In the early morning hours of October 13, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) warned the residents of northern Gaza to evacuate to south of Wadi Gaza as preparations are made for a ground incursion by Israeli forces, the next step in Israel’s fight against Hamas.
This warning by the IDF was for the benefit of Palestinian civilians living in the likely battle zone to come, exhorting them to seek safer shelter and to stop being used by Hamas as human shields.
However, despite the humanitarian nature of the IDF’s order, several BBC News anchors, correspondents, and interviewees have painted it in a negative light while simultaneously ignoring the IDF’s reasoning for the warning.
UN official @franceskalbs is already accusing Israel of ethnic cleansing in Gaza. Let us be clear: Israel is warning civilians to head to safety. Hamas – with the help of Egypt – is trapping Palestinians in a war zone. pic.twitter.com/E7apvlWErk
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) October 14, 2023
BBC Turns Warning Into ‘War Crime’
Several BBC reports turned the evacuation order from a humanitarian gesture into an act of ruthlessness.
In one, BBC international editor Jeremy Bowen described the leaflets dropped by Israel warning the civilian residents of northern Gaza to move south to safety as “a non-lethal airdrop but full of menace.”
In another report, presenter Christian Fraser claims that the warning to evacuate the future battle zone will invoke for many Gazans the memory of the 1948 Palestinian refugee crisis.
This is a common theme throughout several reports on the evacuation of northern Gaza.
A number of reports have carried footage of a Palestinian man in Gaza saying, “It happened to our grandfathers, now it’s happening to us. It’s raising the ghosts of the past.”
Similarly, Bowen describes the evacuation warning as “the Israelis saying ‘you’ve got to get out’” and claims that when Palestinians hear this, “all those ghosts come up again.”
Bowen even goes on to justify the connection between the 1948 Palestinian refugee crisis and the current evacuation by claiming that some far-right members of the Israeli government have called for a “second Nakba” and that the concept of expelling Palestinians “is something which has been widely discussed in Zionist thought almost from the outset.”
Bowen’s agenda-driven historical interpretations aside, one of the main issues with these reports is that not one of them has quoted the IDF’s explanation for the evacuation order. This, even though Israel has published it in English and publicized it on social media.
IDF announcement sent to civilians of Gaza City:
The IDF calls for the evacuation of all civilians of Gaza City from their homes southwards for their own safety and protection and move to the area south of the Wadi Gaza, as shown on the map.
The Hamas terrorist organization…
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 13, 2023
While failing to provide the Israeli justification for the evacuation order, the BBC has given ample airtime to those seeking to use the evacuation warning as a way of demonizing the Jewish state.
Numerous reports have quoted Hamas’ claim that the warning is propaganda, the United Nations’ assertion that the evacuation is impossible and could turn into a “calamitous situation,” and the Palestinian Authority’s United Nations envoy’s libelous comment that it “amounts to ethnic cleansing.”
In addition to these remarks, several BBC News interviewees have furthered the negative narrative.
In one interview, Norwegian activist Jan Egeland claims that the evacuation is not for humanitarian purposes but is “a forcible transfer of people” and is a “war crime.”
In another, Oxfam representative Najla Shawa asserts that the evacuation is a “reminder that Israel can do whatever it wants and nobody can stop it.” She goes on to say that it exemplifies the “arrogance of Israel.”
The one notable exception within these reports was BBC Arabic journalist Said Shehata’s brief remark during an interview that “Israel is trying to put pressure on the people in Gaza to move in order to avoid any casualties.”
The BBC’s Reporting on Israel’s Fight Against Hamas
The twisting of the narrative in order to besmirch the IDF in the reports mentioned above is not the only instance of BBC bias against Israel. A few other examples include:
- The BBC’s refusal to refer to Hamas as a terrorist organization despite the fact that it is recognized as such by several Western governments, including the UK.
- The distortion of Israeli history in an effort to provide its audience with context. This includes Jeremy Bowen’s false claim that the area of the Hamas massacres had once been Palestinian land and Jon Donnison’s erroneous reference to the land as “historic Palestine.”
- The dismissal of Hamas rocket attacks on Israeli civilians since the war began.
- The choice to display images that focus on scenes of property destruction in Israel and not the people of Israel.
The BBC's coverage of the Hamas massacre has been sickening.
The level of anti-Israel and at times antisemitic journalism that we expose in their coverage will shock you. pic.twitter.com/OFuAOOiGVn
— Israel Advocacy Movement (@israel_advocacy) October 12, 2023
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Photo Credit: Yossi Zeliger via TPS
