Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy will grill BBC bosses over a documentary promoting “Hamas propaganda”.
The broadcaster was forced to apologise after a documentary about Palestinian children living in Gaza featured the son of a Hamas government minister.
The documentary, Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone, followed four young people over several months as they lived through the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The programme, which aired on BBC2 on Monday night, began with the voice of 14-year-old Abdullah Al-Yazouri, who asks: “Have you ever wondered what you’d do if your world is destroyed?”
But campaigners blasted the BBC for giving Abdullah – the son of deputy minister of agriculture Ayman Alyazouri – dubbed ‘Hamas royalty’ a leading role in the documentary.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said: “This is a conversation I’ll definitely be having with the Director general… Particularly about the way they sourced the people in the programme. These things are difficult… for the BBC, they’re attacked for being too pro Gaza, for being anti Gaza. It’s absolutely essential that we get this right.”
Former Home Office adviser Nick Timothy said: “Yet more serious questions about the BBC allowing itself to be played – or is it worse than that? – by Hamas.”
Tory MP Saqib Bhatti said: “This can only be construed as a failure in basic journalistic standards far below those expected of the BBC.
“Hamas would inevitably have influenced this, anybody can see that.
“The documentary must be withdrawn immediately and an investigation should be carried out.”
Alex Hearn, co-director of Labour Against Antisemitism, has filed a complaint to the BBC. “This documentary appears to have been a failure of due diligence by the BBC, with Hamas propaganda promoted as reliable fact at the taxpayers’ expense.
“There needs to be an urgent investigation into how this happened once again.”
Abdullah’s father, Dr Ayman Al-Yazouri, has been deputy minister for agriculture, responsible for overseeing “agricultural activities in Gaza strip”, for three years, according to his Linkedin profile.
Before that, he was an official in the education ministry for a decade, focused on Gaza’s higher education institutions, the profile adds.
Former director of BBC Television Danny Cohen blasted: “The BBC appears to have given an hour of prime-time coverage to the son of a senior member of the Hamas terrorist group.
“Either they were not aware of the terrorist links because they did not carry out the most basic journalistic checks or the BBC did know and misled audiences about the family’s deep involvement with terrorism.”
A new text attached to the film, Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, reads: “The narrator of this film is 13-year-old Abdullah.
“His father has worked as a deputy agriculture minister for the Hamas-run government in Gaza.
“The production team had full editorial control of filming with Abdullah.”