformation about the hospital would have on the Arab world, incited as it was in the hours that followed to riot by these false reports. My pleas, though I was informed they were relayed up to the editor himself, fell on deaf ears. Reports of a rocket barrage towards Israel were not being seen on any of the wires, came the retort.

I was told the BBC's story had been confirmed by multiple sources. Yet we know that any "Palestinian official" in Gaza is a Hamas official, and not a source that any self-respecting journalist can take seriously. Parroting Hamas propaganda is not journalism.

The call ended abruptly. I was told there wasn't time to discuss this further. The false allegation of Israeli war crimes continued.

The damage it has done is irreversible. I maintained a naive hope that, with further opportunities to address this disinformation on air, the truth would out. But after my interview the next week with Katya Adler, I was stonewalled by BBC producers and executives, and their promotion of Hamas propaganda has continued.

The consequences of its coverage are plain and on regular display in the hate marches on the streets of the UK [3]. The Met Police recorded an increase of over 1,000 per cent in anti-Semitic hate crimes in October. The BBC has become a national broadcasting disservice.

Natasha Hausdorff is a barrister and legal director at UK Lawyers for Israel Charitable Trust

References

^ refused to uphold complaints (www.telegraph.co.uk)
^ in the context of a barrage of rockets from Gaza towards Israeli (www.telegraph.co.uk)
^ in the hate marches on the streets of the UK (www.telegraph.co.uk)