BBC pulls Gaza documentary featuring son of Hamas official

“Victory!” investigative journalist David Collier posted on social media on Friday, minutes after the BBC removed from iPlayer a documentary that essentially acted as a mouthpiece for Hamas through a 13-year-old boy.

Collier told ALL ISRAEL NEWS last week that this would be the correct outcome, following his investigation into the sources of the production, entitled ‘How to Survive a Warzone.’

“They also need to do a full rebuild of the BBC’s information gathering process from areas such as Gaza. They are not fit for purpose,” he said, after revealing that the boy’s father, Ayman Al Yazouri, is a senior Hamas government minister.

Following Collier’s exposé and multiple newspaper reports, the BBC issued a clarification, claiming the production company, Hoyo Films, did not divulge the Hamas connection.

Following further outcry, including a letter of complaint signed by 45 prominent Jewish media figures, and comments by the relevant UK government minister, the BBC withdrew the online link “while it carries out ‘further due diligence,’” the corporation stated.

“If the BBC was aware that Abdullah Al-Yazouri was the son of a terrorist leader, why was this not disclosed to audiences during the programme?” the signatories reportedly asked.

“If the BBC was not aware that Abdullah Al-Yazouri is the son of a terrorist leader, what diligence checks were undertaken and why did they fail?”

“I watched it last night,” the minister for Culture, Media and Sport, Lisa Nandy, told LBC Radio on Tuesday. “It’s something that I will be discussing with them, particularly around the way in which they sourced the people who were featured in the program.”

Nandy disclosed that she is already speaking with the BBC to discuss how antisemitism can easily spill out as a result of its reporting on Israel.

She told LBC Radio that she had an “absolutely shocking conversation,” and that some of the stories she was told by employees were “really chilling [her] to the core.”

“I’ve had a conversation with the Chair of the BBC and the Director General about the way in which they deal with issues around Israel, Gaza and to ensure that we don’t stray into antisemitism when we deal with these things,” she said.

Her comments follow complaints by over 200 BBC staff members and contractors, and separately by a whistleblower, regarding prejudice towards Jewish workers at the corporation, which they say has worsened since the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the coverage of the conflict.

“It’s absolutely awful, and it’s actually really distasteful isn’t it, on a day where we are seeing coffins containing babies being returned to their families?” said Rebecca Ryan of Defund the BBC, on Talk TV Thursday, as Israel mourned former hostages, Shiri Bibas and her children. “It’s really upsetting,” she added.

Meanwhile, on GB News Sunday morning, Israel’s deputy foreign minister, Sharren Haskel, said that an OFCOM (UK communications regulator) investigation would only be the first step into a long line of failures in BBC reporting.

“This is pure propaganda that is being promoted by the BBC, Hamas propaganda,” she told Camilla Tominey.

“I mean, they surely knew about it. There is not a chance that they would film children for an extended period of time without knowing who their parents are.”

The Times reported on Sunday that the BBC’s director-general, Tim Davie, and chairman, Samir Shah, will “demand answers” from their staff this week.

“The BBC is currently doing additional diligence on the documentary and the board will want to see the outcome of that work once complete,” said a source close to the board.

“The board has a scheduled meeting later this week where this matter is on the agenda,” the source added.