Several BBC Arabic journalists have continued to report on Israel’s war in Gaza after facing an investigation over allegedly biased social media posts.
Reporters at BBC News Arabic appeared to endorse comments likening Hamas to freedom fighters and praising the horrific October 7 attack. The broadcaster launched an investigation into seven reporters and one freelancer over their social media activity in October.
Among the posts reportedly liked included one showing bodies and hostages being driven in a car by militants with the caption a “proud moment”. Another post describing Hamas as “freedom fighters” was liked by a BBC Arabic reporter in Cairo.
One journalist liked over a dozen posts on X which appeared to support targeting Israeli civilians. One tweet called the Ocotber 7 attack as “a morning of hope”, and liked a tweet describing Israel as “an occupation state”.
The same journalist has since been sent to Chicago by BBC Arabic in January to cover reported threats to the city’s Palestinian community. Two weeks later, they also wrote a piece about Western diplomacy during the war.
While another BBC Arabic journalist appeared to joke about a woman whose grandmother was abducted by Hamas receiving an “inheritance” in an online conversation about the attack.
He had also suggested in a tweet that all young Israelis were combatants, and should not be regarded as civilians in a conflict.
The same journalist continues to report on the war from an Egyptian perspective.
A spokesman for Camera Arabic, a US-based NGO that campaigns for “accurate and balanced” coverage of Israel, said: “Employees who spread hatred and celebrate violence on social media are clearly unable to uphold the BBC’s self-professed standards of accuracy and balance in coverage of Jewish and Israeli affairs and should not be allowed back in the newsroom, let alone to report the current war on the Corporation’s behalf.”
A BBC spokesman said at the time: “Throughout our reporting on the conflict the BBC has made clear the devastating human cost to civilians living in Gaza and Israel.
“The BBC is one of the only news organisations to have journalists inside Gaza, and our journalists have been able to provide on the ground reporting, first-hand testimony and analysis on what is happening on the ground.”
“When interviewing either the Israeli government, Hamas, Palestinian representatives, or other leaders, we are robust, challenging and aim to hold power to account,” they added.
