CAMERA UK prompts corrections to two BBC News website reports

As previously documented, two recent BBC News website reports promoted misleading information concerning the potential application of Israeli civil law to parts of Area C.

A report published on the website’s ‘Middle East’ page on May 14th – “Israel’s new unity government delayed by dispute over cabinet posts” – stated:

“Mr Netanyahu has said it [the new government] will also press ahead with a controversial plan to annex part of the occupied West Bank as early as 1 July.”

Another report published on the ‘Middle East’ page on May 17th – “Israel swears in unity government after long political crisis” – stated:

“The two politicians [Netanyahu and Gantz] have agreed to press ahead with a controversial plan to annex part of the occupied West Bank area as early as 1 July.”

CAMERA UK submitted a complaint to the BBC on that matter pointing out that while that issue may or may not be brought to the cabinet on or after July 1st, it is certainly not the case – as suggested in these two BBC News website reports – that Israel plans to “annex part of the occupied West Bank” on that date.  

We swiftly received the following response:

“Thank you for getting in touch about our article Israel’s new unity government delayed by dispute over cabinet posts.

After considering your point we have amended both articles.”

The amendment to the first report reads:

“Mr Netanyahu has said he will also press ahead with a controversial plan to annex part of the occupied West Bank, a process which the coalition deal says can get under way from 1 July.”

The amendment to the second report reads:

“The two men have agreed to press ahead with a controversial plan to annex part of the occupied West Bank – a process that could get under way from 1 July.”

However, no footnote has been added to inform readers of the amendment and the continued absence of a corrections page on the BBC News website means that those who read the reports when they were first published – and are of course unlikely to revisit them at a later date – will remain unaware that information they were given was inaccurate.

Related Articles:

BBC NEWS AND BBC RADIO 4 MISLEAD AUDIENCES WITH JULY 1 ‘ANNEXATION’ CLAIM

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2 Comments

  1. says: Adrian Turner

    Surely the invasion of the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1948 was illegal? This being so, how can Israel have ‘occupied’ or be ‘annexing’ territory?

  2. says: Neil C

    Well done Camera UK, any success however small makes it worthwhile. It is a shame the BBC have been instructed to completely ignore the one international agreement that lends total legitimacy to the rightful ownership of Judea and Samaria made by the League of Nations in 1920. It was called the San Remo Agreement which divided up the defeated Ottoman Empire into 22 Arab States and one Jewish State, it gave israel back to Israel a land where all the Jews from the Ottoman Empire could go and live in peace and security. This was to be recreated from the British Mandate of Palestine, an area both East and West of the Jordan River. The British reneged on that deal and gave the Hashemite Kingdom the area East of the Jordan and when the UN replaced the League of Nations in 1947 in a resolution No 181 it gave only 23% of the promised land to Israel, however Israel accepted this and created the State of Israel. The day after five Arab Armies attacked in an effort to destroy the fledgling state and that was when Jordan occupied Israel’s Judea and Samaria and renamed it the West Bank until Israel took it back in 67. History seems to be a problem for the BBC when it comes to Israel and the events leading up to the re-creation of the one Jewish State in the world and 22 other Arab states.

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