On June 23rd the BBC News website published two filmed reports on the topic of protests against the previous day’s US strikes on the Iranian regime’s nuclear facilities.
One of those reports is titled “US strikes on Iran trigger protests internationally”, with its synopsis reading as follows:
“Demonstrators in cities around the world have taken to the streets to protest against President Donald Trump’s decision to launch a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities.
Protesters in France, Pakistan, Greece and the Philippines condemned the attack, which was a significant escalation in the war between Iran and Israel.”
That report does not include any commentary or explanation of the footage seen apart from place names. It does however show viewers around the world an antisemitic image displayed in Pakistan and a placard in Tokyo (featuring a picture drawn by a cartoonist who has long used antisemitic themes) which promotes the ‘genocide’ libel.
The other BBC report is titled “Watch: US strikes against Iran spark protests in North America”.
“Demonstrators took to the streets in New York, Los Angeles, Washington DC and Toronto on Sunday to protest US President Donald Trump’s decision to launch major strikes against Iran’s nuclear program.”
In common with the other report, viewers see obviously pre-organised printed placards bearing the logos of assorted groups. One of the logos seen in both the BBC’s filmed reports is that of ‘ANSWERCOALITION.ORG’.
As was reported by the Times of Israel on June 22nd:
“Anti-Israel activist groups hold a rally in support of Iran in New York City’s Times Square. The protest is organized by pro-Palestinian and socialist activist groups including the People’s Forum, the ANSWER Coalition and the Palestinian Youth Movement. […]
The same groups gathered in the same location the day after Hamas’s October 2023 invasion of Israel to celebrate the terror onslaught. Anti-Israel groups have been holding near-daily protests in the city since Israel launched its offensive against Iran last week. The groups are holding concurrent protests in Washington, Chicago and San Francisco.”
In the second report, viewers also see the logo of a related organisation called the ‘Party for Socialism and Liberation’ in footage from Washington DC. The ADL notes that:
“PSL frequently expresses extreme anti-Zionist and pro-terror views. In the eighteen months after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel, for example, PSL sponsored or co-sponsored over 1,700 anti-Israel rallies around the U.S.; the majority of these rallies featured antisemitic rhetoric, including expressions of support for Hamas’s attack, belligerent calls to “smash Zionism,” paraphernalia of U.S.-designated terror groups and more.”
MEMRI has documentation from the first of those rallies, held the day after the October 7th massacre.
Notably, viewers of these two uncredited BBC reports were not provided with any such relevant context concerning the organisations behind the “demonstrations”, their agendas, their records of anti-Israel activism or their funding.
And as we see, clearly neither the BBC’s claim that it is “not impartial on racism” nor its editorial guidelines preclude its worldwide promotion of antisemitic imagery and a baseless libel.
The BBC definition of impartial is not the same as the Oxford English Dictionary!