For the Jewish community, the news in the closing weeks of 2021 has been dominated by the BBC’s coverage of the Chanukah assault on a group of young Jews in Oxford Street.

As if its original questionable accusation that there were ‘anti-Muslim slurs’ was not bad not enough, it then began what Board of Deputies president Marie van der Zyl called a “sinister” refusal to acknowledge that it had made any mistakes. The longer the BBC digs in, the worse this crisis is getting, with anger turning to rage that the country’s leading news organisation can be so intransigent.

Next month, Ms van der Zyl and others will meet Tim Davie, the BBC’s Director General. In the spirit of ‘New Year, new start’ we have a suggestion. Either Mr Davie can drop anchor, maintain the BBC’s stance that its coverage was flawless and see this crisis develop an even worse order of magnitude. Or, as we would prefer, he can show that he grasps the unreasonableness of the BBC’s stance to date, and the hurt it has caused British Jews.

It is in no one’s interest for the BBC and our community to be at war. Accusations of biased coverage against Israel are long-standing and well made. But the corporation’s behaviour over the Chanukah assault has brought all this to the forefront. Mr Davie has repeatedly stressed his core belief that the BBC must be impartial. This gives  him the opportunity to turn next month’s meeting to everyone’s advantage. First, by apologising for the BBC’s behaviour in recent weeks. And then by promising to take note of the many legitimate complaints that have been made — not least, as the JC has exposed, over BBC Arabic. There have been too many recent examples of the BBC at its worst. Mr Davie needs to show the BBC at its best.