BBC Partly Upholds Complaint Over Guest’s ‘Terrorist State’ Remarks on Israel
The BBC’s complaints unit partially upheld a complaint regarding comments made about Israel during a broadcast featuring a Lebanese guest.
Israel, Lebanon, Sara Rammal, Benjamin Netanyahu, BBC
Beirut: So, there was this broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live last September where a Lebanese woman named Sara Rammal shared her thoughts about a day when Israel bombed her city. She didn’t hold back at all.
Rammal was pretty harsh on Israel, calling it a “terrorist state” and claiming they were committing genocide against Palestinians and Gaza. She even took a jab at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying he only cares about taking land.
After the show, someone complained that the interview didn’t challenge Rammal’s statements enough. They felt it lacked the editorial rigor the BBC usually has. The complaints unit looked into it and found some of her comments were indeed contentious.
They noted that Rammal’s claim about the start of genocide on October 7 could mislead people about the events of that day. But they also said her background was relevant to her points, so they didn’t think the broadcast broke any major rules.
However, they did agree that some of her comments, like calling Israel the aggressor and Hamas and Hezbollah as legitimate resistance, should have been flagged as controversial. It’s a tricky situation, especially since the BBC has faced a lot of scrutiny over its coverage of Israel and Palestine lately.
Interestingly, the BBC received a ton of complaints about its coverage, but only one was upheld. That one was about a different broadcast where experts discussed the situation in Gaza and compared it to the Rwandan genocide.