The BBC Claims to Be Impartial, Continues Lying About Gaza

The BBC has long been considered the gold standard in British journalism. The organization prides itself on its ability to remain objective and refrain from bias. Despite this self-portrayal, which is similarly prevalent across corporate media, the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza has exposed the British Broadcast Company for what it really is: Biased British-controlled media. From outright lies to distortions and a refusal to challenge Israeli propaganda, the BBC is providing cover for the mass slaughter of Palestinian civilians.

On November 23, BBC journalists wrote an anonymous letter accusing their network of bias. One of the key points they highlighted was the BBC‘s “double standard in how civilians are seen” in Gaza compared to how the outlet reports on Russia’s civilian casualties in Ukraine. They also slammed their outlet for failing to humanize Palestinians while focusing heavily on humanizing Israelis and omitting key historical facts in their coverage of the crisis.

Countless examples of the BBC’s reporting could be picked apart for glaring biases on a daily basis, so it is important to narrow down some of the standout points that exemplify the outlet’s horrendous coverage.

Mistranslation To Dehumanization

The first case we need to address is the most recent controversy. As Palestinian and Israeli detainees were being released under the initial four-day truce between Hamas and Israel, the BBC mistranslated the words of a Palestinian girl who had just been freed from Israeli military detention. The released Palestinian political prisoner spoke in Arabic, and the BBC’s English translation claimed she stated that “no one helped us. Only Hamas cared. Those who felt our suffering, I thank them very much.” However, what she actually said was that “they [Israelis] imprisoned us for a month. As winter came, they cut off the electricity. We almost died from the cold weather”—something that bears no resemblance to the BBC translation.

The Respond Crisis Translation group said of the BBC‘s subtitling that “this egregious mistranslation is not just a language error; it is a racist fabrication that fans the flames of the war.” The BBC eventually corrected its mistake, claiming it made an error. However, in another manipulation of language, the BBC also decided to describe the freed Israelis in Hamas detention for around six weeks as “women and children” while referring to Palestinian women and children as “the first batch of Palestinian women and teenage boys.” This framing, practiced throughout Western corporate media, is no mistake. It is a deliberate attempt to paint a picture of Israeli innocence while diminishing the humanity of the Palestinian women and children who were released.

It is also no mistake that people in the West have no idea that Israel has been holding hundreds of Palestinian children and women in military detention for years. While Israeli hostages have largely shared their stories that depict decent treatment (none of them claim to have been tortured or deliberately starved), almost every Palestinian released has stated that their Israeli captors have done as much to them. Also, the majority of the women and children held in the brutal conditions of Israeli military prisons are held without charge in what is known as “administrative detention.” In other words, they are hostages, most of whom were snatched from their homes in the early hours of the morning and face torture interrogations without the presence of a lawyer. Even if they are charged, the Israeli military courts have an almost 100% conviction rate.

While thousands of Palestinians are held in Israeli military detention, only 200 or so Israelis have been held in Hamas detention. It is simply not plausible that the BBC does not know about the copiously documented cases of abuse against Palestinian political prisoners or that they are incapable of finding out what has been going on since 1967. No, they are purposely hiding the truth about what Palestinian political prisoners go through because if they reported the facts, Israel’s hostage situation would be minimized to a minor issue in comparison to decades of kidnappings of Palestinians and countless cases of torture.

Palestinians Die, Israelis Are Killed, Hospitals Are Military Targets

The BBC has published reports where they provide explanations as to why Israel would bombard or invade hospitals and schools in the Gaza Strip. The assumption in such reporting is that the Israelis would behave this way due to “intelligence” on supposed underground tunnels under those civilian-protected sites. This narrative is utterly disgraceful and relegates their journalistic integrity to the bin. Despite Israel’s long track record of lying about why they have hit civilian targets, the BBC works to create a justification for the Israeli military by assuming that it would strike an area for a purpose outside of killing civilians. The BBC’s Question Time show even featured the question, “Is the Israeli targeting of a hospital justified?“

With no evidence to confirm any of the Israeli claims about hospitals being turned into high-value military targets, there is no debate as to whether this is justified. Yet the BBC allows for the so-called “moral quandary” of bombing hospitals to be discussed as if it is somehow a grey area. At this point, if bombing a hospital with no evidence that it is housing a high-level military target is a valid thing to do, we might as well nullify all laws. Mass shootings, terrorist attacks, chemical weapons attacks, and rape should all be considered debatably justifiable too in this madness of a media landscape.

Putting the justifications for bombing hospitals aside, the BBC was also called out for reporting that Palestinians simply “die” from airstrikes, while Israelis are “killed.” This recent example of the BBC‘s framing of the deaths on the two sides has not been deleted. In May of 2021, a similar approach was captured when a BBC presenter said Israelis were killed and Palestinians died. This is designed to make the audience/reader view Israeli lives as more important and to diminish Israeli accountability for killing Palestinians. This is also why we constantly hear about the Israelis killed on October 7. On that note, the Israeli military has revised the death toll down to 1,200. On that day, between 800-900 Israeli civilians are said to have been killed, yet Western media portrays the entire 1,200 as if they were all non-combatants —sometimes directly and other times by omission. Why is it that 800-900 Israeli non-combatant deaths are more valuable and tragic than as many as 20,000 Palestinians in Gaza?

There are two possible explanations as to why the BBC has worked to amplify the October 7 Israeli deaths more than the daily massacres against Palestinians: They are either 1) a news agency that hires journalists who are incapable of understanding what is happening in Gaza, or 2) racists who view Israeli lives as superior to Palestinian lives.

The “Hamas-run Health Ministry” in Gaza

The final example of atrocious reporting on the part of the BBC has been replicated throughout Western corporate media: after Israeli and US officials began to announce their skepticism of the Palestinian death toll, news outlets started calling the Gaza Ministry of Health (MoH), a “Hamas-run” health ministry.

US President Joe Biden claimed to distrust the statistics published on the death toll in Gaza. His apparent doubts came after Israeli officials had also begun to claim the same. Despite their sudden doubts, every trusted aid agency that has worked with the Gaza Ministry of Health has said their statistics are reliable. United Nations Relief Chief Martin Griffiths has also said that the Gaza MoH is trustworthy and reputable. Notably, in the same interview, Griffiths said the humanitarian situation in Gaza is “the worst ever.” 

Calling the Ministry of Health “Hamas-run” is not done for purposes of accuracy. If it were, Western media would have referred to it this way in past conflicts. It is only said to sow doubt regarding the veracity of the claims about how many Palestinians have been murdered by Israel in Gaza. In reality, you barely need to be internet-literate to conclude this is occurring on an unprecedented scale. Hamas is the government in Gaza, so technically, the MoH functions under Hamas. However, the MoH in Gaza coordinates with international aid agencies and is run by fully qualified health professionals. There has never been any question about the reliability of the MoH’s statistics until this war, and those doubts come from the Israeli narrative. For the BBC to push this Israeli propaganda line, ignoring the Gaza MoH’s track record and what all the trusted, credible international organizations have to say, amounts to the news outlet participating in Israel’s attempts to cover up and justify its crimes in Gaza. It is straight-up atrocity denial.

The BBC claims to report without bias. This is an obvious lie. It claims to be impartial and non-partisan. This is also false. The problem here is not necessarily that the BBC is biased, partial, and partisan; there is no way any outlet or journalist can be completely neutral on all issues. The issue is with the claim that they are, in fact, neutral. This makes them the worst kind of liars. What Israel is doing to Gaza is a uniquely evil crime in modern history. It is hard to find an equivalent comparison at this point. The BBC is openly devaluing Palestinian lives, taking the Israeli side of the narrative, and doing so at a time when Israel is committing unspeakable war crimes on a scale that we have not seen in decades and have never seen unfold in real-time.

Past atrocities did not come with minute-by-minute video updates of what was unfolding. In contrast, we see videos pouring in 24/7 showing the crimes Israel is currently committing in Gaza. Those who work to create justifications for Israel, lie for them, refuse to challenge their officials sufficiently, distort reality, and omit key facts are participants in its war crimes. This genocidal campaign in Gaza could not occur without Western support for it. Those who are providing cover for politicians to keep allowing Israel to continue its slaughter of innocents in Gaza share direct responsibility.