Throughout the month of June 2020, fourteen written or filmed reports relating to Israel and/or the Palestinians appeared on the BBC News website’s ‘Middle East’ page, some of which were also published on other pages and four of which were carried over from the previous month.
(dates in brackets indicate the time period during which the item was available on the ‘Middle East’ page)
One report had a historical topic:
‘Cannabis burned during worship’ by ancient Israelites – study (29/5/20 to 4/6/20)
Five reports related to the as yet theoretical application of Israeli civil law to parts of Area C.
Israel’s West Bank annexation plan condemned by UN experts (16/6/20 to 20/6/20 and 21/6/20) discussed here
Explainer: Israel, annexation and the West Bank (16/6/20 to present) discussed here and here
Israel West Bank annexation rejected by European MPs in letter (24/6/20 to 29/6/20) discussed here
Israel annexation: New border plans leave Palestinians in despair Tom Bateman (25/6/20 to present) discussed here
Israel annexation: What is the West Bank? Paul Adams (30/6/20 to present) discussed here
One item concerned members of the UN’s forces stationed in Israel
UN chief ‘shocked and disturbed’ by video of car sex act in Israel (26/6/20 to 30/6/20)
Of seven items concerning internal Israeli internal affairs, two reports were about politicians:
Israel set to have record number of openly gay MPs (18/6/20 to 24/6/20)
Ethiopian Israeli minister: ‘We have a common struggle against racism’ (24/6/20 to present) discussed here
One item concerned cell phone tracking related to the Coronavirus pandemic:
Coronavirus: Israel turns surveillance tools on itself Tom Bateman (12/5/20 to 4/6/20) discussed here
One item concerned the reopening of a religious site after the Coronavirus lockdown:
Coronavirus: Famous mosques reopen in Saudi Arabia and Jerusalem (31/5/20 to 4/6/20) discussed here
One item concerned legal/criminal issues:
Malka Leifer: Rape-accused ex-principal fit for extradition to Australia (27/5/20 to 1/6/20)
Two items related to a security incident:
Autistic Palestinian shot by Israeli police buried amid revenge call (1/6/20 to 5/6/20) discussed here
Palestinian autistic man’s killing a ‘tragedy’ says Israeli PM (7/6/20 to 12/6/20) discussed here
In summary, half of the items appearing on the BBC News website’s ‘Middle East’ page throughout June concerned internal Israeli affairs and 35.7% of the reports published that month promoted preemptive framing of the as yet theoretical application of Israeli civilian law to parts of Area C. Once again BBC audiences saw no coverage whatsoever of internal Palestinian affairs.
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SUMMARY OF BBC NEWS WEBSITE PORTRAYAL OF ISRAEL AND THE PALESTINIANS – MAY 2020
