Britain’s BBC Accused of ‘Deeply Worrying’ Pattern of Bias Against Israel Since Start of Hamas War

The report says Israel was associated with genocide 14 times more than Hamas, and that senior journalists regularly downplay acts of terror committed by terrorists.

AP/Frank Augstein, file
The British Broadcasting Company, March, 2022. AP/Frank Augstein, file

A new report is accusing Britain’s preeminent public broadcaster, the British Broadcasting Corporation, of a “deeply worrying” pattern of bias against the state of Israel, with more than 1,500 breaches of the broadcaster’s editorial guidelines since the October 7 attacks by Hamas.

The report, issued by a team of lawyers and data scientists led by barrister Trevor Asserson, accuses the BBC of repeatedly associating Israel with such phrases as “genocide,” “breach of international law,” and “war crimes” while all-but ignoring crimes committed by Hamas terrorists and their collaborators, according to reporting from London’s Daily Telegraph. Based in Jerusalem, Mr. Asserson is the founder of BBCWatch, which analyzes the broadcaster’s coverage of the Middle East.

“The findings reveal a deeply worrying pattern of bias and multiple breaches by the BBC of its own editorial guidelines on impartiality, fairness and establishing the truth,” the report says.

The researchers, a team of 20 lawyers and 20 data scientists, scoured some nine million words of BBC output using artificial intelligence. They concluded that Israel was associated with genocide 14 times more than Hamas, and that senior journalists such as International Editor Jeremy Bowen and international correspondent Lyse Doucet of downplaying or excusing acts of terror committed by Hamas.

Following the release of the report, leading voices in London along with Jewish groups in the United Kingdom such as the Campaign Against Antisemitism and the National Jewish Assembly repeated earlier calls for an independent inquiry into the BBC’s coverage of the conflict in Israel. A former Labour minister, Lord Austin, accused the outlet of “high-handed arrogance” for ignoring the criticism and a former executive for the broadcaster, Danny Cohen, said the broadcaster is now facing an “institutional crisis.”


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