Is the BBC Anti-semitic?
By Bob Small
Most weekday mornings at 10 we find ourselves listening to BBC Newshour on WHYY FM. In the car, we may go to Sirius Radio BBC. Many moons ago, we stopped following any American legacy media as we no longer believed in them.
Ahmed Alagha, a Gazan journalist who has appeared intermittently on BBC Arabic has said ‘Israelis are not human beings’ and ‘Jews are devils’ .
He is not a BBC employee but is one of the journalists BBC uses when their employees cannot report from a site. After October 7, he said “No spilled blood of theirs is honorable”.
We doubt this quote is from the Koran, as he maintains.
In March, Tory opposition leader Kami Badenoch called for ‘wholesale reform’ of BBC Arabic after a report by Camera UK accused the corporation of ‘appalling anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias’.
Last August, over 200 British members of radio, TV, and film signed a letter saying “Jews don’t count” when it comes to racism at BBC.
The BBC Documentary in question Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone was pulled from I Player in February after it emerged that the child narrator is the son of Ayman Alyazouri, who has worked as Hamas’s deputy minister of Agriculture.
Bringing Karl Marx into the discussion, commentator Hind al-David referred people to On The Jewish Question by Karl Marx, first published in 1844. We maintain that Karl Marx is always worth reading, though not as funny as Groucho.
Lord Mann, the UK’s independent Advisor on anti-semitism said that the BBC “refused anti-semitism training on more than one occasion”. He added “heads should roll…Let’s get rid of some at the top”
Though we had to use Perplexity a.i. to find this Outgoing Muslim Council leader criticises lack of both the BBC and the Tories have been accused of Islamaphobia.
See also Paul Vallely: BBC is not downplaying anti-Semitism
Why did the BBC say ‘Muslim reverts’?
Full disclaimer; I am of Jewish Heritage and occasionally attend Synagogue, along with other Houses of Worship.
Is the BBC Anti-semitic?