In his attack on a second Jewish BBC journalist, Jones cites evidence from a writer who posted about ‘Jewish supremacist Zionist monsters’
February 14, 2025 14:52
Guardian columnist and YouTuber Owen Jones has launched a fresh attack on a Jewish BBC journalist.
Jones targeted Gidi Kleiman, BBC News’ senior producer in Israel, accusing the Israeli journalist of sharing content from what he claimed to be “extreme accounts”, including Eylon Levy and Aviva Klompas.
He accused Kleiman of posting only about Israeli suffering and included a video of the BBC journalist’s X timeline to support his claim.
BBC correspondent Jon Donnison swiftly defended Kleiman, calling him a “superb journalist” who is “smart, thoughtful, and fair.” He explained that Kleiman primarily covers the Israeli side of the conflict, while the BBC employs Palestinian producers who focus on Palestinian perspectives. “That is how newsrooms in the Middle East work,” Donnison stated.
Another senior BBC journalist, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “Gidi Kleiman is one of the most respected producers in the whole of the BBC. Jones' targeting of him is delusional. The fact that Jon Donnison has publicly rebutted him is indicative of the contempt in which Jones is held by proper correspondents.”
Among the posts highlighted by Jones as supposed evidence of Kleiman’s bias were tributes to victims of the October 7 Hamas attacks, including British-Israeli teenagers Noiya, 16, and Yahel, 13, murdered alongside their mother, Lianne Sharabi, at Kibbutz Be’eri. Another featured 18-year-old Maayan, killed in front of her family. Maayan’s British cousin Adam Ma’anit condemned Jones’s attack on Kleiman.
Jones also pointed to Kleiman’s post showing an empty succah with a seat reserved for the kidnapped Bibas children, an interview with Nir Oz resident Hadas Kalderon – whose mother and niece were murdered on October 7 and whose two youngest children were kidnapped – along with a BBC feature on the devastated Kibbutz Be’eri.
Other posts shared by Kleiman included a photograph of baby Kfir Bibas, an article about hostage mother Rachel Goldberg-Polin, and a post about the Idan children – Michael, Amalia, and Avigail – who saw their parents murdered by Hamas.
Owen Jones suggested slammed a BBC journalist for an X feed with posts about Israeli hostages (Photo: X)[Missing Credit]
Kleiman reposted a story of Liora Argamani, the late mother of former hostage Noa, who had brain cancer and pleaded for her daughter’s release. “Liora hopes to see her daughter one last time and tell her she loves her,” the post read.
Kleiman had also reshared a tribute to Dr Ruth Westheimer, who survived the Holocaust as a child, and a personal reflection on Holocaust Memorial Day. The latter read: “On the eve of Isreal's Holocaust Memorial Day, I stumbled upon a death announcement of Avhraham Harshalom, born 1925, who survived Auschwitz. We interviewed him in 2015 for the 70th anniversary of Auschwitz's liberation that he attended.”
These are all featured in Jones’s video of Kleiman’s timeline, which he cites to accuse the BBC journalist of bias.
Kleiman, who previously worked for the corporation in Washington DC, states on his X profile that “RTs [retweets are] not endorsements, comments mine not BBC.” Despite this, Jones implied that by reposting Klompas and Levy, Kleiman aligned himself with their positions.
One of Kleiman's reposts condemned by Owen Jones featured baby Kfir Bibas (Photo: X)[Missing Credit]
Jones claimed he was alerted to Kleiman’s posts by former BBC World employee Emre Azizlerli, who himself posted about “Jewish supremacist Zionist monsters”.
Azizlerli said of the CST figures about antisemitism in the UK released earlier this week: “Constant victimhood with record breaking antisemitism surveys every six months to cover for Jewish supremacist Zionist monsters who are committing an actual genocide right now. Does anyone buy into this?”
In another post, Azizlerli joked: “My biggest fear is coming across Jewish artefacts in my back yard. The Zionists would claim sovereignty and kick me out. Then I'd have to launch rockets, I'm afraid. You can't use archaeology to steal what's not yours.”
A post by former BBC employee Emre Azizlerli about "constant victimhood"[Missing Credit]
This latest attack by Jones follows his December assault on BBC Middle East editor Raffi Berg, whom he accused of pro-Israel bias. After Jones’ claims appeared in an article on Drop Site News, Berg, another seasoned Jewish journalist, was inundated with antisemitic abuse and death threats.
The JC reported that Berg has hired lawyers after Jones’s article led to antisemitic death threats.
Jones told the JC: "This senior BBC journalist retweets extreme pro-Israel accounts like Eylon Levy and Aviva Klompas, longstanding Israeli officials who justify despicable war crimes and promote the collective guilt of the Palestinian civilian population. If a senior BBC journalist retweeted equivalent longstanding Hamas officials, the Jewish Chronicle would be the first to scream blue murder."
A spokesperson for the BBC said: “We stand by our journalist and deplore targeted attacks on our staff.”
Azizlerli was contacted for comment.