The BBC has been criticised often for its coverage of the Israeli war on Gaza [Mark Kerrison/In Pictures via Getty]
The BBC has pulled a documentary which follows the life of a boy in war-torn Gaza after seemingly coming under pressure from Israeli supporters.
‘Gaza: How To Survive A War Zone’ which was on the BBC’s iPlayer streaming service centres on the struggles of 13-year-old Abdullah, living under Israel’s brutal offensive in the Palestinian territory.
“The film remains a powerful child’s eye view of the devastating consequences of the war in Gaza which we believe is an invaluable testament to their experiences, and we must meet our commitment to transparency,” the BBC had said in a statement on Wednesday.
But the documentary was removed after the BBC discovered that the boy’s father, Dr Ayman Alyazouri, has worked as a deputy agriculture minister in the Gaza government. In 2007 Hamas, which the UK considers a terrorist group, took over the Gaza Strip following a conflict with rival Palestinian group Fatah.
Critics of the BBC’s decision have noted however that Alyazouri only has a technocratic role in the Gaza government. He has reportedly worked for the United Arab Emirates government and studied in British universities.
They have lashed out at the BBC for its decision to remove a documentary merely humanising Palestinians and showing their everyday lives under Israeli attacks.
They say Alyazouri’s work in the Gaza government was not a good enough excuse to take down the documentary.
After learning of the Alyazouri’s purported Hamas ties, the documentary was initially kept on iPlayer with a message at the beginning saying: “The narrator of this film is 13-year-old Abdullah. His father has worked as a deputy agriculture minister for the Hamas-run government in Gaza.”
But following pressure, it was eventually taken down on Friday, a day after British Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said she would discuss the issue with the BBC’s director general and chairman.
The BBC has defended its decision to remove the documentary, saying it was not aware of the boy’s family links and was carrying out “further due diligence”.
The BBC says that a number of British television figures had sent letters criticising it and called “for an investigation”.
It named some of them as actress Tracy-Ann Oberman, former BBC One controller and pro-Israel commentator Danny Cohen, producer Leo Pearlman, and producer Neil Blair, a UK envoy for the Israel-based The Abraham Initiative.
Despite it being pulled from iPlayer, many online users have shared the one-hour documentary on social media.
In October, a year after the start of the war, the BBC also released a 90-minute documentary titled ‘Life and Death in Gaza,’ profiling four Palestinians in Gaza whose lives were upturned by the war.
However, the British broadcaster has been criticised numerous times its coverage of Israel’s 15-month war on the Gaza Strip that killed over 61,000 people, mostly women and children.
Pro-Palestinian activists have criticised the BBC for pro-Israel bias before, holding several protests outside its headquarters in London.
