Throughout the month of April 2021, thirty-three 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 one of which was carried over from the previous month.
(dates in brackets indicate the time period during which the item was available on the ‘Middle East’ page)
Ten of those reports related to regional security matters, including eight (discussed here) concerning an incident in Iran which the BBC attributed to Israel:
Iranian ‘spy ship’ damaged by explosion in Red Sea (7/4/21 to 12/4/21)
Syrian air-defence missile lands near Israeli nuclear site (22/4/21 to 26/4/21)
Iran says key Natanz nuclear facility hit by ‘sabotage’ (12/4/21)
Iran vows revenge for ‘Israeli’ attack on Natanz nuclear site (12/4/21 to 13/4/21)
Iran nuclear attack: Mystery surrounds nuclear sabotage at Natanz Gordon Corera (12/4/21 to 27/4/21 and 29/4/21 to 30/4/21)
Iran and Israel’s shadow war takes a dangerous turn Frank Gardner (13/4/21 to 1/5/21)
Iran Natanz nuclear site suffered major damage, official says (13/4/21 to 14/4/21)
Iran nuclear deal: Shadow of sabotage hangs over critical talks Kasra Naji (14/4/21 to 20/4/21)
Iran to enrich uranium to 60% after ‘wicked’ nuclear site attack (14/4/21 to 20/4/21)
Iran nuclear: State TV names suspect in Natanz attack (17/4/21 to 22/4/21)
One report concerned the ICC:
Israel ‘will not co-operate’ with ICC war crimes investigation (9/4/21 to 15/4/21) discussed here
One article promoted a document produced by the NGO ‘Human Rights Watch’:
Israel committing crimes of apartheid and persecution – HRW (27/4/21 to 3/5/21) discussed here
One report related to US funding for UNRWA:
Biden administration to restore $235m in US aid to Palestinians (7/4/21 to 13/4/21) discussed here
Two items concerned internal Palestinian affairs:
Palestinian election: Leaders face reckoning as rare vote looms Tom Bateman (24/4/21 to present) discussed here
Palestinian elections: Abbas postpones rare polls (30/4/21 to 4/5/21) discussed here
Of eighteen items concerning Israeli affairs, three related to the Corona pandemic:
Covid: ‘Israel may be reaching herd immunity’ Rachel Schraer (14/4/21 to 19/4/21)
Gove explores Israel vaccine ‘passport’ app Yolande Knell (20/4/21 to 23/4/21)
Covid-19: Israel records no daily deaths for the first time in 10 months (24/4/21 to 28/4/21)
Five items concerned the tragedy at Har Meron:
Israel crush: Dozens killed at Lag B’Omer religious festival (30/4/21)
Israel crush: Chaotic scenes as dozens dead at religious festival (30/4/21 to present)
Israel crush: ‘People were screaming that they couldn’t breathe’ (30/4/21 to present)
Lag B’Omer festival: What is it about? (30/4/21 to present)
Israel crush: Netanyahu promises inquiry as first victims are buried (30/4/21 to 1/5/21)
Two items – including one carried over from the previous month) related to the March 23rd election:
Israel election: PM Netanyahu short of majority as vote count ends (23/3/21 to 3/4/21) discussed here and here
Israel’s Netanyahu tasked with forming new government (6/4/21 to 9/4/21)
Two reports related to legal matters:
Netanyahu trial: Editor ‘told to drop negative stories about Israel PM’ (5/4/21 to 7/4/21)
Sarah Halimi: Frenchwoman’s sister seeks trial in Israel over killing (23/4/21 to 3/5/21)
Two items were about internal security:
East Jerusalem clashes leave over 100 injured (23/4/21 to 28/4/21) discussed here
East Jerusalem clashes leave over 100 people injured (27/4/21 to present)
One item concerned social issues:
How sex surrogates are helping injured Israeli soldiers Yolande Knell and Phil Marzouk (16/4/21 to present)
One item was about archaeology:
AI unlocks ancient Dead Sea Scrolls mystery (22/4/21 to 3/5/21) discussed here
One filmed report concerned Yom HaShoah:
Holocaust Remembrance Day: Israel stops to remember victims (8/4/21 to 3/5/21)
One report concerned the death of an Israeli national:
Alber Elbaz: Fashion designer dies in Paris aged 59 (26/4/21 to 3/5/21)
As usual, throughout April BBC audiences saw considerably more coverage of internal Israeli affairs than they did internal Palestinian affairs, with the only topic reported being the now indefinitely postponed PA election.
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SUMMARY OF BBC NEWS WEBSITE PORTRAYAL OF ISRAEL AND THE PALESTINIANS – MARCH 2021
