The BBC has been slammed on social media for refusing to call Hamas attackers terrorists – but using the label “terror attack” for the Brussels shooting.
It comes after two Swedish nationals were shot dead in the Belgian capital just hours before Sweden’s Euro 2024 qualifier against Belgium. Brussels increased its terror alert to the highest level in the wake of the shooting.
The gunman remains at large and Belgian police confirmed the shooting was being treated as a terror incident. The Beeb has since been criticised online for calling the gunman a terror attack.
While the broadcaster says it reports on government officials and commentators calling Hamas terrorists, it says it will not use the phrase itself.
Criticising the decision journalist Nicole Lampert, wrote on social media platform X: “The BBC has refused to use the term ‘terror attack’ for the Hamas massacre yet they’ve used it within two hours of the one in Brussels. Extraordinary.”
While investigative journalist David Collier said: “1300 Jews get slaughtered. The BBC says it is not terrorism.
“A shooting in Brussels and within the hour… The BBC says it is terrorism. Utter b*******.”
In a piece on the BBC, world affairs editor John Simpson outlined why the corporation refuses to call Hamas terrorists. He wrote: “We regularly point out that the British and other governments have condemned Hamas as a terrorist organisation, but that’s their business. We also run interviews with guests and quote contributors who describe Hamas as terrorists.
“The key point is that we don’t say it in our voice. Our business is to present our audiences with the facts, and let them make up their own minds.”
Simpson said the broadcaster does not “take sides” and does not use “terrorist” as a label.
