In mid-March the BBC News website published a report by the BBC Jerusalem bureau’s Lucy Williamson titled “First Druze crossing in 50 years as Israel courts allies in Syria”.
As was noted here at the time:
“Williamson’s report includes several references to the year 1973: [emphasis added]
“The buffer zone they crossed was set up in a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Syria after the 1973 War, when Israel occupied – and later annexed – Syrian territory in the Golan Heights.”
“While Sunni Syrians fled after the 1973 war, some Druze stayed on and formed close ties to Israel, serving in the army and even taking Israeli citizenship.
Despite his familial roots in the occupied Golan Heights, Syria’s new interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa has not so far broached the issue of Israel’s annexation of Syrian territory since 1973, instead demanding that Israel withdraw from its most recent incursions into the buffer zone and beyond.”
Apparently Williamson’s knowledge of Middle East history does not include the 1967 Six Day War, during which Israel responded to Syrian attacks and took control of the Golan Heights. It was in that year that Syrians – including Ahmed al-Sharaa’s grandfather’s family – fled the region rather than, as claimed by Williamson, during the Yom Kippur war six years later.”
CAMERA UK submitted a complaint to the BBC on that topic. On March 23rd we were informed that it would take the BBC more time to address our complaint and on April 13th we were told that the timeframe for handling it had expired. On May 9th we received a response which includes the following:
“You pointed out that Israel first occupied the Golan Heights in 1967, rather than 1973. You also pointed out that it was after the 1967 occupation of the heights that most of the Sunni Syrians fled the area.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We always welcome the opportunity to review our content and make changes to improve it.
Our correspondent Lucy Williamson has amended the text to say: The buffer zone they crossed was set up in a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Syria after the 1973 Yom Kippur War, after Israel had occupied Syrian territory in the Golan Heights in 1967, later annexing it.
And also: While Sunni Syrians fled after the 1967 war, some Druze stayed on and formed close ties to Israel, serving in the army and even taking Israeli citizenship.
We put a note at the bottom of the page to point up what we had changed in the report, and why.”
That footnote reads as follows:
In other words, it took the BBC News website eight weeks to correct a historical inaccuracy which could and should have been avoided with some very basic fact checking.
They have brainwashed staff, many of a minority, who find anything to be anti Israel- hence Williamson is almost permitted to get away with it!