BBC Arabic’s whitewashing of Ahlam Tamimi is by no means a novelty. The service has a longstanding policy of quoting Palestinian terrorists as sources, only insofar as their statements are not self-incriminating.
As a result, the murderers’ proudly proclaimed responsibility for their crimes and expressions of hatred is constantly reframed as a position attributed to other parties – with Israel and the United States often cast as the sole “accusers”. The BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit has repeatedly stood by such material omissions, failing to keep the Arabic service aligned with basic journalistic standards.
One clear example is the case of unrepentant terrorist Ismat Mansour. Convicted as a teenager of killing a civilian in 1993, Mansour was released from prison in Israel after nearly 20 years.
By 2024, he had already become a regular contributor to BBC Arabic, at times introduced as an “analyst” of Israeli affairs.
At CAMERA’s request, information concerning Mansour’s murder conviction was eventually added to some webpages featuring his interviews, including one in which the interviewer sought his professional opinion about an attack eerily similar to the crime which he carried out.
BBC Arabic declined to provide essential context about Mansour’s own admission and lack of remorse, including his post-release statement claiming that the murder was intended “to promote peace.”
Last December the Arabic service was forced to explicitly acknowledge that Hamas’s 1988 Charter is antisemitic.
Even then – four years after the piece was published – the revised version employed the same deflective tactic.
By misleadingly suggesting that Hamas’s 2017 policy document could constitute a “new charter,” BBC Arabic framed any rejection of that claim as an “allegation,” even though Hamas leadership itself stated explicitly that the newer document does not replace the original antisemitic charter.
The same approach is evident in BBC Arabic’s coverage of Palestinian fatalities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which frequently omits individuals’ affiliations with terrorist organisations.
Readily available evidence ignored by the service includes videos in which the individuals themselves document their role as gunmen, Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad posters endorsing them as members and testimonies confirming their involvement in “Jihad” on Hamas’s and PIJ’s behalf.
The world view that regards Israeli Jewish civilians as legitimate targets also leads its adherents to whitewash combatants and terrorists as innocent bystanders or impartial observers. The cases outlined above add to an ever-growing body of evidence showing that BBC Arabic routinely engages in both practices.
David Grom is a pseudonym. The author is a CAMERA Arabic researcher.
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