Is the BBC anti Israel and/or antisemitic

I am not going to comment on the BBC itself, because I do not watch their news very often. These days I mainly read newspapers on the way in and out of work.
But I do see bias, one way or another, in most of the reports I follow indeed. I try to get some balance on what I read, but that is tricky indeed.

Just now on radio 4 Today, a man was able to talk about the awful fear and suffering of civilians in southern Lebanon without mentioning once that Hezbollah has been firing rockets at Israeli citizens since October 8th 2023, and Israel are finally retaliating and defending their people and their land. At least the presenter reminded him that Hezbollah are terrorists.

Compare it to these two titles . Who killed them?

bbc has been criticised for “hiding” Israel from its titles

I do agree they’re not pro Israel or pro Palestine. They might try their best and not do it right for anyone

This is the current lead story on BBC new's homepage. Would you say this is pro-Israel, anti-Israel or neutral? For instance, it doesn't say "Israel's invasion of Lebanon leaves eight Israeli soldiers and uncounted Lebanese civilians dead", but nor does it say "Hezbollah murders eight Israelis". What do you think?

I don't watch BBC news but I listen to radio 4 and find it biased against Israel. I'm not Jewish or Muslim.

Iran's (and Hamas and Hezbollah) mission is to literally genocide Israel. But time and again people are not challenged when they come on the radio and claim Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza.

BBC for months reported Hamas figures as facts, when they were always grossly exaggerated or lies. E.g. when that hospital was bombed and it was just the car park that got hit, BBC reported that 400 people had died and later had to retract what they had reported so confidently. BBC rarely make the point that Hamas uses Palestinians as human shields, or that actual urban warfare experts confirm that Israel much more care to avoid killing civilians than any other country engaged in urban warfare.

If anything I would say BBC is more likely to be pro Israel, they tend to give a lot of weight to the Government's stance. Having said that I won't hear a word against Orla Guerin she's been a heroine of mine for many years - bit of a girl crush!

I watch channel 4 news as they definitely feel more independent. They are much more straight talking too, a spade is a spade!

I would have said yes, it's very clear that the BBC has a an obvious anti-Israel stance. However, in just the last couple of days, I've heard lots of very pro-Israel comment on R4.

(this makes me a bit worried that they're gearing up for the UK to become involved with Israel and the US against Iran)

The BBC reported on pretty much each individual hostage and victim in those awful harrowing attacks a year ago. It really brought them to life and it was devastating to read about all the innocent lives full of promise cut short in such horrific fashion.

Yet when it came to the bombing of Gaza, bar a few individual reports, we just got numbers of deaths. Big numbers. But just numbers. There were people, children, behind those numbers too.

That often left me wondering about whether BBC has pro Israel bias.

But given the feelings to the contrary it seems it is probably about in the middle somewhere

If is saddening to learn about the horrors that don't get reported here

The whole situation is just devastating and I really hope somehow it can de-escalate because the alternative is harrowing for everyone trying to live lives in that part of the world

Sorry, I see someone already posted that interview.

Interesting interview with John Simpson explaining why the BBC does not describe terrorist organisations as such using it's own voice but will say that others describe them as terrorist organisations:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67083432.amp

People who have very strong opinions one way or the other are the least able to judge bias.

People see lack of support for their view as bias for the other side, it’s human nature and it happens time and time again. The BBC works under incredibly difficult circumstances constantly trying to resist people on both sides of every conflict screaming at them that they are biased towards the other side. I think their reporters do an incredibly job under unimaginable pressure and at great risk to their own lives and wellbeing.

It seems you’re suggesting that I’m against Israel defending itself. Not at all.
I am vehemently against Israel’s disproportionate and genocidal response to the October 7th attacks.

I guess if we don't have people illegally settling other counties , if we don't have our soldiers in other countries , regularly killing their citizens then we have less to fear from terrorists ?

When we did have a terrorist problem ( Northern Ireland ) we solved it eventually- by talking. Listening. Making compromises. Not by creating more people who hate us by killing their friends and families

Exactly this

They appear scared to upset terrorists and their supporters.

Imagine if these terrorists were around our borders constantly firing rockets into the UK. Should we just suck it up. They want to destroy the good things in life.

You mean they shouldn't defend themselves and when Iran, Hezbollah the Houthis, Hamas etc attack they should just roll over and die.

Iran fund terrorists who are all over the middle east causing mayhem and you blame Israel.

You misunderstand how bias works. The BBC is unbiased across its output. When the news is that a major figure has been assassinated in a manner that breaks the Geneva convention, using bunker buster bombs in a civilian area, that is what the report is. There is no requirement to spend an equal amount of time in that report on the Israeli justifications.

I don't think the BBC are as biased on the conflict as they are with the US elections (noticably anti-Trump - not that I care) or other media outlets (e.g. Al Jazeera). It is interesting though which conflicts they focus on - hardly mention the war in Sudan anymore - must have all been sorted when the British civilians were evactued.

The UN considers Gaza to have been occupied for longer than a year because of yej control its troops have had over airspace , shoreline etc

It isn't biased.

Israel has been a year in Gaza. It is way more than enough.

I think sometimes people forget why Israel are bombing

I think sometimes people forget who Israel are bombing-> innocent civilians

The current news does not make Israel look reasonable and that isn't the BBCs fault.

Given the events of October 7th I think it was a very reasonable assumption that there would be retaliation

What would be unreasonable would be if those that invaded, murdered and took hostages on October 7th didn't plan or expect a retaliation and then thought that using hostages and civilians as a shield would stop Israel from retaliating

I think sometimes people forget why Israel are bombing

Remember who put these people in the firing line of Israel

Netanyahu and his staff are never off the BBC evening news. He gets to present his case in the first person and viewers can interpret his words as they see fit.

It's gone well hasn't it? Conservative estimates are that 6000 women and 11, 000 children have been killed, three hostages carrying white flags and more from Israeli bombing.

Is Israel any safer? Will it be when the next generation of radicalised Arab Muslim come of age.

The Middle East is so entrenched in violence, bloodshed and historical conflict. The BBC has to be neutral. Those involved in the Middle East warfare don't do neutral. You're either with them or against them.

This explains the stick the BBC get from Israel.