The lead item in the May 2nd edition of the BBC World Service ‘Global News Podcast’ was presented to listeners as follows:
“Activists accuse Israel of a drone attack on a ship carrying aid for Gaza in the waters off Malta.”
From 01:02, presenter Nick Miles told BBC audiences that: [emphasis added]
Miles: “Crew members of a boat carrying aid to Gaza say they’ve been attacked by Israeli drones in international waters off Malta. It comes as agencies warn of mass starvation as people fight for food there amid a breakdown in public order. Activists from the Freedom Flotilla Coalition accuse Israel of hitting the front of their vessel twice overnight, causing a fire and damaging the hull. A video shared by activists on the social media platform X appears to show the moment the boat was attacked by drones.”
Listeners then hear a recording of two loud bangs which of course provides no evidence that they were caused “by drones”, let alone Israeli ones.
Miles continues with presentation of another recording:
Miles: “A nearby container ship recorded the distress call.”
Only after that does Miles bother to tell his listeners that the claims the BBC World Service chose to promote have not been verified.
Miles: “Well there’s been no independent confirmation of the allegations and no comment so far from Israel.”
He goes on to present another recording:
Miles: “The activist Greta Thunberg who was due to board the ship said the fight for the Palestinian people would continue.”
In that recording the 22-year-old Swedish career activist states that “us [sic] human rights activists will continue to do everything in our power to do our part to demand a free Palestine”.
Notably, Miles had nothing at all to tell BBC audiences around the world about the organisation which is the source of the unverified claims promoted in this item.
Similar promotion of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition’s PR messaging was found in a report published on the BBC News website on May 2nd which currently goes under the headline “Activists say ship aiming to sail to Gaza was attacked by drones”. Credited to Barbara Tasch and Alice Cuddy, that report also cites “Additional reporting by Tom Bateman, Alice Cuddy and BBC Verify” and carries the tags ‘Middle East’ and ‘Israel’.
From its fourth update onwards, that report also promotes quotes from Thunberg.
“Climate activist Greta Thunberg was among those who had planned to board the ship once it departed for Gaza on Friday.
Speaking to journalists in Valetta, she said: “I was part of the group who was supposed to board that boat today to continue the voyage towards Gaza, which is one of many attempts to open up a humanitarian corridor and to do our part to keep trying to break Israel’s illegal siege on Gaza.”
Thunberg added that as far as she’s aware, the ship is still at the location of the attack because moving it would let too much water in.
“What is certain is that we human rights activists will continue to do everything in our power to do our part, to demand a free Palestine and demand the opening of a humanitarian corridor,” she said.”
Apparently none of the BBC journalists involved in the writing of this report thought that it would be a good idea to inform readers that Thunberg’s claim of an “illegal siege” is baseless.
At the top of the report a video is presented with the caption “Watch: Activists released this footage they said was of a drone attack on their ship”. While that conveniently timed recording includes the sound of two explosions, it does not show “a drone”.
The report tells readers that:
“Activists who were planning to sail a ship to Gaza say it was struck by drones in international waters off the coast of Malta – appearing to accuse Israel of being behind the attack.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition said its ship The Conscience was targeted at 00:23 local time on Friday and issued an SOS signal right after the attack.
The BBC was sent a recording of the distress call from the flotilla ship, recorded by a crew member on a nearby oil tanker. The captain of the flotilla ship can clearly be heard reporting drone strikes and a fire onboard. […]
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition said it had planned to sail to Gaza with people including climate activist Greta Thunberg on board and “challenge Israel’s illegal siege and blockade”.
The NGO called for Israeli ambassadors to be summoned to answer for “violation of international law, including the ongoing blockade and the bombing of our civilian vessel”.”
The BBC report’s only portrayal of the organisation – which it describes as an NGO – that is the source of the unevidenced claims it promotes concerning a supposed drone strike some 2,000 kms away from Israeli territory reads as follows:
“The coalition is campaigning to end Israel’s blockade of Gaza, which is also facing mounting international condemnation.”
In October 2023 the ITIC reported that:
“…several other initiatives for sending aid boats to the Gaza Strip have been reported since the beginning of the war. All of them are based in Turkey and Zaher Birawi is involved in all of them. Birawi is a Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood activist from Britain who is the chairman of the International Committee to Break the Siege on Gaza, which is a founding member of the Freedom Fleet coalition and who was one of the leaders of the Mavi Marmara flotilla.”
Birawi, who has been involved in the organisation of similar agitprop in the past, was also mentioned in a related ITIC report published in April 2024.
“Following the initiative to establish the ICSG, in which the FFC and the Turkish Mavi Marmara Association are partners, on November 23, 2023, a conference was held in Istanbul. Zaher Birawi, the general coordinator of the ICSG and the chairman of the International Committee to Break the Siege of Gaza, which is a founding member of the FFC, said the ICSG was an FFC initiative undertaken in light of the war in Gaza. He provided additional information about other FFC initiatives to send ships to the Gaza Strip carrying aid for the Gazans, as well as ships carrying political activists, journalists and public opinion “influencers.””
According to the FFC, its Turkey-based initiatives have not gone smoothly.
“Early in 2024 three “Break the Siege” ships were ready to overcome the illegal Israeli blockade of Gaza, carrying more than 5,500 tons of humanitarian aid. Hundreds of FFC participants were in Istanbul ready to sail in April. The eyes of the world were on us, when, just 24 hours before we were due to sail, and after going through countless inspections and paperwork, Guinea Bissau withdrew its flag from our ships. […] The Turkish government has also continued, for almost six months, to block the three ships from leaving Istanbul. FFC organizers, participants, and solidarity partners have led protests blocking the entrance to the port in Istanbul, in a sustained effort to get the boats released. The large cargo ship was allowed to sail, but only to offload humanitarian cargo in Egypt where it was blocked from entering Gaza.”
That may explain the part of the BBC’s report which tells readers that “Marine tracking software shows that the Conscience left Tunisia on Tuesday evening”.
Interestingly, the BBC’s report makes no mention of a part of the story reported by other media outlets including the Times of Israel.
“A ship apparently carrying humanitarian aid and activists bound for Gaza that was said to have been hit by drones in international waters off Malta, remains stranded as a number of countries say they will confiscate the vessel if it comes to port.
The Saudi Al Arabiya news channel, citing a Western security source, reported that the convoy was organized by Hamas and that those onboard planned to engage with IDF troops as they approached the Gaza shore. […]
[FFC and Codepink activist] Barry says the nation of Palau revoked its flag from the Conscience prior to the attack, and authorities in Malta, Greece and Turkey have threatened to confiscate the ship if it comes to port.”
As we see, the BBC’s idea of accurate and impartial journalism is to promote unevidenced claims (echoed by terrorist groups) made by members of an organisation with a long record of anti-Israel activism but without providing any background information whatsoever on the topic of the coalition itself – which includes one of the organisers of the 2010 flotilla, the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas linked IHH – or its partners.
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Gosh – the BBC makes no apology for citing unknown drones as being Israeli – it is if it is blaming the loss of conservative and labour votes in the local councils in the UK on Israel!