On the afternoon of September 7th the BBC News website published a report by Yolande Knell concerning reactions to an antisemitic speech made in August by the Palestinian Authority president (who is also the head of the PLO and Fatah) which had been exposed several days earlier by MEMRI.
Headlined ‘Outrage over Abbas’s antisemitic speech on Jews and Holocaust’, Knell’s report gives a reasonable account of the story and documents condemnations of the speech from Germany, the EU and Israel’s ambassador to the UN.
The report has not been updated to include later condemnations from the US antisemitism envoy, the mayor of Paris and the UK, among others.
Notably, Knell also informs her readers of some of the similar statements made previously by Mahmoud Abbas.
“The Palestinian president, who is 87, has previously been denounced by Jewish groups as a Holocaust denier for his doctoral thesis on the Nazis and Zionism.
Yet over the years, he has continued to give long, rambling speeches expounding his offensive views. […]
The president previously caused an international furore for making similar suggestions in 2018, during what he described as “a history lesson” at a rare gathering of the Palestinian National Council. […]
In May, Mr Abbas was criticised for likening Israel to Nazi Germany in a speech at a UN event. He accused the country of lying “just like Goebbels”, referring to Joseph Goebbels, the chief propagandist of the Nazi party.
Last year, there was international outrage after he claimed Israel had carried out “50 massacres; 50 holocausts” during a news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin. The chancellor later said he was “disgusted by the outrageous remarks” and Israel and the US issued strongly worded statements.”
However, as we have all too often had cause to document on these pages, previous BBC reporting on offensive statements and ahistorical claims made by Mahmoud Abbas has often been less than satisfactory:
BBC REPORTS THE PARTS OF ABBAS’ OIC SPEECH THAT FIT ITS NARRATIVE
BBC CENSORS PARTS OF MAHMOUD ABBAS SPEECH ONCE AGAIN
ANOTHER BBC MAKEOVER ON A SPEECH BY MAHMOUD ABBAS
ANOTHER ABBAS SPEECH AND MORE SELECTIVE BBC REPORTING
BBC WEBSITE TELLS PART OF THE STORY ON ABBAS’ LATEST HOLOCAUST REMARKS
Moreover, at least one complaint concerning the lack of BBC coverage of Abbas’ distortions of history has been rejected:
BBC CLAIMS ABBAS’ HISTORICAL DISTORTIONS AND SMEARS NOT ‘RELEVANT’
While Knell did report some of the many condemnations of Abbas’ remarks, her report does not inform BBC audiences of contrasting statements made in support of his claims – including by contributors to BBC content.
PA spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeinah – who is often quoted in BBC reports – put out a statement which included the following:
‘“We express our strong condemnation and outrage at this frenzied campaign [against President Mahmoud Abbas] for just quoting academic and historical quotations,” Abu Rudeineh said, giving no further details.’
The PA prime minister – another regular contributor to BBC content – came up with an antisemitic conspiracy theory of his own:
Former BBC regular Abdel Bari Atwan similarly promoted the notion of “a fierce campaign” against Abbas run by “[t]he Zionist Jewish lobbies and their allies in Europe”.
While there is nothing novel about Abbas’ latest outburst, it remains to be seen whether that topic – and the wider issue of PA officials leaping to defend his antisemitism – will now finally find its way into the BBC’s Palestinian territories profile or its coverage of future stories such as his upcoming speech at the United Nations.
