One might have presumed that nine and a half months after Hizballah launched its unprovoked attack on Israel on October 8th 2023 and in light of its thousands of subsequent attacks using missiles and drones in which thirty Israeli citizens have been killed and many more injured, BBC journalists would have done a bit of homework on the topic of that terrorist organisation’s ideologies and agenda.
That is clearly not the case as far as BBC News Channel presenter Martine Croxall is concerned.
During a July 17th interview with JPPI fellow Yaakov Katz which was captioned “Threat of war looms over Israel and Hezbollah”, Croxall made the following ill-informed claim: [emphasis in italics in the original]
Croxall: “But we know that…we know that Hezbollah are acting out in this way…acting in this way – they’ve said so – because they are so concerned about the sheer number of Palestinian civilians who have died as a result of Israel’s actions and the consequences.”
Fortunately, Yaakov Katz was able to relieve BBC audiences of that ridiculous notion (from 02:26).
Ms Croxall’s previous disregard for BBC editorial guidelines has apparently not prompted her to be any more heedful.
One really would expect BBC television news production teams to ensure that presenters conducting interviews are sufficiently and accurately informed on the topic of discussion, as well as to make certain that the on-screen captions to such interviews are accurate. Exactly what does the BBC think has been happening in northern Israel for the past nine and a half months if it is now telling its audiences that the “threat of war looms”?
