The Board of Deputies has condemned Ofcom’s decision not to uphold complaints against BBC reporter Tim Willcox over remarks he made to a Jewish woman.

Mr Willcox told the woman that “Palestinians suffer hugely at Jewish hands as well” during an interview following the terrorist attack on a kosher supermarket in Paris in which four Jews were murdered.

The broadcasting watchdog ruled that the comments was “justified by the context in which they were presented.”

Board vice president Jonathan Arkush said: “The objection to Willcox’s interview was his suggestion that French Jews could expect to be targeted by terrorists because of the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

“Ofcom seem to have missed the point entirely. Ofcom also seem to have forgotten that Willcox himself admitted he had got it wrong and apologised.”

Jonathan Sacerdoti, director of communications for the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism, said “many, many people” had been offended by what Mr Willcox had said.

The BBC has launched its own investigation, which is expected to report later this month.