On Thursday (27th February), the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) News issued a statement, distancing itself from an anti-Semitic, propaganda-laden documentary on Gaza.
The controversial programme was titled ‘Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone’ and was aired by BBC Two on 17th February 2025. It came under fire for featuring Abdullah Al-Yazouri, the son of a Hamas terrorist and omitting references to ‘Jihad’ and ‘Jews’
Almost 10 days after airing the documentary, a BBC spokesperson stated, “It (The BBC Board) has identified serious flaws in the making of this programme. Some of these were made by the production company, and some by the BBC; all of them are unacceptable. BBC News takes full responsibility for these and the impact that these have had on the Corporation’s reputation. We apologise for this.”
In a half-hearted ‘apology’, BBC News claimed that the publication of the documentary ‘damaged the trust’ of the audience.
Breaking.
— David Collier (@mishtal) February 27, 2025
BBC accepts serious failings in the Gaza Hamas documentary. It has been pulled and will not be aired. The BBC takes full responsibility.
Those 500 media people who wanted it to be kept up sure look stupid now.
We see you. We will remember your names! pic.twitter.com/gBRYdOkvfQ
“Although the programme was made by an independent production company, who were commissioned to deliver a fully compliant documentary, the BBC has ultimate editorial responsibility for this programme as broadcast,” it made a last ditch effort to defend itself.
BBC News claimed to not know that the narrator in the documentary had ties with Hamas. The propaganda news broadcaster, however, conceded thata ‘limited sum of money’ was wired to the wife of the Hamas terrorist Ayman Al-Yazouri for narration in the documentary.
It stated that a full audit of the expenditure of the production company (identified as Hoyo Films) as well as a fact-finding review was underway. BBC News claimed that Peter Johnston, the Director of Editorial Complaints and Reviews, would determine if any disciplinary actions were required.
It further added that issues raised surrounding the use of language and translation in the documentary would also be reviewed. Interestingly, BBC News announced that it would not broadcast the documentary again in its current form, hinting that it might see the light of the day again after re-modifications.
“We have no plans to broadcast the programme again in its current form or return it to iPlayer and will make a further assessment once the work of Peter Johnston is complete,” the BBC Board said.
Controversy surrounding the BBC documentary
The propaganda documentary by BBC News titled ‘Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone’ featured Abdullah Al-Yazouri, the son of a Hamas’ Ayman Al-Yazouri (who works as the ‘deputy agriculture minister’ of the terror outfit in the Gaza strip).
Abdullah was the narrator of the programme. The matter came to light following an expose by antisemitism researcher David Collier. Later, it was found that another girl featured in the documentary was the daughter of another Hamas terrorist.
2️⃣ The BBC’s new documentary, Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, was marketed as an unfiltered look at children’s lives in the Strip.
— Jonathan Sacerdoti (@jonsac) February 22, 2025
In reality, it was a blatant Hamas propaganda piece—narrated by the son of a Hamas minister. pic.twitter.com/5ppCuj18qI
One child in the programme was also shown posing with Hamas terrorists. BBC attempted to defend the inclusion of the son of a Hamas terrorist in the documentary.
“The film remains a powerful child’s eye view of the devastating consequences of the war in Gaza which we believe is an invaluable testament to their experiences, and we must meet our commitment to transparency,” it stated.
However, BBC News took down the programme on 21st February 2025 over widespread criticism.
🔴 BBC removed references to ‘Jews’ and ‘jihad’ in Gaza documentary pic.twitter.com/WHFRgoHOYC
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) February 25, 2025
British Daily ‘The Telegraph’ published a report on Tuesday (25th February) exposing how the BBC documentary deliberately omitted references to Jews (Yahud) on at least 5 different occasions and Gazans vowing to do ‘Jihad.’.
“The Telegraph can reveal that on at least five occasions the words Yahud or Yahudy – Arabic for “Jew” or “Jews” – were changed to “Israel” or “Israeli forces”, or were removed from the subtitles altogether,” it stated.
“An interviewee praising Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader, for “jihad against the Jews” was also mistranslated as saying he was fighting “Israeli forces“,” the newspaper further added.
BBC hit with new scandal related to its Gaza documentary as it has been revealed the cameraman who filmed the documentary ‘celebrated October 7 attacks.’
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) February 25, 2025
Hatem Rawagh praised the terror attack where 1,200 people were massacred on X.
He tweeted about the 1973 Yom Kippur war -… pic.twitter.com/kjj0Z8pESp
It had also come to light that the cameraman involved in the production of the anti-Semitic documentary, Hatem Rawagh, had previously celebrated the killing of 1,139 Jews on 7th October 2023 in Israel.
