One of the BBC’s many post-election articles appearing in the Middle East section of the BBC News website on January 23rd 2013 was an item entitled “Israeli press considers Netanyahu ‘failure’ ” which presented a round-up of local reactions to the results of the poll.
The article – produced by BBC Monitoring – highlighted quotes from articles appearing in several of Israel’s leading newspapers – including Ha’aretz, Yediot Aharonot, Ma’ariv, The Jerusalem Post and Israel HaYom.
However, for some reason – and despite the title – the writer also considered it worthwhile to quote two non-Israeli sources which were described as being “Palestinian newspapers”.
Al Quds has frequently been criticised for its antisemitic content, including its 1997 promotion of the ‘Protocols of the Elders of Ziyon’ as fact. Here is one of its more recent cartoons:
The Hamas-run website ‘Filastin’ has, as may be expected, supported terrorism against Israeli civilians and published commentary condemning a visit by a PA official to Auschwitz in 2012 which included the statement:
“What is the wisdom in such a simple step that supports the Jews and their crimes?… Neither the Jews nor we believe that Hitler killed six millions Jews,”
Does the BBC really think that it contributes anything to its audiences’ understanding of the Middle East by reproducing opinions from terror-supporting antisemitic outlets alongside those from legitimate members of the media?
And perhaps – with Holocaust Memorial Day approaching – BBC Monitoring and the Editor of the BBC News website could find the time to explain to their licence fee-paying funders why they consider the promotion of material from a Holocaust-denying website appropriate.
