THE BBC has admitted it should not have presented an Israel military line as fact – but has thrown out a complaint about having done so.
In a bulletin on the BBC’s News at Ten programme on August 29 last year, Israeli military strikes on the West Bank that had occurred the previous day were referred to by the presenter as “Israel’s counter-terrorism operation”.
A viewer filed an official complaint saying that this effectively endorsed the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) description of the strikes, as there was no attribution to the IDF.
The report equally did not contain any reference to the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) then-recent ruling that Israel’s continued occupation of the West Bank is a breach of international law.
BBC News admitted it would have been better if the phrase “counter-terrorism operation” had been specifically attributed to the IDF, and the Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) agreed.
But the broadcaster still maintained the absence of any attribution to the IDF or the lack of reference to the ICJ ruling was not a breach of standards.
The decision on the complaint said: “In responding to the complaint, BBC News had already acknowledged that it would have been better if the phrase ‘counter-terrorism operation’ had been specifically attributed to the IDF, and the ECU agreed.
“In this instance, however, it did not believe that either the absence of attribution or the lack of reference to the International Court of Justice ruling resulted in a breach of standards.”
The BBC highlighted that in the previous evening’s 10pm bulletin, a news piece on Israeli attacks on the West Bank, in which nine people died, was accompanied by a reference to the ICJ’s ruling.
Immediately after referencing the ICJ in that bulletin the BBC said violence had been increasing in the West Bank “since the Hamas attacks of October 7, with the UN saying more than 650 Palestinians have been killed and that there’s been violence against Israelis”.
It went on: “This latest massive operation involved Israeli forces simultaneously entering the cities of Jenin, Tulkarm, Nablus and Tubas, in what the defence forces called a counter-terrorism strike."
The BBC said taking the previous evening’s bulletin with the “overall context of the BBC’s coverage of the conflict”, the complaints unit did not “think it likely” viewers would have understood the unattributed use of “counter-terrorism operation” or considered the lack of reference to the ICJ as pro-Israeli bias.
Last year the ICJ said Israel has abused its status as the occupying power in the West Bank and east Jerusalem by carrying out policies of annexing territory, imposing permanent control and building settlements.
It said such acts render “Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territory unlawful”, adding that its continued presence was ”illegal” and should be ended as “rapidly as possible”.
In the opinion read out by court president Nawaf Salam, the court found that “the transfer by Israel of settlers to the West Bank and Jerusalem as well as Israel’s maintenance of their presence, is contrary to article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention”.
