THE BBC has been accused of “whitewashing Israel’s crimes” after it failed to report on the testimony of a surgeon who recently returned from Gaza at a Westminster committee.
We told how Professor Nizam Mamode, a former NHS surgeon who spent time working at Nasser hospital, broke down while testifying about children being “shot by IDF quadcopters” at the International Development Committee on Tuesday.
“This was day after day after day, operating on children – who would say ‘I was lying on the ground after a bomb had dropped and this quadcopter came down and hovered over me and shot me’,” Mamode (below) told MPs.
The BBC did not report on the testimony given in Parliament, which was called “profound and deeply chilling” by the committee's chair, Labour MP Sarah Champion.
The broadcaster was recently accused by pro-Palestinian group Scottish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign of “repeatedly promoting misleading and false narratives on Palestinians and Gaza” during a protest outside the BBC’s headquarters in Glasgow last month.
We previously told how campaigners raised concerns over the way a number of major news outlets, including the BBC, have approached coverage of events in Gaza.
A study published earlier this year found that the way in which the BBC reports on Palestinian and Israeli deaths shows clear “bias”.
‘This is not journalism. This is propaganda’
Wael Shawish, of Scottish Friends of Palestine, told The National: “It doesn’t surprise me that the BBC has chosen not to report on Professor Mamode’s harrowing testimonies at the UK parliament.
“Can you imagine if this was the other way round and the horrific experiences of surgeons being laid bare before a parliamentary committee related to Israelis?”
Shawish pointed towards reporting of recent football violence which unfolded in Amsterdam between Dutch and Israeli fans, which he said further demonstrated a pro-Israel “bias”.
Last week, Israeli fans were attacked and injured following clashes with apparent pro-Palestinian protesters after a Europa League football match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax in Amsterdam.
Some media outlets and politicians have decried the violence as “antisemitic”, with some referring to the incident as a “pogrom”. Yet many outlets have also been criticised for leaving out important context about the actions of Israeli fans before and after the game.
Shawish argued that the way in which events were reported showed how “a pro-Israel narrative was peddled throughout the Western media”.
“This was despite Dutch police releasing reports of deliberate acts of incitement to violence from Israeli fans and extensive video footage showing a clearly anti-Palestinian and anti-Islam agenda,” Shawish added.
Shawish continued: “We see what’s happening and see the efforts by the BBC, a once respected media outlet throughout the world, getting tangled repeatedly as it works hard to whitewash Israel’s crimes.
“This is not journalism. This is propaganda.”
The BBC has been contacted for comment.
