BBC removed references to ‘Jews’ and ‘jihad’ in Gaza documentary
25 February 2025 3:52pm GMT
The BBC has been accused of “whitewashing” the views of participants in its controversial Gaza documentary after repeatedly mistranslating references to “the Jews” and omitting praise of “jihad”.
The Telegraph can reveal that on at least five occasions the words Yahud or Yahudy – Arabic for “Jew” or “Jews” – were changed to “Israel” or “Israeli forces”, or were removed from the subtitles altogether.
An interviewee praising Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader, for “jihad against the Jews” was also mistranslated as saying he was fighting “Israeli forces”.
The BBC is under pressure to reveal whether taxpayers’ money was given to Hamas during the making of Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone.
Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, said that if the BBC finds evidence money was given to Hamas, then counter terror police should investigate.
Asked whether the Met Police should investigate, she said: “We know that it is illegal to give money to terrorist organisations. Hamas is a terrorist organisation. The Met would make its operational decisions.
“I think that the BBC certainly needs to investigate and get the evidence for what has or what hasn’t happened, and then the police can make a decision on that. But we know what is right and what is legal in our country, and giving money to terrorists is not it.”
The documentary was trailed as revealing “in gripping detail the lives of four young people living in Gaza”, and it was said it would present “an unflinching and vivid view of life in a war zone”.
However, the broadcaster issued an apology and removed the film from iPlayer after it emerged that it had prominently featured the son of a Hamas minister.