- BBC Arabic reporters Soha Ibrahim and Marie-Jose Al Azzi credited with story
- Ms Al Azzi described Israel as a ‘terrorist apartheid state’ in a put up from 2018
BBC journalists behind a damning report which accused Israeli troopers of beating and humiliating medics at a Gaza hospital have ‘preferred’ movies celebrating Hamas terror assaults and anti-Israel posts on-line.
The story final week led to worldwide condemnation of Israel, and was known as ‘very disturbing’ by Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron who known as for ‘solutions’.
Now The Mail on Sunday can reveal considerations in regards to the views of two BBC Arabic reporters, Soha Ibrahim and Marie-Jose Al Azzi, who had been credited with engaged on the story.
Earlier this month Ms Ibrahim preferred a video on X of Palestine Action activists slashing an oil portray of former British prime minister Arthur Balfour, who helped pave the way in which for the creation of Israel. On the day of the Hamas assaults on October 7, she ‘preferred’ movies of individuals in Lebanon and Tunisia chanting, dancing and waving Palestinian flags on the street in obvious celebration.
London-based Ms Ibrahim, who has labored for the BBC for 12 years, additionally preferred one other put up on X on October 7 which celebrated ‘the primary of the martyrs of the operation’. The tweet featured an image of an Egyptian man who was killed after taking pictures useless three Israeli troopers final June.
BBC journalists behind a report accusing Israeli troopers beating medics at a Gaza hospital have ‘preferred’ movies celebrating Hamas assaults
Soha Ibrahim preferred a video on X of Palestine Action activists slashing an oil portray of former British prime minister Arthur Balfour
Ms Ibrahim additionally preferred a video of Egyptian soccer followers chanting ‘we sacrifice our souls, our blood for Palestine’ following the assaults.
Meanwhile Ms Al Azzi, who has labored on the BBC since 2019 and relies in Lebanon, described Israel as a ‘terrorist apartheid state’ in a put up from 2018 that has since been deleted, in response to anti-Semitism researchers.
Last week’s BBC report additionally credited a contract picture journalist Muath Al Khatib, based mostly in Jerusalem, who works part-time for WAFA, the Palestinian state information company.
He beforehand made an anti-Jewish put up on Facebook whereas on vacation in Thailand in 2016. ‘I’m fleeing from the town to the Far East, and I discover extra Jews than locals on the island on Ko Pha Ngan,’ he wrote.
Jewish Tory MP Andrew Percy known as the BBC ‘institutionally Israel-phobic’, saying: ‘The truth they’re utilizing reporters who seem like brazenly hostile to Israel and doubtlessly brazenly hostile to Jews, once more demonstrates the problems the BBC has right here on reporting this battle pretty.’
He appeared to take a swipe at Lord Cameron’s fast intervention, saying the revelations are a ‘well timed reminder to all ministers and politicians to be very cautious about commenting on experiences earlier than it is clear what the details are and who’s behind them’.
Danny Cohen, the previous director of BBC tv, claimed the BBC does ‘not perform essentially the most primary checks on their journalists’, including: ‘It makes a mockery of the BBC’s dedication to impartiality.’
Critics final evening stated the posts plunged the BBC right into a recent impartiality row. It has confronted fury over its preliminary failure to label Hamas as terrorists following October 7, and its misreporting of a Hamas strike on a Gaza hospital, which a BBC journalist falsely claimed was an Israeli missile.
Marie-Jose Al Azzi, who has labored for the BBC since 2019, branded Israel a ‘terrorist apartheid state’ in a now deleted put up from 2018
Last October the company stated it was investigating six BBC Arabic employees over allegations the journalists had justified the killing of Israeli civilians by Hamas on their social media accounts. Four of these employees seem to have returned to reporting duties, a BBC insider informed the Mail.
The accounts had been first uncovered by anti-Semitism researcher David Collier and investigated by the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis, a media monitoring group.
Mr Collier informed the Mail: ‘These are folks that are supposed to be neutral journalists reporting on what’s a extremely advanced state of affairs [which] is tragic on all sides.’
He accused the BBC of getting a ‘degree of vanity’ in believing it’s above ‘questions’ over its editorial choices and the trustworthiness of its journalists.
Mr Collier stated: ‘It’s fairly scary actually, contemplating how a lot affect they’ve.’
The BBC report quoted three Palestinian docs who stated they had been crushed, doused with chilly water and made to kneel for hours by Israeli troops following a navy raid on the Nasser hospital final month. The IDF denied the claims.
Last evening a BBC spokesman stated it takes ‘allegations of breaches of our social media steerage very critically’. The Mail approached Mr Al Khatib for remark, however he referred our reporter to the BBC press workplace.
A spokesman for CAMERA alleged: ‘Soha Ibrahim, Muath Al Khatib and Marie-Jose Al Azzi be a part of the ever-growing record of now greater than ten BBC employees members who cowl the struggle for the company whereas their private social media accounts clearly point out that they don’t seem to be neutral observers.
‘BBC administration retains repeating the mantra that it takes breaches of its personal social media tips ‘very critically’ – however because it refrains from disclosing any additional particulars, it’s time to ask what occurs in the meantime to the standard journalism the BBC purports to supply in trade for the British public’s license payment funds.’