For decades, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was a symbol of integrity, admired worldwide for its impartial reporting, moral clarity, and cultural contributions. It represented the voice of liberal democracy, a trusted guide through war, politics, and global change. It is precisely because of this hard-earned trust that the BBC’s radical deviation from objectivity in its reporting on Israel and the Jewish people is not only tragic but also dangerous.
Once a protector of democratic norms, the BBC has become a manufacturer of anti-Israel narrative, not merely reflecting a hostile consensus, but actively shaping and amplifying it. Through distortion, omission, selective outrage, and ideological blindness, it has abandoned its public mandate. This failure threatens not just Israel but the very democratic values that gave the BBC life.
Institutional Bias Rooted in Postmodern Hostility to Nationhood and Jews
The BBC’s deepening anti-Israel posture is not an isolated drift, but one that is rooted in a postmodern worldview that sees the nation-state as obsolete and nationalism as inherently oppressive. In this framing, Israel, the world’s only Jewish state, is not merely controversial; it is ideologically offensive.
The conflation of Israel with colonialism, white supremacy, and apartheid has become internalized within BBC editorial culture. The result is a toxic institutional bias that affects not just how stories are told, but which stories are told and which are ignored.
At times, this bias crosses into outright hostility toward Jews, manifesting in double standards, rhetorical framing, and the consistent moral isolation of Israel in a way no other nation experiences.
A Legacy of Trust, Weaponized
Generations in Britain and around the world grew up with the BBC’s Home Service (Radio 4), which reflected a broad range of voices, thoughtful debate, family-friendly content, and trusted news. It was the institution that “traded in facts.” The BBC’s words seemed to carry weight far beyond other broadcasters.
This is precisely what makes its current behaviour so damaging: when the BBC misreports, omits, or distorts, it doesn’t merely spread falsehoods but actively legitimizes them as truth.
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Crimes of Omission: As Dangerous as Lies
The BBC’s sins are often sins of silence. It routinely fails to:
- Acknowledge that Hamas governs Gaza and its institutions (including health services).
- Emphasize that Israel provides water, electricity, and humanitarian aid to Gaza, even while under attack, something that no other country has ever been expected to do throughout recorded history.
- Report that Egypt hermetically seals its border with Gaza, denying entry to its fellow Arabs.
- Mention that many of the communities attacked on October 7 were populated by left-wing peace activists who supported a two-state solution.
- Recognize the historical context: there was never a sovereign state called “Palestine.” The territory was ruled successively by empires, including the Romans, Byzantines, various Islamic caliphates, Crusaders, Mamluks, and Ottomans, before coming under British control after World War I. Between 1948 and 1967, Gaza was occupied by Egypt and the West Bank by Jordan, neither of which established a Palestinian state in those territories during that time.
Omitting these facts is not neutral. It is manipulative. It shapes perception by omission–the most subtle and insidious form of propaganda.
Language Games: Terror for Thee, But Not for Hamas
Despite the barbaric nature of the October 7th Hamas massacre, where civilians were raped, mutilated, and burned alive, the BBC has refused to label the attackers as terrorists.
Compare this to the BBC’s liberal use of the term for the Irish Republican Army (IRA), for example, during the Northern Ireland unrest, or to a minority of Jewish settlers in the West Bank, whose actions are not only marginal but widely condemned by Israeli society and prosecuted by the state.
The asymmetry in language reveals a moral asymmetry in values.
Read More: Rock-Bottom BBC Hits a New Low: On-Air Smears, Israeli President Showdown, and More Apologies
The Al-Ahli Hospital Hoax: BBC as Amplifier of Hamas Propaganda
On October 17, 2023, a projectile exploded in the parking lot of the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza. Within minutes, Palestinian sources claimed 500 dead and blamed Israel.
The BBC echoed this claim with breathtaking irresponsibility. One correspondent even commented on-air that it was “hard to see what else this could be… other than an Israel airstrike.”
Within hours, intercepted communications showed Islamic Jihad operatives admitting that the projectile was their own misfire. In addition to this, to know the death toll within minutes is an obvious logistical impossibility, which a reputable news service should immediately have understood. Recall that Israel, after weeks, still could not accurately count its fatalities from October 7.
Yet the BBC continued to give parity to the false version, and its corrections were muted, late, and buried.
The Echo Chamber: UN, ICC, and the BBC
BBC interviewers routinely cite UN resolutions, ICC investigations, and ICJ rulings to corner Israeli officials. These institutions, while sounding authoritative, repeatedly demonstrate political bias and a disproportionate obsession with Israel.
But the BBC never interrogates the credibility of these institutions. Instead, it uses them to echo and amplify a pre-existing narrative, creating a circular system of self-validation: If the ICC says Israel is guilty, it must be true, and therefore we are justified in repeating it.
A report accusing 10 British citizens of war crimes in Gaza is making headlines — but the BBC and Guardian don’t tell you is that it was co-filed by a Gaza-based group with ties to a U.S.-designated terror organization. Here’s the background they left out.https://t.co/6DFouqy0Yx
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) April 10, 2025
The UNRWA Scandal and “Journalists” with Guns
The BBC routinely covers the deaths of UNRWA workers and Palestinian journalists, framing them as victims of Israeli aggression. But it fails to report:
- Evidence that many of these individuals are Hamas operatives.
- UNRWA has re-housed zero refugees in nearly 80 years, despite billions in funding.
- UNRWA schools and materials radicalise Palestinian children, promoting martyrdom and hatred of Jews.
Instead of exposing this grotesque misuse of Western aid, the BBC frames UNRWA as a humanitarian organisation under siege, further reinforcing a false moral binary.
Falling for “Pallywood” Propaganda
Despite years of exposure, the BBC still falls for “Pallywood” — a term coined to describe staged or manipulated Palestinian media portrayals of injured and/or dead civilians, fake funerals, and recycled images, including from Syria.
That such transparent manipulation continues to fool BBC journalists is either evidence of mind-numbing incompetence or willing complicity.
Read More: BBC Silent as Journalists Urged to ‘Wear Keffiyeh to Work’ for Palestinian ‘Solidarity’ Day
The Arabic Problem: BBC Arabic vs. Al Jazeera
The BBC’s Arabic service is frequently arguably as virulently anti-Israel as Al Jazeera. BBC Arabic coverage includes a focus on Palestinian suffering and unbalanced criticism of Israeli military actions, while numerous employees have been exposed for antisemitism and their support for Hamas.
BBC Arabic’s choice of content and language directly fuels radicalization in the Muslim world and other Arabic-speaking communities, especially when it comes with the brand authority of the BBC.
Broadcasting Blood Libels
The concept of a “blood libel” has deep and painful historical roots in Jewish history. For centuries, Jews were falsely accused of kidnapping and murdering Christian children to use their blood in religious rituals, such as baking Passover matzot. These accusations, entirely unfounded and often politically or religiously motivated, led to pogroms, mass expulsions, and the murder of countless Jews throughout medieval and early modern Europe. The term “blood libel” has since become synonymous with grotesque, antisemitic fabrications that stoke hatred and violence.
In May 2025, a modern version of this libel surfaced when Tom Fletcher, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator in Gaza, stated in a BBC interview that 14,000 babies would die within 48 hours if aid was not allowed into Gaza. This extraordinary claim was widely reported by mainstream media outlets, including the BBC. Although the BBC deserves some credit for later questioning the validity of the number, it nonetheless continued to broadcast the original interview with Fletcher, giving oxygen to what many mainstream and reputable commentators have since shown to be a fabricated statistic. As revealed in a detailed investigation, the number was not grounded in any UN data or credible forecast.
Even as clarifications trickled out, the initial impact of Fletcher’s statement — amplified by the BBC and others — had already inflamed public opinion, triggering outrage and demonstrations worldwide. By continuing to air the original claim, the BBC failed in its duty to inform viewers and readers.
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The Balen Report and Internal Guilt
As far back as 2004, the BBC commissioned the Balen Report to examine its coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The report was never released, and the BBC spent years in court to block its publication.
The reason? Those who have seen it say it confirmed systemic bias.
If true, this proves not only bias but institutional awareness of the bias. A moral failure has become a cover-up.
Time to Defund the BBC?
This is not about silencing critics of Israel. It is about exposing a taxpayer-funded institution that:
- Ignores its charter
- Spreads disinformation
- Radicalizes audiences
- Undermines peaceful coexistence
- Betrays the democratic values it claims to uphold
The BBC, in its current form, appears beyond reform—less a public service broadcaster than a corrosive force that privileges politics over truth.
If it can no longer uphold the charter on which it was founded, then a serious question must be asked: Should the BBC continue to be funded by the British public at all?
Dov Freedman is a Jerusalemite and volunteer police officer. He writes in a personal capacity.
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