BBC Routinely ‘Downplayed Hamas Terrorism’ In Breach of Its Own Guidelines, Report Finds

Former exec warns of ‘institutional crisis’ at British broadcaster

The BBC systematically “downplayed Hamas terrorism” and portrayed Israel as a pariah state in its coverage of the ongoing Hamas war, breaching its journalistic guidelines 1,553 times, according to an independent review of the network’s reporting.

“Israel was associated with genocide more than 14 times more than Hamas in the corporation’s coverage of the conflict,” suggesting a “deeply worrying pattern of bias” towards Israel, according to the study and a weekend report on it by the Telegraph.

The report, which was led by British lawyer Trevor Asserson and reviewed the BBC’s coverage of the Gaza war during a four-month period beginning after Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror spree, found “multiple breaches by the BBC of its own editorial guidelines on impartiality, fairness and establishing the truth.”

The BBC, along with other Western news outlets such as the Washington Post, has repeatedly come under fire for its biased coverage of the Gaza war, with critics accusing the publication of uncritically disseminating propaganda and painting Israel as the aggressor. In the United States, a unique hostility toward the Jewish state has emerged at the Post as the paper stacks its foreign desk with alums of Al Jazeera, the Doha-based news outlet bankrolled in part by the Hamas-friendly government of Qatar.

At the BBC, several journalists covering the Gaza war “have previously shown sympathy for Hamas and even celebrated its acts of terror,” according to the report that a group of 40 lawyers and data scientists directed.

One BBC Arabic contributor, Mayssaa Abdul Khalek, has called for “death to Israel.” She once tweeted, “Hitler, rise, there are a few people that need to be burned,” according to the Telegraph.

Marie-Jose Al Azzi, another BBC contributor, once labeled Israel a “terrorist apartheid state.”

The BBC’s Arabic language branch was identified as “one of the most biased of all global media outlets in its treatment of the Israel-Hamas conflict.”

Researchers found at least 11 instances in which BBC Arabic featured reporters who have publicly championed terrorism against Israel, according to the Telegraph.

The report comes as the BBC faces external and internal pressure over its Gaza war coverage, with former BBC executive Danny Cohen saying the outlet is facing an “institutional crisis” due to its biased reporting.