![The protest group Palestine Action claimed responsibility for vandalising the BBC’s building in London amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas on October 14, 2023 [Susannah Ireland/Reuters]](https://mmnews.tv/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/BBC-1.jpg)
BBC reporters based in the UK have criticized the British broadcaster for its “pro-Israel bias and failing to tell the story of the Israel-Palestine conflict accurately, Al Jazeera reported Thursday.
“The BBC failed to critically approach Israel’s claims, couldn’t tell the story accurately, and therefore couldn’t help the public understand human rights violations in Gaza,” said a 2,300-word letter written to Al Jazeera by eight BBC employees.
In the letter, the reporters accused BBC of showing a biased stance in favor of Israel.
Fearing reprisal, the journalists requested anonymity. The group does not plan to send the letter to BBC executives, believing such a move was unlikely to lead to meaningful discussions.
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They sent Al Jazeera the letter as a humanitarian disaster in Gaza escalates, and as grim milestones are reached at pace. At the time of writing, more than 14,500 Palestinians have been reported as killed by Israeli bombardment, including at least 6,000 children.
They alleged that while the BBC demonstrated a “bold” approach in reporting on the alleged war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine, it applied a “double standard” in how civilians are perceived in the Israel-Palestine issue.
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It also questioned when the number of Palestinians killed since the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7 would be high enough to prompt a change in the editorial stance.
In the letter, the BBC reporters said the organization uses terms like “massacre” and “brutality” only for Hamas, portraying the Palestinian group as the sole provocateur and perpetrator of violence in the region.
The Hamas assault, while “appalling and devastating … does not justify the indiscriminate killing of thousands of Palestinian civilians, and the BBC cannot be seen to support – or fail to interrogate – the logic that it does,” their letter reads.
The journalists acknowledged “some strong isolated examples”, but said sensitively told stories about Palestinians were not “consistent”, particularly after the outbreak of war.
The letter also pointed out that the BBC did not provide significant information to its viewers about the history of Israel’s occupation and the suffering of Palestinians.
