The Board of Deputies has given the BBC a deadline of Passover to tackle concerns over its reporting on the Israel-Hamas war and the wellbeing of its Jewish staff.
Following a meeting on Thursday afternoon between Board President Phil Rosenberg and BBC Director General Tim Davie, Rosenberg said: “The British Jewish community has long been sounding the alarm regarding BBC misreporting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; not just for years, but for decades.
“The refusal by the Corporation to commit to proper change has led to the situation it now finds itself in – one where a significant number of errors in its coverage have been logged during the last 17 months and a situation where the son of a senior Hamas official narrated its recent Gaza documentary.”
That same day, the BBC was forced to apologise after a BBC World Service producer asked the Israeli embassy to provide an anti-Netanyahu speaker for the Newshour programme. The Corporation admitted the request was a “serious mistake” that “clearly falls well below our standards.”
In a statement released after the meeting, the Board said: “The BBC leadership needs to grip the issue with a seriousness and urgency we have not yet seen.
"We told them that the current situation was not good enough and needs to change. We called for the Corporation to commit to a clear series of actions ahead of the Passover Festival - beginning April 12 - at the latest.”
The Board outlined seven areas for the BBC to commit to “clear action,” including a “thematic review into the Corporation’s reporting on Israel-Gaza since October 7 2023.”
The Jewish representative body also urged the BBC to “inform their audience of the status of all organisations proscribed as terrorist groups by the British Government – including both Hamas and Hezbollah” across all BBC media platforms.
Among its other requests, the Board called for a mechanism to “rapidly” address serious editorial breaches and proposed a “one-strike” policy for BBC staff found to have “egregiously breached its rules of impartiality and or antisemitism.”
The Board also demanded the BBC stop its editorial practice of “mistranslating” the Arabic word Yahud, meaning Jew, as “Israeli” when cited by Palestinians.
Additionally, it called for a separate review of BBC Arabic, where “multiple members of staff were found to have openly celebrated the mass-terror attack of October 7th and were briefly suspended – before being allowed to return to their jobs, which have included subsequent reporting on Israel,” according to the Board.
Another pressing issue raised was the “serious deterioration in the health and well-being of Jewish staff, including a sense of pervasive hostility and isolation, over the last 18 months.”
Following the meeting, Rosenberg said: “We found the BBC to be active listeners to our concerns. But the community will judge them on the actions they take to address these serious matters.”
He set the deadline for Pesach, urging the BBC to take "clear action."
“The Festival of Passover begins in mid-April. We believe that this is enough time for the BBC to demonstrate its determination to begin the significant changes which need to take place in order for it to return to the high standards we all expect from our national public broadcaster.”
