Throughout the month of July 2020, seventeen 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 related to a security incident:
Israel ‘thwarts Hezbollah infiltration from Lebanon’ (27/7/20 to 29/7/20) discussed here
Six reports (three of which first appeared the previous month) related to the theoretical application of Israeli civil law to parts of Area C which the BBC had told audiences was going to happen on July 1st:
Israel annexation: What is the West Bank? Paul Adams (30/6/20 to 16/7/20) discussed here
Explainer: Israel, annexation and the West Bank (16/6/20 to 13/7/20) discussed here and here
Israel annexation: New border plans leave Palestinians in despair Tom Bateman (25/6/20 to 13/7/20) discussed here
Johnson warns Israel against plans to annex part of West Bank (1/7/20 to 6/7/20)
Israel’s ex-UK ambassador Mark Regev warns of ‘two-state illusion’ (3/7/20 to 5/7/20)
Husam Zomlot: State of Palestine needs to be recognised now (16/7/20 to 29/7/20) discussed here
One item concerned members of the UN’s forces stationed in Israel:
UN staff in Israel sex-act video suspended without pay (2/7/20 to 7/7/20)
One report related to Palestinian society:
Gaza’s disturbing cases of suicides Yolande Knell and Rushdi Abualouf (20/7/20 to 27/7/20 and 29/7/20 to present) discussed here
Three reports can be categorised as miscellaneous:
Israeli billionaire denies DR Congo laundering claims (3/7/20 to 6/7/20)
Chris Froome to leave Ineos after team decide not to renew contract BBC Sport (9/7/20 to 14/7/20)
The Benjamin Netanyahu Twitter hack that never was BBC Monitoring (16/7/20 to 19/7/20)
Of five items concerning internal Israeli internal affairs, one report (carried over from the previous month) was about a politician:
Ethiopian Israeli minister: ‘We have a common struggle against racism’ (24/6/20 to 10/7/20) discussed here
One item concerned legal/criminal issues:
Bar Refaeli: Israel convicts model of tax evasion (20/7/20 to 23/7/20) discussed here
One report was about a demonstration:
Coronavirus: Thousands protest in Israel over handling of economy (12/7/20 to 14/7/20)
Two items related to LGBTQ affairs:
LGBTQ rights: Arab Israelis call for tahini-maker boycott BBC Monitoring (10/7/20 to 13/7/20)
Israel: ‘Gay conversion’ therapy ban bill passed by MPs (23/7/20 to 27/7/20)
In summary, 35.3% of the items appearing on the BBC News website’s ‘Middle East’ page throughout July again related to the as yet theoretical application of Israeli civilian law to parts of Area C (similar to the 35.7% of reports relating to that topic the previous month). BBC audiences saw five times more coverage of Israeli affairs than of internal Palestinian affairs throughout July.
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SUMMARY OF BBC NEWS WEBSITE PORTRAYAL OF ISRAEL AND THE PALESTINIANS – JUNE 2020
The BBC suffer from OCD when it comes to Israel, hundreds of people have been killed in various parts of the world recently in genocidal racist attacks and not one word has been printed by the BBC, yet every single minutiae of Israeli life is found to be newsworthy simply because they can add it to the ever growing pile of sticks that they can brow beat Israel with. Every time a Palestinian get’s delayed by five extra minutes of security checks upon entering Israel to earn a living, a living that they should be making in their own territory but are denied by their own leaders. There is no shortage of money because the UK and EU handout money every year to the PA, money which is used to pay a pension to the families of the ‘Shahid’ in their pay to slay campaign rather than disperse amongst their citizens. When 35% of Middle East news output is about Israel whilst ignoring the brutal atrocities in other Middle East countries, it is time the BBC Middle Eastern News was called out for what it is ‘Fake News’