Is the BBC anti Israel and/or antisemitic

[Newbutoldfather]

BBC coverage ‘institutionally hostile’ to Israel, say Jewish groups

https://www.thetimes.com/article/a4aa31e2-0084-4bf4-bb33-b93d02917440?shareToken=e38d95867859d345f297becf90753213

As a secular Jew who recognises that the current Israeli government has made many mistakes and is arguably racist, I still do find the BBC’s coverage to be horribly biased against Israel.

It isn’t just the words they use but the tone they use, the juxtaposition of the words and images, errors off omission, and also the time allocated to either side’s perspective.

As an example, when Nasrallah was killed, there was about 5 minutes about how Israel had killed a major leader of the Axis of Resistance, delivered in a stentorian and sad tone, pictures of mourning Lebanese and lots on whether this wouldn’t push the conflict over the edge (with lots of powerful images of the bombing, crying women etc). There was then a very brief cut to the IDF statement with very little comment.

Both Orla Guerin and Jeremy Bowen have been accused of antisemitism many many times over the years, but they are knowledgeable, clever and slippery. And, most importantly, very litigious with licence payer’s money. It is very hard to nail them as, as I mentioned above, a lot of it is about juxtaposition, tone and only telling half the story (see link attached).

But maybe I am wrong? I would love to hear others’ opinions. Remember this is about BBC bias only, not your overall view on Israel or the ‘Axis of Resistance’.

@samarrange

Well put! When both sides think the BBC is bias then they are probably spot on. The BBC are neither pro Israel nor pro anyone else

'Hard to nail them'? Either they're antisemitic or not. Why are you trying to 'nail' people?

Comments like that make it difficult to trust your intentions. How about you take people at face value? Throwing accusations of antisemitism around baselessly will only damage the message you want to get across.

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/israel-palestine-bbc-news-coverage-bias-gaza-war/

However, I am not a fan of the BBC in general. I rarely read a BBC article that doesn't show bias of some sort... The BBC slant on anything Irish is always incredibly painful, though it has gotten slightly better in recent years.

Perhaps other ME countries should stop trying to bomb the hell out of Israel.

The "Iron Dome" stops most rocket attacks, so we don't see the relentless attacks on Israel which have been going on for years.

And as for the BBC calling Hamas "described as a terrorist organisation by the British government" - Hamas and Hezbollah ARE terrorist organisations. Why is the BBC so reluctant to call a spade a spade?

If Iran wins this, there won’t be any safe place anywhere in the Middle East if you are Jewish, and the spilt blood would make what Israel is doing a pinprick

Netanyahu had a responsibility to prevent this from happening to the Jewish people. He is absolutely at the helm of Israel's present existential crisis. Nobody has been more threatening and violent since October 7th than Israel.
And furthermore, nobody will 'win'. This is a failure for humanity, not a 'win' for ANYone in the M.E.

Bollocks. I saw all of this on the BBC.

I regularly hear both sides being interviewed and Israeli government gets ample time to put its side across.

@SerenityNowInsanityLater ,

‘Netanyahu had a responsibility to prevent this from happening to the Jewish people. He is absolutely at the helm of Israel's present existential crisis. Nobody has been more threatening and violent since October 7th than Israel.’

What would you have done is his place post 07/10? Having your people killed, raped and kidnapped tends to upset most national leaders.

@Newbutoldfather i think the ‘sad’ tone reporting on the death of nasrallah is because

a- it isn’t a report on the comedy awards and
b- it is likely to intensify conflict in an already overheated and volatile part of the world.

I 100% agree with you op. Why won't they use the word terrorist when Hamas & Hezbolla are terrorists? Too many people to upset within the bbc?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67083432

I'd have got them back alive through negotiations. Like in 2006 when 19-year-old Gilad Shalit was returned. Rather than responded disproportionately and increased hostily towards Israel and fanned the flames of antisemitism globally putting Jews everywhere at increased risk of violence.

Quoting in full because I think this is an extremely perceptive post by @Scirocco

I think 1) In some ways Israel is doing the West’s work for us and the West is trying to have it both ways while Israel puts its money where its mouth is and 2) much of the anti-Israel/pro Palestine narrative is very infantilising and othering to Muslims in Gaza and other ME countries.

So do some European countries for example France. We watch Arte, a French/German TV station that provides balanced reports unlike British media.

I suggest you watch the BBC documentary about the massacre of Nova festival goers. Having watched testimonies of survivors (all young people like you would find at Glastonbury for example). I can quite understand Israel's response to Hamas in Gaza.

I think some Jewish groups want there to be more content on the BBC that paints the Israeli government in a sympathetic light however there just isn't any way to do that right now.
The BBC have a duty to report the current news. They don't have a duty to provide you with all the historical context that may make Israel look more reasonable.
The current news does not make Israel look reasonable and that isn't the BBCs fault.
If anything, you see on social media the amount of public feeling being that the BBC is not showing the true extent of devastation in Gaza etc...
To me it seems like the BBC is not taking any sides its simply reporting current events as it has them.
And I don't know why you think that if it were to be biased it would be biased against Israel? Given that the British government is saying supportive things about Israel, even the Labour government.. and the BBC is owned by Tories.

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.

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.

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.

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

I think sometimes people forget why Israel are bombing

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

It isn't biased.

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

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

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.