Former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey has blasted the BBC’s continued refusal to call Hamas terrorists revealing he is “ashamed” of the corporation.
Lord Carey hit out as the broadcaster was plunged into a fresh impartiality row after journalists appeared to justify the brutal murder of Israeli civilians by Hamas.
The churchman joined the growing anger over the coverage stating: “I am ashamed of the BBC. This is not independent, impartial broadcasting.
“It is biased and partisan. If the national broadcaster cannot see and grasp the difference between murder and self-defence, between bestial acts against babies and legitimate war, then it has no moral compass and is not fit for purpose.
“In their reporting of this tragedy the BBC does not represent our nation.”
Bosses are “urgently investigating” the social media activity of several of its Middle East-based correspondents after they appeared to celebrate the cowardly slaughter of 1,300 children, women and men.
Reporters at BBC News Arabic endorsed comments likening Hamas to freedom fighters as well as describing the October 7 atrocity as a “morning of hope”.
These included senior Cairo-basaed correspondent Mahmoud Sheleib appearing to make fun of the Israeli relatives of a grandmother who was abducted by Hamas would be receiving an “inheritance”.
Sanaa Khoury, the Beirut-based religious affairs correspondent, tweeted: “Israel’s prestige is crying in the corner.”
Nada Abdelsamad, a Beirut-based programmes editor at BBC Arabic, retweeted a video entitled: “Settlers hiding inside a tin container in fear of the Palestinian resistance warriors.”
Separately, the output on BBC Arabic, which is funded by the licence fee, provoked a flurry of complaints alleging bias and inaccuracy, such as for referring to towns inside Israel’s internationally recognised territory, rather than contested areas of the West Bank, as “settlements” and their residents as “settlers”.
Campaigners said the journalists actions “whitewashed” the deadly targeting of Jewish civilians.
An investigation by the Arabic department of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (Camera) has found social media activity by six BBC journalists and one affiliated freelancer which it alleges displays anti-Israel bias.
The BBC is obliged to achieve “due impartiality” in all its output, according to its guidelines, while its news journalists also have a “particular responsibility” to uphold the principle in their actions on social media.
The organisation has also come under attack for refusing to call Hamas as terrorists, instead using the term “militant group”.
Dame Caroline Dinenage, chairman of the Commons culture, media and sport committee, said: “Language matters and it’s vital that media coverage of the heartbreaking events in Israel and Gaza are covered with the utmost sensitivity and impartiality by all journalists, especially our public service broadcasters.”
A BBC spokesman said that “if and when we find breaches we will act, including taking disciplinary action”.
A spokesman for Camera Arabic said: “The BBC has repeatedly whitewashed the practice of targeting Jewish civilians in Israel even before the current escalation.”
