THE BBC has quietly altered an article which falsely reported that a senior Israeli government minister was not in the UK.
Gideon Sa’ar, Israel’s foreign minister, has been on an unannounced visit to London – which has gone all-but unreported in the UK media – since at least Tuesday this week.
Sa’ar controversial visit saw him meet with Foreign Secretary David Lammy less than two weeks after Israel barred two Labour MPs from entering the country.
It is also one month since Israel breached the ceasefire agreement in Gaza on March 18, killing hundreds of Palestinians in a single night – and the blockade on aid entering the region remains in place.
Sa’ar has consistently justified Israel’s actions – which experts say amount to genocide of Palestinians – leading to rights groups seeking arrest warrants for him from both the International Criminal Court and the Westminster Magistrate Court.
However, the BBC has instituted a complete black-out of Sa’ar’s visit to the UK – on Thursday even wrongly reporting that a meeting he held with a British Jewish leader had happened in Israel.
On Wednesday, 36 board members of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the largest Jewish representative body in the UK, wrote a letter in the FT condemning Israel’s actions in Palestine and refusing to be represented by Benjamin Netanyahu’s “most extremist of Israeli governments”.
On Thursday, Phil Rosenberg, the president of the Board of Deputies, wrote on social media that he had met with Sa’ar – in what was widely read as a rebuke of the Jewish leaders who spoke against the Israeli government.
“Unity is strength. Division serves only our enemies,” Rosenberg wrote, sharing an image of himself shaking hands with Sa’ar.
The visit had in fact happened in London, where Sa’ar had been for days and is understood to be set to remain until Saturday.
After The National twice approached the BBC for comment on the inaccuracy, it was quietly changed on Friday morning.
The story now reads: “Mr Rosenberg also met Israel's visiting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gideon Saar, in London on Thursday.”
The BBC also added a correction at the end of the article, which read: "This article originally said Phil Rosenberg had visited Israel and met Israel's foreign minister there. In fact, their meeting took place in the UK during a visit by the minister."
The updated sentences represent the only mention of Sa’ar’s visit to the UK across all of the BBC’s output.
On Wednesday, The National reported how the broadcaster had been under fire for its complete silence on the Israeli minister’s visit.
Gary Spedding, an independent cross-party consultant on Israel-Palestine, said it was “extraordinary” that the BBC has failed to report on the visit and there was “no good reason” for a lack of coverage.
Spedding told The National: “Once again the BBC and other media outlets demonstrating they do not deserve the high levels of public trust that they enjoy.”
Spedding had also highlighted the inaccuracy in the BBC’s report on social media.
The BBC has not yet responded to The National’s request for comment.
