DAILY MAIL
Israel warns it could stop BBC from reporting in the country for refusing to call Hamas terrorists – as corporation admits it was wrong to speculate that rocket that hit Gaza hospital was ‘Israeli air strike’
Israel has warned it could stop the BBC from reporting in the country for refusing to call Hamas terrorists – as the broadcaster admitted it was wrong to speculate that a rocket that hit a Gaza hospital was an ‘Israeli air strike’.
A senior Israeli official said the government could take action if the BBC continued ‘crossing the line in accordance with our laws’. It came after Israel’s president Isaac Herzog said its policy of referring to Hamas as militants was ‘atrocious’.
Israel’s communications ministry is currently looking at the possibility of closing Qatari owned Al Jazeera’s local bureau over claims its coverage was favourable to Hamas.
Ask if it could crack down on other broadcasters, the Israeli official told the Telegraph: ‘We’re a democratic country and we will use all the tools a democratic state has.
‘If any broadcast channel uses any terminology we think is crossing the line in accordance with our laws, we will do it.
The official urged broadcasters: ‘Don’t fall into the hands of those terrorists that are pure evil.’
Any move to ban the BBC from Israel would raise press freedom concerns.
The BBC refers to Hamas as a ‘militant’ group and described the slaughter of civilians as a ‘militant’ attack.
It has a long-standing policy of only using the term ‘terrorist’ when it is attributed to someone else.
John Simpson, its World Affairs Editor, has warned that calling Hamas terrorists would be ‘taking sides’ and its not the BBC’s job to tell people who to support and who to condemn’.
The BBC was criticised after a reporter speculated that an ‘Israeli strike’ was responsible for an explosion at a hospital in Gaza that killed hundreds of people.
In the immediate aftermath of the blast, correspondent Jon Donnison said it was ‘hard to see’ what else could have happened at the al-Ahli Hospital other than an ‘Israeli air strike’.
Despite this claim, growing evidence has emerged that the explosion at the al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City was caused by a failed rocket launch by terrorist group Islamic Jihad.
Security minister Tom Tugendhat singled out the report when he appeared on the Today programme yesterday, saying it had been ‘really serious’ and had ‘real costs’.
He even implied it could have contributed to Joe Biden abandoning his Middle East peace summit, adding: ‘This was not the BBC’s finest hour.’
Last night following huge criticism, the corporation issued a statement on the ‘Corrections and Clarifications’ page of its website, which admitted ‘it was wrong to speculate in this way’.
