BBC apologises for ‘flaws’ in Gaza documentary, including paying family with Hamas links

The BBC has apologised and admitted to “serious flaws” in the making of a controversial documentary on Gaza, featuring a child with links to Hamas.

The corporation’s board met on Thursday and released a statement recognising that “significant and damaging” mistakes had been made after an initial review. 

Speaking in the wake of calls for an independent inquiry, a spokesperson from the corporation said: “Some of these mistakes were made by the production company, and some by the BBC; all of them are unacceptable. BBC News takes full responsibility for these and the impact that these have had on the Corporation’s reputation. We apologise for this.”

Former head of Television at the BBC, Danny Cohen said: “This is not an occasion when the BBC should be marking its own homework. It is time for the BBC to acknowledge that it has a systemic problem of bias against Israel of which this is the tip of the iceberg.”

The furore comes after the broadcaster removed Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone from iPlayer on February 21 after it was revealed by activist and freelance journalist David Collier that Abdullah al-Yazouri, the film’s 13-year-old narrator, is the son of a senior Hamas official.

The spokesperson added: “During the production process, the independent production company was asked in writing a number of times by the BBC, about any potential connections he and his family might have with Hamas.

"Since transmission, they have acknowledged that they knew that the boy’s father was a Deputy Agriculture Minister in the Hamas Government; they have also acknowledged that they never told the BBC this fact.

"It was then the BBC’s own failing that we did not uncover that fact and the documentary was aired.”

Over the question of whether payments were sent to Hamas during the making of the documentary, the spokesperson said that the production company, Hoyo Films, told the BBC it paid Abdullah’s mother, via his sister’s bank account, a “limited sum of money” for the narration.

"While Hoyo Films have assured us that no payments were made to members of Hamas or its affiliates, either directly, in kind, or as a gift, the BBC is seeking additional assurance around the budget of the programme and will undertake a full audit of expenditure,” the spokesperson added. The BBC is requesting the relevant financial accounts of the production company in order to do this.

The BBC’s director general, Tim Davie, has requested that a full “fact finding review” be undertaken by Peter Johnston, the director of editorial complaints and reviews, which is independent from BBC News.

"He will determine whether any editorial guidelines have been broken; rapidly address the complaints that have been made; and, enable the BBC to determine whether any disciplinary action is warranted in relation to shortcomings in the making of this programme.

This will include issues around the use of language, translation and continuity that have also been raised with the BBC,” the spokesperson added.

It comes after the BBC was accused of “covering up Palestinian antisemitism” in the documentary by allegedly editing out references to “Jews” and “Jihad” when translating interviews from Arabic.

In a statement, Hoyo films said: “When we were commissioned to make Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, our aim was to make an engaging and insightful documentary about the lives of young people in Gaza.

"We felt it was important to hear from voices that haven’t been represented onscreen throughout the war with dignity and respect – and to tell the story about the devastating impact of war on their everyday lives.

"We are cooperating fully with the BBC and Peter Johnston to help understand where mistakes have been made.

"We feel this remains an important story to tell, and that our contributors – who have no say in the war – should have their voices heard.”

In response to the BBC’s statement, Danny Cohen, the former director of television at the broadcaster, said: 

“The BBC has now acknowledged the very serious journalistic failings of this documentary and the damage it has caused to the BBC's reputation.

"The unwillingness of the BBC to address these problems transparently over the last 16 months (and before) is what has led to the debacle of this Gaza documentary.

"It is astonishing that the BBC have now admitted money has gone to the family of a senior Hamas official, and this is a matter that must now be fully investigated by the authorities.

"The BBC must allow a full independent inquiry to investigate the processes that led to this documentary being produced, and the pervasive anti-Israel bias that allowed it to pass through the system unobstructed.”

Criticism also came from within the corporation. Presenting the Today Programme on Friday, BBC journalist Justin Webb said that the broadcaster’s mistakes were “staggering”.

“They weren’t lied to, they just didn’t bother to follow up,” he said, referring to the corporation’s lack of knowledge about the child narrator’s family.

“That is incompetence of such an extraordinary nature,” he said.

Speaking to him was Roger Mosley, former Head of BBC Television News, who accused the corporation of making “basic errors” by not uncovering the child’s links to Hamas.

“The fact that the BBC has found all this out in the period of about 10 days shows that these are questions you ask before transmission,” he said.

“I think the people tearing their hair out are the people [at the BBC] who put the work in day after day after day and then are let down by this kind of sloppiness and incompetence,” he added.