The British state-run BBC has launched an investigation into some of its journalists working for its Arabic service after they expressed support for Hamas terrorists.
The journalists in question reportedly called the horrific attacks on Israel ‘a morning of hope.’
BBC reporters facing the probe include six reporters and a freelancer, who have all been accused of anti-Israel bias and support for Hamas.
Some of the posts of X, formerly known as Twitter, which the reporters liked, included a video of bodies and kidnapped people loaded onto a Jeep captioned as a “proud moment.”
Another liked video said Zionists “will live as a thief and a usurper.”
The investigation conducted by the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (Camera) accused the following reporters of Hamas support:
Mahmoud Sheleib, senior broadcast journalist
Aya Hossam, broadcast journalist
Sally Nabil, correspondent
Salma Khattab, based in Cairo
Sanaa Khouri, the Beirut-based religious affairs correspondent
Nada Abdelsamad, a Beirut-based programmes editor
Egypt All Sports, a company run by Amr Fekry, a sports correspondent and pundit at BBC Arabic
The journalists have been taken off air while the investigation continues.
The Telegraph reports that the BBC said Ms Hossam, who is a freelancer, would no longer work for the corporation.
A BBC spokesman said:
“We are urgently investigating this matter. We take allegations of breaches of our editorial and social media guidelines with the utmost seriousness, and if and when we find breaches we will act, including taking disciplinary action.”
As the Daily Mail reports, the message which appeared to describe Hamas as ‘freedom fighters’ was liked by Ms Khattab. At the same time, Ms Abdelsamad retweeted a video of Israelis cowering “inside a tin container in fear of the Palestinian resistance warriors.”
The outlet continued:
A spokesman for Camera Arabic alleged ‘the BBC has repeatedly whitewashed the practice of targeting Jewish civilians in Israel even before the current escalation.’
“They constantly claim that they apply the same editorial standards of accuracy and impartiality to their services in all languages, including those with which BBC management is not familiar and can’t oversee properly, such as Arabic,” the spokesman told The Telegraph.
The chief executive of BBC News and Current Affairs, Deborah Turness, defended the corporation’s editorial position over not calling Hamas terrorists, saying “that it is not for us to declare any group as terrorists, it is for us to report when others do.”
Hamas has been a proscribed terrorist organization in the UK since November 2021, meaning the Government sees it as a terrorist organization.
Grant Shapps labeled the BBC’s policy “verging on disgraceful” and told LBC the corporation needs to fix its ‘moral compass,’ as he urged it to revise its long-standing position.
Other senior ministers, including Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer, have been among those expressing concern about the BBC’s position.
The BBC refers to Hamas as a ‘militant’ group and has described the slaughter of civilians as a ‘militant’ attack.
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 judgment.’
The decision has seen several BBC stars rally around their employer, including the corporation’s veteran foreign correspondent John Simpson defending the coverage, claiming ‘calling someone a terrorist means you’re taking sides.’
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