On February 15th the BBC News website published written and filmed reports about the release of three Israeli hostages in phase 6 of the ceasefire agreement.
The unnarrated filmed report is titled “Watch: Celebrations in Israel as three more hostages freed” and its synopsis includes the following:
“Family, friends and supporters celebrated across Israel as three more hostages were released by Hamas.
The armed group handed Alexander Troufanov, Yair Horn and Sagui Dekel-Chen over to the Red Cross in Gaza in a highly-choreographed event on Saturday morning.”
That video also appears in a written report by Henri Astier titled “Israeli hostages and Palestinian inmates freed in latest ceasefire swap” which likewise uses the phrase “highly-choreographed”.
“But on Saturday the sixth swap went ahead, with the hostages handed over to Red Cross workers in a highly-choreographed public show in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
Surrounded by heavily armed Hamas militants, the men briefly addressed a crowd of Palestinians before being transferred into Red Cross vehicles.
They did not look as gaunt as the hostages freed a week earlier – their appearance had aroused anger in Israel and elsewhere.”
Notably, those two BBC reports had nothing to tell BBC audiences about the details of that “public show” in Khan Younis.
The filmed report includes a frame of the hostages standing on a stage behind a table, upon which there is an unexplained object.
A similar image appears in the written report.
Another frame in the filmed report shows Yair Horn carrying that object.
BBC audiences are not however told what it was.
As reported by the Jerusalem Post:
“Hamas placed a picture of hostage Matan Zangauker and his mother on the stage, where three hostages about to be released were forced to speak on Saturday, with the caption “Time is running out.”
Zangauker’s image appeared beside an hourglass, a symbol used in many of Hamas’s psychological terror videos of the hostages.”
Had BBC audiences been informed of that detail, not only would they be better able to appreciate the depraved nature of Hamas’ “highly-choreographed event” but they would also have been better placed to understand a related incident in the UK.
Another frame in the BBC’s filmed report shows a number of aerial photographs with red triangles and ‘bloody’ boot marks, which made up part of Hamas’ theatrical scenery.
BBC audiences were not informed that those photographs showed some of the communities attacked by Hamas and other terrorists on October 7th 2023.
Yet another frame in the BBC’s filmed report shows Yair Horn walking past a black vehicle.
BBC audiences were not told that the vehicle concerned belongs to his brother, who is still being held hostage in the Gaza Strip.
Astier’s report later tells readers that:
“Israeli President Isaac Herzog, posting on social media, said the hostages had been “forced to endure” a “despicable and cynical ceremony”.”
The BBC, however, chose to downplay Hamas’ depravity and cruelty by refraining from making any attempt to explain to audiences what they were actually seeing in its reports about the release of the three hostages.
