The Civil Commission report on sexual atrocities committed by Hamas and others on October 7th 2023 makes for distressing reading, even for those already familiar with the horrific crimes committed that day. Perhaps most stunning is the sheer amount of testimony and evidence compiled. A vast tsunami of unspeakable horror:
“The Commission systematically reviewed more than 10,000 photographs and video segments, amounting to well over 1,800 cumulative hours of analysis of visuals, alongside extensive testimonial work… Overall, the Commission conducted over 430 formal and informal interviews, testimonies, and meetings with survivors, witnesses, returned hostages, experts and family members… Data analysis conducted by the Commission reveals that the victims represented 52 different nationalities, underscoring the international scope of the crimes and their impact. The Commission further conducted an extensive open-source investigation, corroborated materials through geolocation-supported datasets and interdisciplinary expert input…This methodological framework enabled the Commission not only to document individual incidents, but to identify recurring patterns, present a full and comprehensive account of the events, and delineate operational features across sites and phases of the attack.”
One would expect the BBC to have covered this huge story in some detail, given their outsized interest in Israel. The British national broadcaster dedicates an inordinate amount of time to this tiny nation three thousand miles away. In the last week, across Radio 4, The World Service, BBC One and the BBC News channel, Israel was mentioned 476 times. On the 12th and 13th of May alone, it was mentioned 162 times.
The BBC mentioned the civil commission findings three times. Middle East Correspondent Yolande Knell’s minute-long report on the subject was repeated three times on Radio 4, between 10pm on May 12th and 12.30am on May 13th. A minute which managed to find time to give equal weight to Hamas’ denials as to the enormous evidence presented in the report:
Knell: “there have been previous reports about rape, sexual assault and torture during the 7th October attacks, but this is the most comprehensive. An independent Israeli investigative Commission drew on 430 filmed interviews with survivors and witnesses and more than ten thousand photos and video clips. Its report gives new harrowing details of gang rapes at the Nova festival and sexual abuse of hostages. The Civil Commission says the aim of the Hamas attackers was to maximize pain and suffering. It concludes that war crimes were carried out, with its findings expected to aid future prosecutions. Hamas has repeatedly denied that its operatives carried out acts of sexual and gender-based violence.”
The flagship News programmes, either on Radio 4 or BBC Television, did not touch the story at all.
The vast majority of the remaining 159 mentions across the last two days were about the apparently scandalous existence of an Israeli in Eurovision, on which more is to come soon. However, there was another story which BBC editors chose to shine a light on in the same time period, that of the passing in the Knesset of the legislation required to allow the death penalty for terrorists found guilty of involvement on October 7th.
In more than double the airtime dedicated to the Civil Commission’s findings, and at prime time, Yolande Knell told audiences:
Knell: “Israel’s Parliament has approved a law which could see Palestinians accused of involvement in the Hamas-led attacks in 2023 face the death penalty. Human rights groups say the military tribunals would deny defendants the right to a fair trial, they also allege that some evidence has been obtained through torture, claims denied by the Israeli authorities.”
And
Knell: “this law passed with 93 votes to 0, an unusual level of Cross-party support in the 120 seat Israeli Parliament, the Knesset, and what it basically does is it’s empowering a panel of judges, using both civil and military law to hand down the death penalty by a majority vote, and key parts of these hearings expected to take place or begin in about a year’s time, they’re going to be shown on a live stream and a specially set up Jerusalem courtroom. So, all of that has led to comparisons with Israel’s trial of the Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, which was shown on television back in 1961”
Not only did Knell give equal weight in her reporting to unevidenced allegations of confessions elicited under torture as to the monumental archive of rigorously documented evidence of Hamas atrocities in the Civil Commission report, but she failed, despite clearly being aware, to connect the two stories.
When she told her audience:
Knell: “you have, numbers are not totally clear, 300 to 400 Gazans reportedly held by Israel as criminal defendants accused of involvement in the seventh of October attacks, and there are, I should say, another 1200 or so held as what are termed unlawful combatants, without charge, mostly from Gaza as well”
She was entirely aware of the horrific crimes these prisoners are accused of and the weight of evidence against them, but she chose to separate the two stories. An audience being told that these terrorists face the same fate as a notorious Nazi deserves to be fully informed of exactly the crimes they are accused of.
Editorial decisions were made at the BBC in the last two days, to bury the civil commission’s findings in the middle of the night, and to make no link to it whatsoever when reporting on the news that the men accused of these crimes may face the same fate as Eichmann. Those decisions do not happen by accident. When the BBC chooses which stories to tell, it chooses what it wants the public to know, and how it wants the public to feel about that information.
For a national institution built on the notion of total impartiality, this is more than a simple failure.
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