An Israeli politician has accused the BBC of scrapping a scheduled interview on account of her offering a more critical opinion of recently deceased Saeb Erekat, rather than parroting the near-wall-to-wall praise of the former chief Palestinian negotiator.
In a Twitter thread, parliamentarian Sharren Haskel, of the ruling Likud party, declared:
Some people find it hard to hear the truth about Erekat.
A few hours ago I was approached by the BBC and asked to be interviewed about the death of Saeb Erekat. As chairman of the subcommittee on foreign relations, I view representing Israel as important work, and so I immediately agreed to the interview.
In a background research conversation they held with me, I explained that although Erekat was portrayed as a man of peace in English, in Arabic he promoted, funded and pushed for an armed struggle against the State of Israel. In his last days, too, he opposed the historic peace signed between Israel and the Arab states, which finally recognized that the obstacle to peace is the Palestinians and not Israel.
As I went on to remind them of his [Erekat’s] words that Israel’s position continually recedes and therefore the Palestinians can continue their [policy of] rejectionism, the researcher politely ended the conversation. A few minutes later, they got back to me and informed me that the interview was canceled.”
In a call with HonestReporting, Haskel’s spokesman, Akiva Lamm, explained that the BBC researcher initially called via Skype to gauge the legislator’s availability. Once a mutually convenient time was arranged, a different staffer then made contact, as is standard procedure, with the intent of explaining the ins-and-outs of the show and with a view to better understanding what to expect from the interviewee.
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According to Lamm, at this point Haskel gave the BBC representative a “piece of her mind,” describing what she believed to be Erekat’s true colors; saying that while in English he portrayed himself as a man of peace, in Arabic he would endorse terrorism against Israel, support the anti-Israel and antisemitic BDS movement, oppose the normalization and peace agreements between Israel and other Arab states, and had a well-documented history of libeling the Jewish state in the media.
After a few minutes, Lamm explained, another BBC staffer called back to inform Haskel that, “since Erekat had just passed away, we don’t want to make this too political,” and that therefore the interview was being nixed. Lamm added that “it was very clear the cancelation was because the BBC deemed Haskel’s opinions unacceptable.”
The BBC’s actions would appear to be in breach of its own guidelines on impartiality, which state (emphasis ours):
We must be inclusive, considering the broad perspective and ensuring that the existence of a range of views is appropriately reflected… We are committed to reflecting a wide range of subject matter and perspectives across our output as a whole and over an appropriate timeframe so that no significant strand of thought is under-represented or omitted.”
After posting the details of the episode to Twitter, Haskel received messages suggesting that she should have been more moderate during the screening and only expressed her real views once on air.
As one observer noted, “it teaches you something about the BBC. If that’s the method needed to get clearance for an interview, then the BBC is in a sorry state of affairs.”
