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MORE THAN 500 UK-based media professionals, including broadcaster Gary Lineker and actor Miriam Margolyes, have condemned the BBC’s decision to remove a documentary about Gaza from the station’s iPlayer.
Last week, the corporation apologised after it emerged that the child narrator of ‘Gaza: How To Survive A War Zone’ is the son of Ayman Alyazouri, who has worked as Hamas’s deputy minister of agriculture.
Following the discovery about Abdullah Al-Yazouri, who speaks about what life is like in the territory amid the war between Israel and Hamas, the BBC later added a disclaimer to the programme and has since removed the film from its online catch-up service.
In an open letter addressed to the BBC’s director general Tim Davie, chairman Samir Shah and chief content officer Charlotte Moore, hundreds of TV and film professionals and journalists criticised the decision to remove the documentary as “politically motivated censorship”.
Other signatories joining Lineker and Margolyes included actors Riz Ahmed, Juliet Stevenson and Khalid Abdalla, playwright Hanif Kureishi and broadcaster Anita Rani.
There has been growing dissent in a number of countries long seen as Israel allies over the attitude of public institutions towards the war – academics in Germany have been warning about a “slide into repression” amid claims of censorship at Palestine events in the country.
In the UK letter, signatories said the Gaza film is “an essential piece of journalism, offering an all-too-rare perspective on the lived experiences of Palestinian children living in unimaginable circumstances, which amplifies voices so often silenced”.
Further accusations have been made about Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone, such as claims that other children were pictured with the militant group Hamas.
The letter said that Al-Yazouri “served as Gaza’s deputy minister of agriculture, a civil service role concerned with food production”.
It continued: “Conflating such governance roles in Gaza with terrorism is both factually incorrect and dehumanising.
“This broad-brush rhetoric assumes that Palestinians holding administrative roles are inherently complicit in violence – a racist trope that denies individuals their humanity and right to share their lived experiences.”
Of his son, Abdullah, the letter added:
Children must not be held responsible for the actions of adults, and weaponising family associations to discredit a child’s testimony is both unethical and dangerous.
The letter, published in full on the Artists for Palestine UK website, continues: “As industry professionals who craft stories for the British public, including for the BBC, we condemn the weaponisation of a child’s identity and the racist insinuation that Palestinian narratives must be scrutinised through a lens of suspicion.
“We urge you to reject these tactics, protect vulnerable voices, and reaffirm your commitment to stories that hold power to account.”
In response, a spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) said: “The BBC’s bias and lack of accountability have led it to a new low, where it is a mouthpiece for terrorists and their supporters.”
They also called for the BBC’s license fee to be “suspended pending a full independent inquiry into bias” at the BBC.
The BBC said earlier this week the film “features important stories we think should be told – those of the experiences of children in Gaza” but that it would not be available on iPlayer while the broadcaster conducted “further due diligence with the production company”.
Yesterday, dozens of protesters gathered outside Broadcasting House in London claiming the BBC had aired Hamas propaganda.
The demonstration was organised by CAA, which has also criticised the BBC’s coverage of hostage handovers in recent weeks.
In a statement, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said she had discussed the documentary with Tim Davie in which she expressed her “deep concern” about the issues surrounding the film.
She added: “It is paramount that the investigation the BBC is conducting sheds light on what happened and who knew what when. I expect to be kept informed of the outcome of their investigation.”
The documentary, made by London-based production company Hoyo Films, was initially broadcast on February 17 at 9pm on BBC Two.
With reporting by Eoghan Dalton
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