The day after the massacre, Sheleib joked about an Israeli woman whose grandmother had been kidnapped receiving her “inheritance”. He also suggested that young Israelis could be targeted by Hamas terrorists because they are akin to soldiers.
Following an internal BBC investigation into his social media activity, Sheleib was reinstated in late 2023.
BBC Director General Tim Davie later claimed that the disciplinary process that Sheleib and others had undergone was “tough”.
Since returning to the show, Sheleib has continued to post on his now private X account.
On the night that Iran bombed Israel on June 14, he posted, “May Allah make your evening happy”. Last October, he commented on a JC article headlined “BBC stands by ‘kill the Jews’ doctor”, writing in Arabic, “No, that’s me, not them.”
Producer Mahmoud Sheleib joked about a JC story, writing in Arabic, 'No, that's me, not them' (Photo: X)[Missing Credit]
Since Sheleib’s return to Egypt MeanTime, Camera – which the executive producer described as a tick or leech – has documented a pattern of the show featuring guests with histories of inflammatory rhetoric about Jews and Israel.
Among those figures flagged by Camera, Qalyoubi is the tenth. His appearance on BBC Arabic follows academics and commentators who, as revealed by Camera, have praised the October 7 attacks, likened Israel to Nazi Germany, and promoted conspiracy theories about Jewish control.
One guest – Hassan Nafaa – was previously exposed by the NGO and written about in the JC, but appeared again on the programme last month.
A Cairo University professor, Nafaa first appeared on the programme in January after celebrating the “valiant resistance” of Palestinians on October 7. On the day of the attacks, he wrote that “Israel is indeed weaker than a spider’s web.” Later that month, he described Israel as “more brutal than the Nazi regime.”
Hassan Nafaa has appeared on BBC Arabic's EgyptMean Time twice since posting about the 'valiant resistance' of Palestinians on October 7 2023 (Photo: X)[Missing Credit]
Nafaa returned to the programme on August 21, where he claimed that Israel had been “convicted” of genocide by the International Court of Justice. The ICJ has not issued such a ruling, but presenter Nesma Elsaied did not correct the assertion during the broadcast.
Meanwhile, Qalyoubi appeared on the show on May 29 to discuss Egypt’s gas imports from Israel.
Prior to his appearance on the show, Qalyoubi published an article in 2024 on Egyptian news site Sada el-Balad asserting that “Israel without America does not exist,” and accusing American Jews of monopolising wealth, politics, and media.
He went on to suggest that the “number of Jews in America is so great, that it controls decision-making, elects leaders, and appoints legislative members." He wrote about Jewish “monopolies” in industries including “banking, media, communications technology, real estate, oil, tourism, and the film industry.”
He continued: “The Jews' hand did not stop at these fields but went on to form Jewish elite societies, manifested in the twin branches of Freemasonry and Zionism. Both directed America and the UK to create a state for the Jews to immigrate to. It was not Britain that implemented the 1937 [sic] Balfour Promise [i.e. Declaration], but rather the decision-makers in America.”
The article goes on to state that Israel, which he calls as “fairytale,” will “cease to exist within a few hours” if the US is distracted. “This will be the reward of those who seek to spread corruption on earth,” the article goes on.
In a December 2023 Facebook post flagged by Camera, Qalyoubi wrote that the war in Gaza reflected “what America wants,” and accused “the world’s Jews” of pouring out “hatred and malice” on Arabs.
In another post from October 13, 2023, he called Egypt “a graveyard for Jews” and encouraged Palestinians not to flee Gaza, claiming “victory over Israel is near.”
His earlier posts include a 2020 claim there was a “connection” between Israel and the Covid-19 pandemic. In a 2013 Facebook post, he accused Jews of orchestrating “economic chaos” in Egypt and, in an obituary, he wrote about "the Jews’ control over Latin America. He also posted about the “greed of the Jews among the Arabs.”
Commenting on the story, Camera said: “The [views] of Qalyoubi and Nafaa might have remained inconsequential – were it not for platforms like BBC Arabic, which present them as legitimate voices within Egypt’s intellectual landscape and alleged experts of affairs involving Israel."
The watchdog added that as long as Sheleib remains the programme’s executive producer, “any hope for improvement appears slim”, given the producer’s response to the October 7 massacre included “mocking an elderly hostage and asserting that no young Israeli can truly be considered a civilian.”
The BBC told the JC that it took any breaches of its social media guidance seriously, but it would not comment on individual cases.
A spokesperson for the corporation said: “BBC News Arabic hosts a wide range of contributors with a variety of views and perspectives from across Egypt and the Middle East, addressing news and live issues of the day in the Arabic-speaking world. We are absolutely clear that there is no place for antisemitism on our services.
“We take allegations of breaches of our social media guidance very seriously and investigate each case. We do not comment on individual staff matters; however, if we find breaches we take the appropriate action.”
The JC approached Qalyoubi and Nafaa for comment.
