BBC Arabic ‘minimized Israeli suffering’ to portray Israel as aggressor, whistle-blower reports - Mathilda Heller

 

by Mathilda Heller

BBC Arabic gave a platform to journalists who made antisemitic comments, including one who said Jews should be burned.

 

The BBC logo is displayed above the entrance to the BBC headquarters in London, Britain, July 10, 2023.

(photo credit: HOLLIE ADAMS/REUTERS)

 

BBC Arabic chose to "minimize Israeli suffering" in its reporting of the war against Hamas in order to present it as the aggressor, a shocking new whistle-blower report has revealed.

The 19-page report, so far seen exclusively by the Telegraph, was written by former independent advisor to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines and Standards Committee, Michael Prescott. Prescott was reportedly spurred to action due to his disgust over the BBC's bias and inaction (despite high-ranking executives being aware). The report was sent to the BBC's Board.

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Prescott claimed that BBC Arabic gave a platform to journalists who made antisemitic comments. He provided multiple examples, including that one man who said Jews should be burned "as Hitler did" appeared as a guest on BBC Arabic 244 times in a year and a half. Another who said Jews are "devils" appeared 522 times in the same time period.

Prescott's report also said there was “critically different treatment” between the main BBC news website and BBC Arabic of the rocket attack on Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights in July 2024, during which nine Druze children were killed. The English BBC included Hezbollah's denial of the strike but also evidence that the terror group had bombed other sites in the vicinity. BBC Arabic, however, did not mention other strikes and did not reference the children's deaths. The next day, it published claims that Israel faked the attack.

“It is hard to conclude anything other than that BBC Arabic’s story treatment was designed to minimize Israeli suffering and paint Israel as the aggressor," Prescott said, according to The Telegraph.

The scene at the soccer field where a rocket crashed in Majdal Shams, July 27, 2024. (credit: MDA Operational Documentation)

In July 2024, a senior news editor from the BBC World Service carried out an internal review of BBC Arabic, which did not find any editorial “red flags”, prompting EGSC to commission its own review by David Grossman, its senior editorial adviser.

BBC Arabic had no articles about the hostages

Grossman's report explored five months of coverage from May to October 2024, covering 535 articles on the English language website and 523 on BBC Arabic. Prescott said Grossman found stark differences between the two: the main BBC website had 19 separate stories about the Israeli hostages, while BBC Arabic had none; four articles criticized Hamas on the main website and none on BBC Arabic, but every article critical of Israel that appeared on the main website was replicated by BBC Arabic.

This was just one of many examples provided in Grossman's report, according to Prescott.

“It should have prompted urgent action by the Executive, but it did not," Prescott added.

In another shocking admission, Prescott recalled discussing Grossman's review with Jonathan Munro, senior controller of BBC news content, who said "BBC Arabic was almost as trusted as Al Jazeera," and "an unrivalled source of knowledge and editorial content for the wider BBC."

“Is Al Jazeera the new gold standard the BBC wants to aspire to?" questioned Prescott in his report. "All this is to entirely miss the main reasons for having a taxpayer-funded World Service – to provide impartial news coverage and to reflect British values on the world stage.”

Following the publication of Prescott's report in the Telegraph, former director of BBC television Danny Cohen penned an op-ed calling it a "devastating document" that, for the first time, laid bare "serious and widespread failings of impartiality, systemic bias and activist journalism spanning years of BBC news coverage."

"Not only was BBC Arabic routinely platforming Jew-hating journalists, it was also promoting Hamas lies over facts," he said.

"As I read page after page of shocking revelations, I felt a growing sense of dismay towards those at the top of the BBC who have spent two years assuring me and others within the British Jewish community that they take issues of anti-Semitism and bias seriously. This report provides hard evidence that the BBC has been gaslighting us."

The Embassy of Israel in the United Kingdom said it was "extremely alarmed" by revelations published by The Telegraph, adding that it has long been concerned about the output of BBC Arabic.

"The accusations published in the Telegraph are a gross dereliction of the BBC’s responsibility to fair and impartial journalism, and have promoted false narratives about the conflict with Hamas to the region, which have a far-reaching impact on how Israel is viewed."

The embassy called on the BBC to investigate and take steps to ensure accountability. It also said it is "vital" that the UK government investigate the operations of BBC Arabic, given it is a recipient of UK taxpayer funding.

The UK Government's Culture, Media and Sport Committee has, in fact, already written to BBC Chair Samir Shah to ask what action is being taken following the publication of the report, and to ask for a full copy of the report. A response is expected by November 10.

Chair of the CMS Committee, Dame Caroline Dinenage MP, said, “The BBC clearly has serious questions to answer regarding both its editorial standards and the way in which concerns are handled by senior management."

"The Committee needs to be reassured that those at the very top of the BBC are treating these issues with the seriousness they deserve and taking decisive steps to uphold the corporation’s reputation for integrity and public trust.”

CAMERA UK also weighed in, with CEO Kurt Schwartz calling for a full and transparent inquiry from both the BBC and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, which cofunds BBC Arabic.

"This leaked dossier confirms what CAMERA’s Arabic- and English-language monitoring teams have consistently shown: a pattern of systemic bias, factual distortion, and ethical negligence that damages the BBC’s reputation and fuels antisemitism worldwide," Schwartz added (CAMERA published its own inquest into BBC Arabic in March 2025).

"These latest revelations now place the BBC’s most senior figures in an untenable position.”

Board of Deputies President Phil Rosenberg stated that he is "seriously concerned" by the reports, which "reinforce serious concerns that we have been raising directly with the BBC for some time."

"We must have transparency about these issues and call on the BBC to make available David Grossman’s review. We also need to see the Michael Prescott report that was recently sent to the BBC Board so that we can all judge both documents for ourselves.”

Mathilda Heller

Source: https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-872878

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