Qatar’s expulsion of Hamas officials not newsworthy for the BBC

Extensive BBC coverage of the Qatar row has not included the expulsion of Hamas officials.

Since the rift between Qatar and several other Arab states blew up on June 5th the BBC News website has produced three articles tagged – inter alia – ‘Hamas’.

Qatar row: Trump urges Arab unity in call to Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, June 7th 2017

“Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister called on Qatar to cut ties with Palestinian group Hamas in the occupied territories, and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, if it wanted to end its isolation in the Gulf region. […]

He added that Qatar was undermining the Palestinian Authority and Egypt by supporting Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, and said stopping these policies would “contribute to stability in the Middle East”.

Hamas is the largest of several militant Islamist Palestinian groups, and was the first Islamist group in the Arab world to win election at the ballot box, before it took power in Gaza after a battle 10 years ago.”

Qatar crisis: UAE threatens sympathisers with prison, June 7th 2017

“On Tuesday, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir called on Qatar to cut ties with Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in the occupied territories, and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, if it wanted to end its isolation.”

Qatar vows ‘no surrender’ in row with Arab states, June 8th 2017

“Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir has said Qatar needs to cut ties with Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in the occupied territories, and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, if it wanted to end its isolation.”

However, BBC News website audiences have not been informed of the reports concerning Qatar’s request that a number of Hamas officials leave the country. Among those reportedly asked to leave was Saleh al Arouri – the organiser of Hamas operations in Judea & Samaria who was previously based in Turkey and was designated by the US Treasury in 2015. Arouri is said to have relocated to Malaysia or Lebanon.

“Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman warned Friday that a senior official in the Palestinian Hamas terror group, Saleh al-Arouri, recently expelled from Qatar, has resettled in Lebanon, where he has been planning, along with two other activists, terror attacks against Israel. […]

Israeli intelligence officials believe Arouri was behind the abduction and killing of three Jewish teenagers in the West Bank in the summer of 2014. That attack was among the main catalysts of the war in Gaza about a month later.

Arouri served several stints in Israeli jails, and was released in March 2010, within the framework of talks to free Gilad Shalit, the IDF corporal kidnapped by Hamas in 2006.”

The absence of any BBC coverage of this story does not, however, come as a surprise. For almost three years the corporation has generally ignored or downplayed the topic of Hamas’ activities in Judea & Samaria – including the murders of the three Israeli teenagers in 2014 – and Saleh al Arouri’s role in particular.

Rather than providing its audiences with background information which would help them understand any potential reactions from Hamas to the pressure it is currently under, the BBC has apparently chosen to ignore this latest story too.

 

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