Previously we noted the failure of a BBC report to adequately inform its audiences on the topic of Hamas’ repeated breaches of the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip which came into effect last month:
BBC OMISSIONS COMPROMISE UNDERSTANDING OF CEASEFIRES IN GAZA AND LEBANON
Three days after the appearance of that report, on November 22nd, the BBC News website published an article headlined “Israeli strikes across Gaza kill 22 Palestinians, medical and civil defence officials say”.
Credited to Rushdi Abualouf and Jon Donnison, that report once again opens with the promotion of unverified claims sourced from Hamas-controlled bodies:
“At least 22 Palestinians have been killed in a series of Israeli air strikes across northern and central Gaza, Hamas medical and civil defence officials have said.
They said five sites had been hit, including residential homes. A senior Hamas commander was among the dead, according to local sources.”
“Hamas officials” are quoted extensively later in the report, including in the following paragraph:
“The Hamas officials said five people had been killed at the Abbas junction in the densely populated Rimal area of Gaza City. Witnesses said an Israeli strike set a car on fire.”
Although the information was available by the time Abualouf and Donnison’s report was published, readers are not told that the target of that strike in Rimal was Alaa al Hadidi (also Haddadeh), the head of supply at Hamas’ weapons production headquarters. According to reports, four additional Hamas commanders were eliminated at other locations.
The BBC’s description of the incident that prompted the strikes reads as follows:
“The Israeli military said it had struck targets in Gaza in response to an incident earlier on Saturday, when it said an “armed terrorist” had fired at soldiers after crossing the Strip’s so-called “yellow line” designating areas under full Israeli control. Hamas denied this.” [emphasis added]
Although video footage of that incident had been in the public domain for several hours prior to the publication of Abualouf and Donnison’s report, as we see they nevertheless opted to present a ‘he said-she said’ account rather than telling BBC audiences what happened in their own words.
Moreover, Abualouf and Donnison chose to continue by telling readers that:
“Both sides have accused each other of violating the ceasefire deal agreed on six weeks ago.”
Later in their report Abualouf and Donnison amplify a lie promoted by Hamas:
“Following the strikes, Hamas said the army’s westward push of the yellow line and continued bombardment of eastern Gaza amounted to a “blatant breach” of the agreement.” [emphasis added]
That falsehood about the supposed moving of yellow line markers to the west, which was also advanced by Hamas, was promoted by a Gazan freelance journalist who was ‘let go’ by CNN last year due to his Hamas links and now works for the dubious anti-Israel outlet ‘Drop Site News’. Despite that lie having been refuted two days prior to the appearance of their report, Abualouf and Donnison nevertheless chose to amplify it further.
Once again, the BBC’s uncritical promotion of statements and claims made by Hamas – together with its failure to accurately and impartially report on the terrorist organisation’s near-daily breaches of the ceasefire agreement – compromises the ability of audiences to fully understand events in the Gaza Strip.
