The head of BBC World Service has apologised for a “lapse of standards” after the corporation broadcast an uncritical interview with a Palestinian terrorist.
Ahlam Al-Tamimi was the mastermind behind the Sbarro pizza restaurant attack in Jerusalem in 2001 in which 15 Israelis were killed.
She was a given a platform by BBC Arabic TV’s Trending programme.
Bob Blackman, the Tory MP and Conservative Friends of Israel officer, wrote to the BBC Director General Tim Davie asking for an apology to the families of Tamimi’s victims.
Responding, BBC World Service Director Jamie Angus said that after an “editorial review, we found that this segment was in breach of our editorial.
“Al-Tamimi has been convicted of serious crimes,” he added, and it was “therefore not a suitable subject” to broadcast.
Mr Angus also wrote that the programme “did not follow the correct BBC procedures by failing to refer the matter to the BBC’s Editorial Policy team or to senior editors in BBC News Arabic. Had they done so, the segment would not have been authorised for broadcast.”
He said he would be reviewing with “my senior management team in BBC Arabic how we came to put out the item in the way that we did and will ensure that the appropriate lessons are learned across all our editorial teams. I apologise for this lapse in our editorial standards”.
Arnold Roth, whose 15-year-old daughter Malki died in the attack on the attack, told the Jewish News that the BBC’s apology for inviting her was “empty, cruel and pointless”.
He said he was “stunned by the coldness of the BBC’s formalistic, paint-by-numbers reaction to the torrent of criticism they received from an enraged public”.
Mr Roth also accused the BBC of having “misplaced their moral compass”.
Terrorist Tamimi had claimed credit for the attack in 2001, admitting to scouting the location of Sbarro – a popular eaterie in downtown Jerusalem – because it was known to be a favourite for families.
She previously said that she only felt disappointed as she had “hoped for a larger toll”.
She was released from an Israeli prison as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange in 2011.
