It is said that familiarity breeds contempt — an aphorism which the BBC’s coverage of Israel demonstrates with appalling regularity.

No one will be in the least surprised that much of its reporting of the IDF’s military action in Jenin this week was not merely inaccurate but appeared to be deliberately so.

We are all too familiar with the BBC’s distortions and bias against Israel — and many of us have become contemptuous of it. At one point this week, for instance, it broadcast the claim that Jenin was experiencing a “massacre”. No evidence was provided to back up this outrageous lie — it was simply left there for viewers who knew no better to assume was a statement of fact.

Its live coverage of the funerals of armed operatives of Hamas and Islamic Jihad described them simply as “12 Palestinians”, without even a hint that they were in fact terrorists. And in perhaps the most egregious example, the BBC’s Anjana Gadgil asserted in an interview with Naftali Bennett that “Israeli forces are happy to kill children” in “a targeted attack” — a modern version of the blood libel.

The BBC is far from the only news organisation to behave like this. But as our national broadcaster, funded by a compulsory licence fee, it owes a special duty to provide balanced and fair coverage. Instead, it broadcasts so-called journalism that would not be out of place on Hamas TV.

The problem is permanent, but it is always at its most obvious when Israel takes action to defend its citizens from terror. And instead of improving, it seems to get worse with every passing year.

The BBC’s own news coverage makes it increasingly difficult for those who believe in impartial journalism to defend the BBC.