Those who have been following the work of Lucy Williamson since she joined the BBC’s Jerusalem bureau in 2023 may have noticed an occasional pattern. From time to time, visitors to the BBC News website’s ‘Middle East’ page have seen a report by Williamson on a particular topic followed by another report by the same journalist on the same topic just days later.
On December 13th 2023, for example, a report by Williamson appeared under the headline ‘Support for Hamas grows among Palestinians in West Bank’. Three days later the BBC News website published one of its ‘Israel-Gaza Briefings’ written by Williamson – ‘Lucy Williamson: Hamas support soars in West Bank – but full uprising can still be avoided’ – in which she promoted some of the same contributors and talking points seen in her earlier report.
WHAT’S MISSING IN LUCY WILLIAMSON’S BBC ‘BRIEFING’ ON SUPPORT FOR HAMAS?
On June 4th 2024 the BBC News website published a report by Williamson under the headline ‘Fires in northern Israel fuel demands to tackle escalation with Hezbollah’. The following day – June 5th – saw the appearance of another report by the same journalist on the same topic titled ‘Israelis using gardening tools to fight wildfires sparked by Hezbollah rockets’.
A couple of weeks later, that pattern was repeated. On June 19th 2024 the BBC News website published a report by Williamson headlined ‘Israel and Hezbollah play with fire as fears grow of another war’. On June 22nd the BBC News website published another report titled ‘Unable to back down, Israel and Hezbollah move closer to all-out war’ which is credited to “Lucy Williamson, Reporting from the Israel-Lebanon border”.
MORE BBC FRAMING OF POTENTIAL ESCALATION ON ISRAEL’S NORTHERN BORDER
Another such example was seen last week. On April 3rd the BBC News website published a report by Lucy Williamson and David Gritten titled ‘Syria condemns ‘unjustified’ Israeli strikes as tensions rise over Turkey’. The next day – April 4th – a report credited to Williamson appeared under the headline ‘Israeli strikes in Syria a challenge to Turkey’.
Both those reports relate to events which took place on the night of April 2nd:
Report 1: “Syria has strongly condemned a fresh wave of Israeli strikes on airbases and other military sites overnight as an “unjustified escalation”.
The foreign ministry said the attacks almost destroyed Hama airbase and injured dozens of people. A monitoring group reported that four defence ministry personnel were killed.
Israel’s military said it hit “capabilities that remained” at the western Hama and central T4 airbases, along with military infrastructure in Damascus.”
Report 2: “On Wednesday night, Israel bombed several military targets in Syria, including two airports – Hama military airport and the T4 base near Homs.
Syria’s foreign ministry said the bombardment virtually destroyed the Hama base.”
Quoting a one-man UK based source, the first report also mentions a site which is not an airbase: [emphasis added]
“The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said there were at least 18 strikes which targeted planes, rail tracks and towers at Hama airbase.
Israel also hit T4 airbase, which is near Palmyra, and a branch of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre (SSRC) in the Barzeh neighbourhood of Damascus, it added.”
Williamson and Gritten did not bother to clarify to readers that the Barzeh scientific research center has been linked to the previous Syrian regime’s chemical weapons programme or that the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons suspects that over 100 chemical weapons sites remain in Syria.
The first report also mentions a separate incident:
“It [the IDF] also said Israeli forces killed gunmen during a ground operation in Deraa province, where authorities put the death toll at nine. […]
The SOHR also reported that Israeli ground forces shelled a national park west of the southern city of Deraa on Wednesday night, killing nine gunmen who attempted to confront them.
Prior to the shelling, dozens of Israeli military vehicles had entered the al-Jabaliya Dam area near Nawa and taken up positions there, prompting “calls from the mosques in the area [to wage] jihad against the Israeli incursion”, it added.
Deraa province’s government warned that the “massacre” of nine people had sparked widespread public anger. It has not so far identified those killed.
The Israeli military confirmed that its forces had operated in Deraa overnight, “seizing weapons and destroying terrorist infrastructure”.
“Several armed men fired at our forces in the area. The forces responded with gunfire and eliminated several armed militants from the ground and air,” it added.”
The real topic of both these reports, however, is apparent both in their headlines and texts:
Report 1: “Syria may have been the location for these strikes, but the real target was Turkey.
Israel has been nervously eyeing a joint defence pact Turkey is negotiating with Syria’s transitional government, and these latest air strikes come amid Turkish reports of military equipment being moved to Syrian airbases, including T4.”
Report 2: “The air strikes hit Syria, but their real target was Turkey. […]
Ankara is currently negotiating a joint defence pact with Sharaa’s new government, and there have been widespread reports that Turkey is moving to station aircraft and air defence systems at Syria’s T4 and Aleppo airbases.”
Readers of the second report are told that:
“Relations between Israel and Turkey have nose-dived since the Gaza war began in October 2023, with Ankara introducing trade restrictions and accusing Israel of genocide.
That regional tension is now playing out on new ground in Syria.
After the air strikes on Wednesday, Turkey’s foreign ministry accused Israel of destabilising the region by “both causing chaos and feeding terrorism” and said it was now the greatest threat to the security of the region.”
Interestingly, Williamson had nothing to tell her readers about the Turkish president’s March 30th public address which included the words “May the Lord make Zionist Israel destroyed and devastated.”. Despite her mention of Israel having “occupied a demilitarised buffer zone” and “sent forces onto the Syrian side of a nearby mountain”, Williamson fails to mention that Turkey has conducted a series of military operations in northern Syria since 2016 and – as the BBC knows – both directly and indirectly (via militias it backs) occupies large swathes of territory in northern Syria. Neither does Williamson have anything to report on the topic of NATO member Turkey’s record of support for Hamas and hosting of terrorist operatives or the repeated calls for ‘jihad’ against Israel on Turkey’s streets.
Additionally, Williamson presents a romanticised view of the current regime in Syria, while again framing Israel as the problem.
“Syria’s new leader has repeatedly signalled that he was not looking for confrontation with Israel. Soon after sweeping President Bashar al-Assad from power last December, he told the BBC that Syria would not pose a threat to any country.
He has even left the door open to normalising diplomatic relations with Israel in the future, telling the Economist last month that Syria wanted peace with all parties, but that it was too early to discuss such a sensitive issue.
His top priority since taking power has been to unite a bitterly divided Syria, and pacify external relations with its neighbours, while he cements his power and control.
But Israel has not made that easy. Its military interventions in Syria are fuelling conflict with both external powers like Turkey, and with internal groups like jihadists in the country’s south.”
So as we see, as far as Lucy Williamson and the BBC are concerned, it is Israeli actions that are a “challenge to Turkey” rather than the potential establishment of airbases in Syria by a country led by a man who publicly states that he wants to see “Zionist Israel destroyed”.
