Mehdi Eliefifi is a US-based political analyst and commentator who has been invited to appear on numerous channels including BBC Arabic, i24 News and France24.
Earlier this year, he hit the headlines when he interrupted his own interview about the Russia-Ukraine crisis on the BBC Arabic service to ask why the broadcaster had been late in paying him contributor fees (see here and here).
According to a report, the UK taxpayer-funded BBC later said the delay was due to a technical issue and paid Eliefifii a sum that he claimed totaled approximately $10,000 for appearances on the channel going back to 2019.
Yet, one must wonder if Eliefifi is an appropriate guest to be given any remuneration to offer his opinions on the BBC given that he appears to hold some very disturbing views.
A search of Eliefifi’s social media accounts shows he has shared posts praising Palestinian terrorist and commander of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, Zakaria Zubeidi, who was imprisoned for overseeing attacks against Israelis during the Second Intifada, including a suicide bombing that killed an Israeli woman.
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Zubeidi escaped from Israel’s Gilboa Prison last September alongside five other fugitives, and spent almost a week on the run before being recaptured on September 11.
However, Eliefifi described Zubeidi as a “heroic prisoner” just days later and falsely claimed the terrorist was tortured while being interrogated by Israeli authorities with electrocution and severe beatings.
In another post, the media pundit uploaded a childhood image of Zubeidi alongside the message “Pray for Zakaria.” Eliefifi also shared a sketch depicting all six of the Gilboa escapees with the message: “Our heroes in occupation prisons. This is a message for everyone who is free in this world.”
All of the men were either convicted of or awaiting trial on terror-related charges, and five were members of the Iranian-backed terror organization Islamic Jihad.
In 2021, the BBC Arabic contributor shared a video on his Facebook page of a Hamas propaganda video about the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, which he captioned: “Victory of Gaza.” The footage purports to show one of the perpetrators of the abduction describing how they managed to capture Shalit after crossing into Israel through a tunnel from the Gaza Strip: “We went into the narrow tunnel. We crawled 30 minutes inside the tunnel. We prayed while sitting.”
Eliefifi has also shared images by Brazilian cartoonist Carlos Latuff. One example is that of an Orthodox Jewish man herding sheep with a pistol in a holster, a machine gun slung around his neck and an Israeli flag emblazoned across his chest; he is shouting “anti-semitism” at a nearby Palestinian man who is holding a sign that reads: “Free Palestine! End Occupation!”
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Latuff’s works have been repeatedly denounced as antisemitic. Indeed, he placed second in the Iranian 2006 ‘International Holocaust Cartoon Competition’ that invited artists to create imagery that mocked victims of the Nazi genocide and awarded thousands of dollars in cash prizes to the winners (see here and here).
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HonestReporting’s revelations about Eliefifi’s social media history come just days after we questioned why the BBC continues to give a platform to Palestinian-British journalist Abdel Bari Atwan, who has repeatedly glorified terrorism against Israelis while promoting antisemitism.
In a video, we drew attention to Atwan’s tweet that referred to the March 27 ISIS terror attack in the Israeli city of Hadera that left two people dead and another 12 injured as an “operation” that had “exposed those [Arab leaders] who did not mention Palestine.”
Atwan’s tweet also linked to a video in which he expressed joy over the murder of Israelis.
Following the latest revelation, we reiterate our call to the UK government, which provides grants to the BBC, to end antisemitism at the channel.
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Image: Twitter screenshot BBC Arabic
