Previously we discussed the BBC News website’s September 1st coverage of the recovery of the bodies of six Israeli hostages who had been brutally murdered by Hamas just days earlier:
HOW DID THE BBC REPORT THE MURDERS OF SIX ISRAELI HOSTAGES?
Later on the same day the BBC News website published another report relating to the same story and the following day – September 2nd – saw the appearance of three additional related reports.
1. “Tens of thousands rally in Israel calling for hostage release deal”, Dearbail Jordan & Alice Cuddy, 1/9/24
2. “Israel disruption as strike and protests push for Gaza hostage deal”, David Gritten & Robert Plummer, 2/9/24
3. “Netanyahu not doing enough to free Gaza hostages, says Biden”, Nadine Yousif, 2/9/24
4. “Netanyahu asks ‘forgiveness’ over hostage deaths as protests continue”, Jack Burgess, 2/9/24
Those reports include notable framing of the story. [emphasis added]
Portrayal of the number of hostages held by terrorists in the Gaza Strip:
Jordan & Cuddy:
“It is not clear how many hostages remain in Gaza. Hamas kidnapped 251 people and killed 1,200 others during an attack in southern Israel on 7 October 2023.”
Gritten & Plummer:
“US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators are trying to broker a ceasefire deal that would see Hamas release the 97 hostages still being held, including 33 who are presumed dead, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.”
Burgess:
“A total of 97 hostages remain unaccounted for after being kidnapped by Hamas on 7 October last year.”
Indeed, 97 of the hostages still held in the Gaza Strip were abducted on October 7th 2023. However, the total number of hostages held by terrorist organisations is 101 and – as the BBC knows – includes Avera Mengistu, Hisham al Sayed, Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul.
Portrayal of the circumstances of the deaths of the six hostages, including promotion of Hamas propaganda:
Jordan & Cuddy:
“Tens of thousands of people have rallied across Israel after the bodies of six hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip were recovered by soldiers, causing national outrage.”
“The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said earlier that the six bodies were found on Saturday in an underground tunnel in the Rafah area of southern Gaza.
The hostages were identified as Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Master Sgt Ori Danino.
The IDF said they had been killed shortly before its troops reached them on Saturday.”
Only five paragraphs before the end of that report do readers find a second-hand reference to the fact that the hostages were murdered:
“The Hostages Families Forum said that the six captives, whose bodies were recovered by Israeli military, were “murdered in the last few days, after surviving almost 11 months of abuse, torture and starvation in Hamas captivity”.”
Gritten & Plummer:
“Tensions have been running high since the bodies of six hostages were found on Saturday. Israel said they were shot and killed by Hamas.”
“The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said all six were “brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists shortly before we reached them”.
The Israeli health ministry said post mortem examinations showed that they had died between 48 and 72 hours before they were found, which would be between Thursday and Friday morning, and that they had been shot and killed with “several close-range gunshots”.
Hamas has rejected that charge, saying the hostages were killed by Israeli forces.”
Yousif:
“Mr Biden and Kamala Harris, his vice-president, met US negotiators to hammer out a proposal, as protests engulfed Israel on Monday after the discovery of six more hostage bodies in Gaza.”
“Among the bodies recovered from Gaza on Saturday was that of 23-year-old Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin. […]
The discovery of the bodies has caused widespread protests in Israel from those critical of Mr Netanyahu’s handling of the war and hostage crisis.”
“In its report, the Washington Post reported that the killing of the six hostages had increased the urgency among Mr Biden’s aides to push for a deal.”
At no point in Yousif’s report are readers told who killed the six hostages.
Burgess:
“Benjamin Netanyahu has asked for “forgiveness” from Israelis for failing to return six hostages found dead in Gaza on Saturday, as Hamas warned more could be “returned to their families in shrouds” if a ceasefire isn’t reached.”
“Hamas said on Monday that hostages would be returned “inside coffins” if military pressure from Israel continues and added that “new instructions” have been given to militants guarding captives if they are approached by Israeli troops.
“Netanyahu’s insistence to free prisoners through military pressure, instead of sealing a deal means they will be returned to their families in shrouds. Their families must choose whether they want them dead or alive,” a spokesperson for the group said, without elaborating on what new orders had been issued.”
Burgess did not tell his readers that the Hamas “spokesperson” Abu Obeida stated that those supposedly “new instructions” to murder hostages in the event of an IDF rescue operation were issued after the rescue of four hostages in June, even though such a policy was clearly in force before the Nuseirat rescue. As reported by the Times of Israel:
“In a statement, the spokesman for the military wing of Hamas says that following Israel’s successful hostage rescue in Nuseirat in June, new protocols were given to terrorists guarding the abductees if Israeli troops were approaching them.
“We say to everyone clearly that after the Nuseirat incident, new instructions were issued to the mujahideen assigned to guard the prisoners regarding dealing with them if the occupation army approached their place of detention,” Hudhaifa Kahlout — known by the nom de guerre Abu Obeida — says.
Hamas is believed by Israel to have given standing orders to operatives who are holding hostages, to kill the captives if they think Israeli forces are nearing. […]
“Netanyahu’s insistence on liberating the prisoners through military pressure instead of concluding a deal will mean that they will return to their families inside coffins and their families will have to choose whether they are dead or alive,” Abu Obeida adds.
At the beginning of the war, Abu Obeida threatened to execute Israeli hostages and release footage of the killings.”
Burgess also failed to inform BBC audiences about a graphic issued together with Abu Obeida’s statement which makes it perfectly clear what those “new orders” entail:
“Alongside the announcement, Hamas releases a propaganda illustration depicting an Israeli hostage being held captive and a terrorist holding a handgun behind them.
The image is accompanied by a caption in Hebrew and Arabic, reading: “Military pressure = death and failure. Exchange deal = Freedom and life.””
None of the BBCs four reports inform audiences that on September 2nd Hamas also released a video of the six hostages filmed shortly before they were killed and subsequently put out other videos featuring the murdered hostages Eden Yerushalm and Ori Danino. Additional propaganda videos were also later promoted by Hamas.
By not fully informing audiences about that statement from the Hamas spokesman and those videos, the BBC can avoid addressing the issue of the role they play in the terrorist organisation’s strategy.
“These videos are part of an information operation that aims to undermine Israeli public support for the ground operation in the Gaza Strip. Hamas leaders likely seek to exacerbate the tensions in the Israeli domestic sphere and cause further psychological distress by airing this propaganda. Hamas leaders may believe that that the Israeli public and officials will increase pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to drop demands from ceasefire negotiations that Hamas dislikes, such as a continued control over the Philadelphi Corridor. Maintaining Israeli control of the Philadelphi Corridor would help prevent Hamas and other Palestinian militias from rebuilding their capabilities quickly by interdicting major smuggling operations into the Gaza Strip that would accelerate Hamas’ ability to resupply itself, as CTP-ISW has previously argued.”
That leads us to another category of framing in these four BBC reports:
Portrayal of ceasefire negotiations, including promotion of Hamas propaganda:
Jordan & Cuddy:
“Protesters – many clad in Israeli flags – descended on Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and other cities, accusing PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his government of not doing enough to reach a deal to secure the release of the remaining hostages taken by Hamas during the 7 October attacks.”
“This triggered Sunday’s protests, with crowds accusing the government and Mr Netanyahu personally of failing to save the remaining hostages.”
Gritten & Plummer:
“Israel’s biggest trade union has said hundreds of thousands of people joined the general strike it called to put pressure on the government to agree a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas.”
“When asked by reporters in Washington if he thought Mr Netanyahu was doing enough to secure an agreement, US President Joe Biden replied: “No.””
“Hamas blamed the hostages’ deaths on Israel and the United States, accusing them of issuing new demands for a deal, including for lasting Israeli control over the strategic Philadelphi corridor, a narrow buffer zone which runs along Gaza’s southern border with Egypt.
“The six hostages and others could have been released to their families as part of a real exchange deal while they were alive, but the insistence of the occupation army, Netanyahu and his extremist government is the reason why these people lost their lives,” Hamas political bureau member Khalil al-Hayya said.”
Yousif:
“US President Joe Biden has said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not doing enough to secure a hostage deal and ceasefire with Hamas, amid reports that a new “final” proposal would be sent to the Israeli leader.”
“Asked whether Mr Netanyahu was doing enough, Mr Biden replied “no”. He added that the US would not give up, and would “push as hard as we can” for a deal.”
Burgess:
“But Israel’s prime minister struck a defiant tone, insisting its troops must control Gaza’s Philadelphi Corridor – a strategically important strip of land which is a sticking point in negotiations with Hamas.”
“Earlier on Monday, Israel’s biggest trade union said hundreds of thousands of people had joined a general strike called to put pressure on the government to agree a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas.”
“Elsewhere, US President Joe Biden said Mr Netanyahu was not doing enough to secure a hostage deal and ceasefire with Hamas, amid reports suggesting a new proposal would be sent to the Israeli prime minister as “final”.”
Whatever one’s views on the topic of the Israeli government’s handling of ceasefire negotiations aimed at freeing the 101 hostages held by terrorists in the Gaza Strip, it should nevertheless be obvious that the outcome of those negotiations does not depend on the Israeli side alone.
The BBC – which has for months largely avoided the topic of the significance of the Philadelphi Corridor and underreported the discovery of scores of tunnels in the that area, some of which were used to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip from Egypt – continues to promote the narrative that Israel is to blame for the failure to reach a ceasefire agreement, even after Hamas murdered six hostages in cold blood in order, as its own graphics show, to try to secure a deal which better suits its long-term plans.
In addition to serving the interests of a brutal terrorist organisation proscribed by the UK, that chosen framing – which completely avoids the obviously relevant question of whether Hamas is “doing enough” to reach a ceasefire agreement – fails to meet the BBC’s obligation to provide its funding public with news that will “build people’s understanding” of this issue.
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