BBC Arabic lets author suggest Jews ‘aim to own the world’ without pushback

In the book, Okasha describes Freemasonry as "a secret Jewish Talmudic organisation" that "aims to enslave the world and exact revenge on the Goyim".

Recalling the meeting, Okasha said: "The [Israeli] ambassador... called me and said... ‘We do not aim to own the earth, nor do we aim to own the world.' So I told him... 'I have an idea which is opposite to yours. A difference of opinion or ideas does not spoil the good will over the issue.’”

The implication that Israelis or Jews "aim to own the world" was not challenged by presenter Nesma Elsaied.

The fallout from the meeting with the Israeli ambassador led to Okasha’s expulsion from Egypt's parliament in 2016.

The interview was posted on BBC News Arabic's YouTube channel, which has 13.1 million subscribers.

Washington-based media watchdog the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (Camera) complained, but the BBC's Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) concluded there was "no editorial basis" for Elsaied to challenge Okasha.

In the complaint, Camera argued it was the presenter's "responsibility to call her guest out for promoting an antisemitic conspiracy theory in the first place".

The BBC rejected the complaint, saying the programme was about the political controversy surrounding Okasha's meeting with the ambassador rather than the contents of his book, which had been mentioned only "briefly as a background to that encounter".

Camera argued that once the book had been raised on air, BBC Arabic had a responsibility to establish its contents. It said it was "alarming" for the broadcaster to suggest there was no editorial basis to challenge Okasha over antisemitism.

"Even without knowing anything about Okasha's book specifically, or about antisemitic tropes and their use in Egypt's public discourse in general, what Okasha had said was enough for any other reasonable listener, interviewer Elsaied included, to deduce that by saying 'we', the ambassador meant all Israelis or the Israeli state, at the very least," Camera said.

"This in itself should have prompted [Elsaied] to call Okasha out as soon as he made his statement on record, i.e. challenge him while inquiring further about his unfounded and bigoted notion, as though Israel/Israelis 'aim to own the world'."

Camera also asked the BBC to make clear that Jews do not "aim to own the world" in a correction to the programme notes, but the ECU rejected that request.

In its ruling, the BBC said "it would not have been reasonable for the presenter to challenge a claim that was neither made nor implied" during the programme.

Writing to Camera on May 29, the BBC's complaints director acknowledged that viewers "might have extrapolated" that the discussion concerned antisemitic views, but said the interview did not amount to "the uncritical promulgation of an antisemitic view" or "perpetuate prejudice" under the corporation's editorial guidelines.

While the ECU considers the details of each complaint on a case-by-case basis rather than assessing the number of complaints from the same complainant, this marks the 40th complaint Camera has lodged over BBC Arabic's coverage since October 7, with only two upheld.

A Camera spokesperson criticised the corporation's handling of the complaint.

"An Israeli ambassador debating an Egyptian accuser over whether Jews 'aim to own the world' is anything but an innocent or civilised exchange of 'ideas'... Yet this is precisely how BBC presenter Nesma Elsaied treated the encounter," they said.

A BBC spokesperson said: "The ECU considered this complaint carefully and ruled that the exchange included a retelling of the view of the Israeli Ambassador on his rejection of claims in the guest's book. The contents or ideas in the book were not expanded upon so there was no prospect this would perpetuate prejudice.

"Egypt MeanTime, like all BBC programmes and services, has the editorial freedom to discuss a wide range of subject matters and topics that are of interest to its audience."