Inaccuracies in BBC reports on Hammouri deportation

On December 18th a report by Matt Murphy headlined “Salah Hammouri: Israel deports Palestinian lawyer to France” was published on the BBC News website’s ‘Middle East’ page. A translation of Murphy’s report appeared on the BBC Arabic website on the same day.

The English language version correctly states:

“He works for Addameer, a Palestinian legal aid and prisoners’ rights group that was designated a terrorist organisation by the Israeli defence ministry in October 2021 along with five other Palestinian civil society groups.”

However, it goes on: [emphasis added]

The military said they were linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a Palestinian militant group that Israel considers a terrorist organisation.”

The Arabic language version states:

“Hammouri works for Addameer, a Palestinian legal aid and prisoners’ rights organization that was designated a terrorist organization by the Israeli Ministry of Defense in October 2021 along with five other Palestinian civil society organizations that the Israeli military says are linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a Palestinian militant group that Israel considers Terrorist Organisation.”

The Ministry of Defence announcement on that matter clarifies that in fact bodies other than “the military” established the linkage between those NGOs and the PFLP terrorist organisation:

​​“In a joint activity of the General Security Service (GSS) and Israel’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF), which began in early 2021 and was approved by the legal authorities, 6 organizations belonging to the “Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine” were designated as terror organizations because they constitute a network of organizations active undercover on the international front on behalf of the “Popular Front”, to support its activity and further its goals.”

CAMERA UK has written to the BBC to request a correction to both articles on that point.

In addition, both reports state:

“A lifelong resident of Jerusalem, he was stripped of his residency rights after officials accused him of being a member of a terrorist organisation.

Mr Hammouri denies the charges…”

However, Hammouri (who was convicted in 2005) is presented as a member of that terrorist organisation in content produced by the PFLP itself.

CAMERA UK has provided that information to the BBC and requested amendments to both reports.

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1 Comment

  1. says: Wayne Goldstein

    The English version version “correctly” states:

    “He works for Adameer…….[a] rights group that was designated a terrorist organisation…….along with five other Palestinian civil society groups.”

    So tell us Hadar, is it really “correct” that Adameer is a “rights group” and the other five are ” civil society groups”? Or are they all terrorist front groups dedicated to the destruction of the Jewish state?

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