How BBC Fight For Israel's War On Gaza

Israel’s war on Gaza has been at the top of media coverage for most of the past year. West Asia has been the epicentre of chaos. Along with shedding lights on world leaders’ double standards, and how powerfully powerless United Nations are, the stinking bias of western media in covering the stories from Palestine were also exposed during the more than one-year-long war in Gaza.

BBC has repeatedly been accused of creating a false equivalence of an overwhelmingly unbalanced war. It’s clearly evident in the way words are used in the news copies. While 1,200 Israelis were “brutally killed”, “murdered”, or “slaughtered” by Hamas, more than 45,000 Palestinians “died”. While stories “prominently” used words like “massacre,” “slaughter,” and “atrocities” to refer to Hamas, they “hardly, if at all,” used them “in reference to actions by Israel”, Rami Ruhayem, a Beirut-based BBC Arabic correspondent wrote. BBC published a story with a headline that hid Israel’s responsibility for killing an entire family in a missile strike.

“Israel Gaza: Father loses 11 family members in one blast,” the headline stated.

When Israel is the perpetrator, BBC often use the caveat “reportedly”.

To give more clarity, Israel’s reporting on Muhmmed Bhar is a great example. Bhar is a 24-year-old Palestinian with Down’s Syndrome and autism. He was someone who needed 24/7 care from his family. On July 3rd, the Israeli Occupation Force (IOF) raided Bhar’s home. The family begged for mercy for their disabled son, but the IOF let loose its dog on him. The dog savaged Bhar brutally, while he begged the dog to stop. He was saying “Khalas ya habibi” (“that’s enough, my dear”).

Also Read: CNN And BBC Journalists Reveal Pro-Israel Bias In Gaza Coverage: Report

The IOF then locked him in a separate room, and forced his family to leave at he gunpoint. The family was only able to return home a week later, to find decomposing body of Bhar.

The news was first reported by Middle East Eye on July 12. The outlet headlined the story as, “Gaza: Palestinian with Down syndrome ‘left to die’ by Israeli soldiers after combat dog attack”. Another news outlet, The Independent headlined the story as, “Gaza man with Down’s syndrome mauled by Israeli attack dog and left to die, family says”.

BBC took the news four days after, and had a headline that read, “The lonely death of Gaza man with Down’s syndrome”.

The headline ignored the sickeningly hideous circumstances of Bhar’s death and omitted the specifics of who did what to whom.

The headline sparked fury on social media, and reportedly inside the news organisation. After receiving several backlashes, BBC changed the headline to “Gaza man with Down’s syndrome attacked by IDF dog and left to die, mother tells BBC”.

In the updated version, BBC did not acknowledge that its previous version of the story omitted or downplayed key facts or explain to readers why it changed the headline. It did add a note at the bottom of the story: “This story was updated on 19 July with an IDF response”.

Also Read: BBC’s ‘Correction’ On Amsterdam Violence Video

Drop Site News spoke to 13 current and former staffers on the who mapped out the extensive bias in the BBC’s coverage and how their demands for change have been largely met with silence from management. Almost all the journalists overwhelmingly point to the role of one person in particular: Raffi Berg, BBC News online’s Middle East editor. The journalists also allege that internal complaints about how the BBC covers Gaza have been repeatedly brushed aside. “This guy’s entire job is to water down everything that’s too critical of Israel,” one former BBC journalist told the outlet.

Another BBC journalist said Berg plays a key role in a broader BBC culture of “systematic Israeli propaganda”. “How much power he has is wild,” said another journalist.

“There was an extreme fear at the BBC, that if you ever wanted to do anything about Israel or Palestine, editors would say: ‘If you want to pitch something, you have to go through Raffi and get his signoff,” another journalist explained.

Berg even downplayed Amnesty International’s accusation that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. He chose a headline that stated, “Israel rejects ‘fabricated’ claims of genocide”. BBC also did not reported the story for 12 hours after it was written to suppress its online reach.

BBC did not cover the news on its flagship programmes like BBC One’s News At One, News At Six, or News At Ten or its flagship current affairs program, BBC Two’s Newsnight. “Anyone who writes on Gaza or Israel is asked: ‘Has it gone to edpol [editorial policy], lawyers, and has it gone to Raffi?'” another journalist said.

Also Read: “Shameless Genocide Apologist”: Criticism After X’s Elon Musk Retweets Netanyahu

BBC highly depend on the euphemisms preferred by the Israeli army to hide its soldiers’ war crimes. For example, the BBC describes the forcible transfer or ethnic cleansing of Palestinian civilians as “evacuations”. In one case, the BBC described Israel’s total siege on Gaza with a headline stating, “Israel aims to cut Gaza ties after war with Hamas”.

The journalists speaking with Drop Site said they made specific requests to BBC management to balance its coverage, but their requests have been ignored.

“Many of us have raised concerns that Raffi has the power to reframe every story, and we are ignored,” one journalist said. “Almost every correspondent you know has an issue with him,” one stated. “He has been named in multiple meetings, but [BBC management] just ignore it”.

The journalist said they demanded that stories should “emphasize that Israel had not granted the BBC access to Gaza, that the network should end the practice of presenting the official Israeli versions of events as fact, and that the BBC should do more to offer context about Israeli occupation and the fact that Gaza is overwhelmingly populated by descendants of refugees forcibly driven from their homes beginning in 1948″.

In November this year, more than 100 of its staff complained of giving Israel favourable coverage in its reporting of the war on Gaza and criticised for its lack of “accurate evidence-based journalism”, reported The Independent. As per the report, a letter sent to BBC broadcaster’s director general, Tim Davie, and CEO Deborah Turness, were signed by more than 100 anonymous BBC staff and more than 200 from the media industry, as well as historians, actors, academics and politicians.4

Also Read: “My Genocide”: When An Indian Comic Stood Up And Questioned The Silence Over Gaza Murders

“The consequences of inadequate coverage are significant. Every television report, article and radio interview that has failed to robustly challenge Israeli claims has systematically dehumanised Palestinians,” the letter said.

According to one BBC journalist, the letter was “a last resort after several tried to engage using the usual channels with management and were just ignored”. Another one said said they did not sign the letter, because they were not aware of it, indicating that the sentiment is shared “way beyond” the signatories, said Drop Site News.

As a reply, Turness told them to “please note we would not normally reply to unsigned, anonymous correspondence,” adding that “BBC News is proud of its journalism and always open to discussion about it, but this is made more difficult when parties are not willing to do so openly and transparently.” She claimed the BBC engaged with internal BBC staff and “external stakeholders” on coverage of Israel and Palestine, and argued “the BBC does not and cannot reflect any single world view, and reports without fear of [sic] favour”, reported Drop Site News.