On the evening of March 25th the BBC News website published a report headlined “Hundreds join Gaza’s largest anti-Hamas protest since war began”.
Credited to Rushdi Abualouf and Alex Boyd, the report relates to events that took place in the northern part of the Gaza Strip earlier on the same day.
“Hundreds of people have taken part in the largest anti-Hamas protest in Gaza since the war with Israel began, taking to the streets to demand the group step down from power.
Masked Hamas militants, some armed with guns and others carrying batons, intervened and forcibly dispersed the protesters, assaulting several of them.
Videos shared widely on social media by activists typically critical of Hamas showed young men marching in the streets of Beit Lahia, northern Gaza on Tuesday, chanting “out, out, out, Hamas out”.”
The BBC’s report does not clarify that protests also took place in additional locations.
Readers find quotes from some of those taking part in the protests in Beit Lahiya.
“One of the protesters, Beit Lahia resident Mohammed Diab, had his home destroyed in the war and lost his brother in an Israeli airstrike a year ago.
“We refuse to die for anyone, for any party’s agenda or the interests of foreign states,” he said.
“Hamas must step down and listen to the voice of the grieving, the voice that rises from beneath the rubble – it is the most truthful voice.””
The report also includes quotes from the Hamas terrorist orgnaisation.
“Hamas said it condemned those who it accused of pushing “suspicious political agendas” and shifting the blame from Israel.
Pro-Hamas supporters downplayed the significance of the protests and accused the participants of being traitors.”
And: [emphasis added]
“Hamas official Dr Basem Naim told the BBC people have the right “to cry out in pain”, but he accused protesters of having “suspicious agendas” and asked why demonstrations were not happening in the West Bank.
He said it was unacceptable to exploit the humanitarian conditions in Gaza to “shift the blame away” from Israel.”
A clearer portrayal of Basem Naim’s (also spelt Bassem Naim) messaging is provided by the ITIC:
“Bassem Na’im, a member of the Hamas leadership in the Gaza Strip and the chairman of the political department, said all people had the right to “cry out in pain” and raise their voices against “the aggression against our people and the betrayal of our nation.” However, he added that some exploited the humanitarian situation to promote “suspicious political agendas” or to absolve “the aggressive criminal, the occupation and its army” of responsibility, and that was unacceptable and deserved to be condemned. He asked why “those with suspicious agendas” did not protest the “aggression” in Judea and Samaria or allow people to take to the streets to denounce “the aggression,” hinting at the Palestinian Authority (Reuters in Arabic, March 26, 2025).”
Naim later made additional statements claiming that the demonstrations were actually against Israel.
Although Abualouf and Boyd’s report was amended three times during the 21 hours following its initial publication, readers were not informed that protests continued the next day, including in additional locations.
To date, BBC audiences have also not seen any additional reporting on the third day of demonstrations and the kidnapping and execution of at least one of the protesters was apparently not deemed newsworthy. Furthermore, the BBC has not reported on either Hamas’ propaganda relating to the protests or the threats issued to those taking part.
Another notable aspect of this story is the manner in which it has been interpreted by people who have contributed to past BBC content.
In December 2023, an uncredited BBC News website report quoted “Muhammad Shehada, a Gazan writer and communications chief at Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor”. As has been noted here in the past, that NGO has documented Hamas links. Muhammad Shehada’s take on the recent protests in the Gaza Strip included the claim that “Fatah influence is detectable”.
Another past contributor to BBC content – Dr Ghassan Abu Sitta [also spelt Abu Sittah] – also promoted Hamas’ framing of the events, describing the Gazan demonstrators as “traitors” in an interview on Russian state media.
As readers may recall, that British-Palestinian surgeon (and now Glasgow University rector) was interviewed extensively by the BBC early in the war, including on the topic of the Al Ahli hospital explosion on October 17th 2023, after which he participated in a press conference organised by Hamas’ health ministry and falsely blamed Israel for the incident.
In short, while it cannot be said that the BBC News website did not report on the protests in the Gaza Strip at all, it is glaringly obvious that BBC audiences have not been told anywhere near the whole story.
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Bowen and the rest of the BBC lickspittles consider Gazans Against Hamas to be traitors to The Cause (of the Iranian attempts at a Second Holocaust).