Instead, the assailants were described only as "gunmen", and the only use of the word "terrorist" was in scare quotes and attributed as an Israeli claim.
The corporation has faced similar criticism before. World Affairs Editor John Simpson said in 2023: "Terrorism is a loaded word, which people use about an outfit they disapprove of morally.
"It's simply not the BBC's job to tell people who to support and who to condemn – who are the good guys and who are the bad guys.
"We regularly point out that the British and other governments have condemned Hamas as a terrorist organisation, but that's their business."
But the JC has identified at least three instances in which BBC News used the word "terrorist" without attribution.
A December 2019 article referred to the survivors of the London Bridge and Manchester Arena attacks as "terror attack survivors".
Likewise, a documentary aired in 2023 about Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi labelled him a "homegrown terrorist".
And 2017 "BBC News Special" on the day of the Westminster attack called the incident the "Westminster Terror Attack".
Asked why the BBC felt it right to apply the word "terrorist" in these instances, but not the mass shooting in Jerusalem, a spokesperson said: "Anyone watching, listening to or reading our coverage on the attack in Jerusalem would have heard the word ‘terrorist’ many times as we made clear that the Israeli authorities were calling this a terrorist attack."
