On the evening of August 6th the BBC News website published a report headlined “Hamas names Yahya Sinwar as new overall leader”. Originally uncredited, that report was later attributed to Rushdi Abualouf – conveniently located in Doha – and Tom Bennett in London.
BBC audiences are told that: [emphasis added]
“After two days of lengthy negotiations in Doha, Hamas has named Yahya Sinwar as its new overall chief, replacing Ismail Haniyeh who was assassinated in Tehran last week. […]
The Hamas leadership unanimously chose Sinwar to lead the movement, a senior Hamas official told the BBC. […]
Over the course of two days in Doha, intensive meetings involving Hamas’s leading figures hammered out the options for the group’s next chief.
Many scenarios were discussed, but ultimately, just two names were put forward: Yahya Sinwar, and Mohammed Hassan Darwish, a shadowy figure who heads the General Shura Council, a body that elects Hamas’s Politburo.
The council voted unanimously to choose Sinwar, in what one Hamas official described to the BBC as “a message of defiance to Israel”.
“They killed Haniyeh, the flexible person who was open to solutions. Now they have to deal with Sinwar and the military leadership,” the official said.”
As we have had cause to note in the past, BBC editorial guidelines on “War, Terror and Emergencies” include “mandatory referrals” which the BBC states “must be observed”. That document states:
“11.2.6 Any proposal to approach an organisation (or an individual member of an organisation) designated a ‘terrorist group’ by the Home Secretary under the Terrorism Acts, and any proposal to approach individuals or organisations responsible for acts of terror, to participate in our output must be referred in advance to Director Editorial Policy and Standards.”
As is inevitably the case (for example here, here, here and here), readers of this report are not told whether or not the BBC’s solicitation of comment from an unidentified “senior Hamas official” was in fact referred in advance to the corporation’s Director of Editorial Policy and Standards.
The framing of Ismail Haniyeh advanced by the anonymous Hamas official is continued by the BBC’s reporters, citing unidentified “regional diplomats”:
“Prior to his death, Ismail Haniyeh was viewed by regional diplomats as a pragmatic figure compared to others in Hamas – a key driver of the group’s political outreach.”
As documented here previously, the BBC had already adopted that framing within hours of Haniyeh’s death.
The report’s portrayal of the new Hamas leader includes the following:
“Yahya Sinwar, on the other hand, is viewed as one of Hamas’s most extreme figures.
Sinwar currently tops Israel’s most-wanted list. Israel’s security agencies believe he masterminded the planning and execution of the 7 October 2023 attacks, which left over 1,200 people dead and 251 taken back into Gaza as hostages.”
Abualouf and Bennett refrain from mentioning that among the names no longer on that “list” are figures who were close to Yahya Sinwar and involved in the planning of the October 7th massacre such as Mohammed Deif, Marwan Issa, Ayman Nofal and Rawhi Mushtaha.
Readers are told that:
“Sinwar was born in Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza in 1962.
In the late 1980s, Sinwar founded the Hamas security service known as Majd, which among other things targeted alleged Palestinian collaborators with Israel.
He has spent much of his life in Israeli jail – and after his third arrest in 1988 he was sentenced to four life terms in prison.”
Abualouf and Bennett however fail to inform readers of this report that the “other things” on the agenda of the Hamas internal security unit are finding and punishing “those suspected of violating Islamic morality laws”, including “homosexuality, marital infidelity, and the possession of pornography”.
Neither are BBC audiences told that Sinwar’s four life sentences were – as the BBC knows – the result of his having been found guilty of murdering Palestinians as well as Israelis and no mention is made of his role in the 2016 execution of a Hamas commander.
While Abualouf and Bennett describe Sinwar as being “viewed as one of Hamas’s most extreme figures” and promote the opinion that he is “much more inflexible and much more difficult to negotiate with”, they completely fail to clarify that Hamas has in fact made the decision to be led by a convicted murderer of Palestinians.
Apparently the BBC is not of the opinion that BBC audiences around the world – including those in the West cheering on Hamas at street protests – need to know that part of the story.
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BBC NEWS WEBSITE LIVE PAGE FRAMING OF HANIYEH ASSASSINATION
A few weeks ago there was mention that the PLO/Fatah and Hamas had signed in China some form of agreement.
The Fatah–Hamas agreement increases Chinese influence in Palestinian affairs. But the road to unity is rocky
For Palestinian factions a new agreement is more about short term ideological and political priorities than establishing a genuine united front.”
See https://www.chathamhouse.org/2024/07/fatah-hamas-agreement-increases-chinese-influence-palestinian-affairs-road-unity-rocky
Was this included in the Doha meeting discsssions?