Former Chairman of the BBC Lord Grade CBE accused the broadcaster of anti-Israel bias, highlighting a misleading and “un-contextualised” headline that it ran on its website after the fatal stabbing of an Israeli police officer last month.
During his speech in a House of Lords debate on the Balfour Declaration this week, the Former Chairman of the BBC said: “On 16 June two Palestinians, unprovoked, attacked Israeli police officers in Jerusalem with guns and knives, while a third stabbed to death Border Police Staff Sergeant Hadas Malka, aged 23. The BBC’s headline on its news website was ‘Three Palestinians killed after deadly stabbing in Jerusalem’. The BBC eventually changed its headline to ‘Israeli policewoman stabbed to death in Jerusalem’”.
He asserted: “The BBC accepted its mistake and subsequently changed it. Of course, I am not accusing BBC journalists of antisemitism but this example demonstrates the drip-drip effect of unqualified, un-contextualised singling out of Israel for criticism. If the BBC can get this wrong, it is little wonder that Israel finds it so hard to put aside the idea that some critics are motivated by something more sinister than political commentary”.
Watch Lord Grade’s speech in the video below.
In October 2015, Lord Grade expressed concern about the BBC’s coverage of violence in Israel and the West Bank, in a letter to the organisation’s Director of News and Current Affairs. Click here to read his letter in full.
