BBC under fire for omitting role of Hamas ally in report on Israel’s ‘torture policy’

The report began by stating: “The United Nations committee on torture says there is evidence that Israel is operating a ‘de facto state policy of organised and widespread torture’.”

However, the committee made no outright accusation against Israel over its torture policy.

The report’s “concluding observations” said: “The Committee expressed concern over reports indicating a de facto State policy of organised and widespread torture and ill-treatment which had gravely intensified since 7 October 2023.”

Mark Goldberg, head of investigations at the Community Security Trust, publicly criticised the report, claiming it failed to make clear “what’s really going on”.

Writing in a series of posts on X, Goldberg said: “Like all BBC articles about Israel one must delve a bit deeper to find out what's going on.

"First let's be aware that members of the nobly titled UN Committee against Torture are some of the worst human rights-abusing countries in the world, is the British public really supposed to be putting much stock in what Turkey, Russia or China have to say about torture?”

He continued: “It turns out that the report the BBC quotes is actually about four countries; Albania, Argentina, Bahrain and Israel. For some reason only the comments on Israel are worth the BBC publishing an article about.

"The comments on Israel are based on a session in the UN between the Israeli delegation and the committee that took place over two weeks ago. During that session Israel was actually commended as well as criticised by the committee. I guess the BBC missed this.”

Posting a screenshot of the closing remarks from the committee published by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Goldberg concluded: “One wonders if the BBC even bothered to read any of this at all.”

In those remarks, committee chair Claude Heller said: “The dialogue held with the State of Israel had been characterised by its frankness. The Committee was not a court and did not hand down sentences but addressed the issues at hand pertaining to the Convention ... The Committee recognised that 7 October 2023 was one of the most traumatic events for the State of Israel, and understood very well the trauma the country had gone through. Israel was urged to look at the dialogue as an opportunity to revise and reconsider.”

Itamar Donenfeld, Director General of the Ministry of Justice of Israel and co-head of the Israeli delegation, “thanked the Committee for its engagement over the past two days,” the report stated.

"Throughout the dialogue, Israel had demonstrated its full commitment to the Convention through facts, data, legal safeguards and robust oversight mechanisms. Israel had also addressed and refuted false accusations,” it added.

Hadar Sela of media monitor Camera said: "While the BBC's report quotes a Danish member of the UN body, it refrains from informing readers that the Committee against Torture also currently includes representatives of countries somewhat less renowned for their records on human rights such as Russia, China and Turkey – a known Hamas ally.

“There is, however, nothing novel about the BBC policy of unquestioningly amplifying UN messaging while exempting that organisation and its various departments, agencies and officials from any kind of critical reporting."

The BBC report now carries a correction at the end stating: “This article and the headline have been amended to make clear that the UN committee heard evidence, but did not determine whether there was a 'de facto state policy of torture'.

“It has also been amended to make clear the committee is not mandated to determine whether international crimes have been committed.”

BBC News was contacted for comment.