Channel 4’s recent decision to air a controversial film, Gaza: Doctors Under Attack, raises serious ethical concerns. A CAMERA Arabic investigation revealed that the co-producer of the film publicly celebrated the October 7 massacre of Israelis and several months earlier glorified the terrorist who murdered seven Israeli civilians on Holocaust Memorial Day – none of which was disclosed to viewers by the broadcaster or the co-producer himself.
The film, which presents itself as a “forensic examination” of IDF conduct, has faced sharp criticism for omitting and downplaying verified evidence of Hamas’s use of medical facilities for terror operations.
“The limited references that do appear in the film are misleadingly framed as anecdotal or dismissed as ‘Israeli claims,’ despite facts that directly undermine the film’s central allegation that Israel is systematically targeting healthcare workers,” said CAMERA UK co-editor Adam Levick.
The BBC, which initially commissioned the film, shelved it due to recently revealed concerns over the social media activity of one of the journalists involved in the story.
CAMERA Arabic’s most recent investigation into BBC-affiliated journalists, covered by The Telegraph and Daily Mail, found that Osama Al-Ashi, a co-producer of the film, has posted multiple messages praising attacks on Israeli civilians, including one on Holocaust Memorial Day. This information, which was not disclosed in the film, calls into question the integrity of the film’s suggestion that the IDF purposefully and without justification targeted doctors and medical facilities in Gaza.
Channel 4, however, defended its decision to air the film, stating that it had undergone “rigorous fact-checking and extensive compliance processes.”
“That Channel 4 aired the film despite its producer’s celebration of terrorism targeting Israelis is a disturbing failure of journalistic standards. The very least Channel 4 should have done was inform audiences that the film’s producer has a well-established anti-Israel bias that undermines the credibility of the film,” Levick continued.
In one publicly available video uncovered by CAMERA Arabic, the film’s co-producer, Al-Ashi, and friends are seen looking through images of murdered civilians from the October 7 attacks. In another, posted that same day, Hamas terrorists are shown paragliding into Israel while an Arabic song plays in the background. The song, known for its refrain of Allahu Akbar (Takbir), includes a call to “silence the usurpers.”
Al-Ashi has also praised previous terror attacks. On Holocaust Memorial Day in 2023, after a Palestinian terrorist murdered seven people outside a Jerusalem synagogue, including a 14-year-old boy, Al-Ashi honored the killer as a martyr. He also celebrated a 2016 attack in Hebron in which a rabbi and father of 10 was gunned down.
“Al-Ashi’s social media record, in which he celebrates the murder of Israeli civilians, suggests both a strong anti-Israel bias and that he is unable to distinguish between combatants and non-combatants in his own community,” said a spokesperson for CAMERA Arabic. “His journalism is therefore fundamentally compromised. That Channel 4 chose to air his Gaza war documentary for British audiences is alarming.”
“A respectable outlet in this situation would never claim to have conducted a thorough investigation, then aired a propaganda piece and defended it,” the CAMERA Arabic spokesperson continued. “The failure of Channel 4 to disclose to its viewers that the film’s co-producer has repeatedly celebrated attacks against Israelis constitutes an unacceptable disregard for professionalism.”
About CAMERA Arabic
Founded in 2017, CAMERA Arabic seeks to ensure that Western media outlets’ Arabic-language coverage of Israel is factually accurate and adheres to professional codes of journalistic conduct. CAMERA staff regularly correspond in both Arabic and English with editors to prompt corrections and to ensure sound journalistic coverage. Its reports are an indispensable resource for journalists and researchers interested in professional journalistic practice within Arabic-language news reporting and have been cited on countless articles in media outlets including The Telegraph, Daily Mail, National Review, Times (London), Jewish Chronicle and more.
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