Between October 1st and December 31st 2017, a total of one hundred and six reports with content relating to Israel and/or the Palestinians appeared on the BBC News website’s Middle East page.
Some of the reports were produced by other departments (e.g. BBC Technology, BBC Travel) or appeared on other pages of the website (e.g. ‘UK’ or ‘US & Canada’) but were also posted on the Middle East page.
Although the Israeli security services recorded 404 terror attacks during the fourth quarter of 2017 (see ‘related articles’ below), very few of those incidents received dedicated coverage on the BBC News website.
(The dates in brackets represent the period of time in which a report was available to visitors to the website’s Middle East page.)
Palestinian shot dead by Israeli settler in West Bank (30/11/17 to 1/12/17) discussed here
Israeli soldier stabbed to death in ‘terror attack’ (1/12/17 to 2/12/17) discussed here
Israel strikes Gaza Hamas sites after rocket attacks (9/12/17) discussed here
Israel hits Hamas targets in Gaza after rocket fire (14/12/17 to 17/12/17)
One report related to the neutralisation of a cross-border tunnel dug by the PIJ terror group:
Gaza: Palestinian militants killed as Israel hits tunnel (30/10/17 to 1/11/17) discussed here
Two reports related to alleged Israeli attacks on military sites in Syria:
Syria war: Israeli jets ‘strike factory near Homs’ (2/11/17)
Israel targets Syrian military base – Syrian state TV (2/12/17 to 4/12/17)
One report concerned alleged Iranian activities in Syria:
Iran building permanent military base in Syria – claim Gordon Corera (10/11/17 to 12/11/17)
Three reports related to violent rioting by Palestinians:
Jerusalem: Palestinians killed in fresh clashes with Israel (15/12/17 to 18/12/17) discussed here
Deadly clashes erupt over Jerusalem row (15/12/17 to 17/12/17)
Palestinian protesters and Israeli troops clash in Gaza (22/12/17 to 24/12/17)
Two reports related to the arrest of a Palestinian girl who assaulted soldiers:
Palestinian girl arrested after troops ‘slapped’ in video (19/12/17 to 21/12/17) discussed here
Palestinian girl arrested after ‘slap’ video (19/12/17 to 24/12/17)
In all, 12.3% of the BBC News website’s reports in Q4 covered stories relating to security and/or terrorism. The additional topics found in the BBC’s coverage of Israel and the Palestinians during the last quarter of 2017 will be discussed in part two of this post.
Related Articles:
BBC News coverage of terrorism in Israel – October 2017
BBC News coverage of terrorism in Israel – November 2017
BBC News coverage of terrorism in Israel – December 2017 and year summary
Reviewing BBC News website portrayal of Israel and the Palestinians in Q3 2017 – part two
Reviewing BBC News website portrayal of Israel and the Palestinians in Q3 2017 – part one
Reviewing BBC News website portrayal of Israel and the Palestinians in Q2 2017 – part two
Reviewing BBC News website portrayal of Israel and the Palestinians in Q2 2017 – part one
Reviewing BBC News website portrayal of Israel and the Palestinians in Q1 2017 – part one
Reviewing BBC News website portrayal of Israel and the Palestinians in Q1 2017 – part two
Reviewing BBC News website portrayal of Israel and the Palestinians in Q4 2016 – part two (includes links to previous reports)
