THE Palestinian child at the centre of a national row after featuring in a BBC documentary on Gaza has spoken out.
Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone was removed from BBC iPlayer after it emerged that the 13-year-old narrator, Abdullah, is the son of Ayman Alyazouri, who has worked as deputy minister of agriculture in Gaza’s government, which is administered by Hamas.
The broadcaster apologised for the making of the programme, about children living in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war, after conducting an initial review and it has launched a further internal probe.
But now, Abdullah has spoken with Middle East Eye, saying that he had hoped that the documentary could “spread the message of the suffering that children in Gaza witness”.
The young boy also hit out at the BBC, saying he holds the corporation responsible for his fate.
“I’ve been working for over nine months on this documentary for it to just get wiped and deleted… it was very sad to me,” he said.
“It was pretty disappointing and sad to see this backlash against me and my family, and this harassment.”
Abdullah added: “Some anonymous people, let’s say, had tried to hide the true suffering of Gaza’s children by attacking me and my family."
The young boy also stressed that he now fears for his safety and spoke out about the “mental pressure” he is under – adding that he holds the BBC responsible.
He told MEE that the affair has caused him serious “mental pressure” and made him fear for his safety.
Now, he says, he holds the BBC responsible for his fate.
A BBC spokesperson said: “The BBC takes its duty of care responsibilities very seriously, particularly when working with children, and has frameworks in place to support these obligations.”
More than 48,000 Palestinians, the majority of whom were women and children, have been killed by Israel during its brutal war on Gaza.
According to BBC's director general Tim Davie, the BBC has received 500 complaints that the film was biased against Israel, but this was outweighed by a further 1800 complaints about its removal from iPlayer.
