The BBC has continued to use a Lebanese pundit who called for “death to Israel” on social media and praised a journalist who was sacked after sharing a joke about Hitler barbecuing Jews.

In January, the JC revealed that Mayssaa Abdul Khalek had called on Arab states to attack Israel, described an Israeli city as an “imperialist colony” and labelled Israel “occupied Palestine”.

The corporation said in response that while the Lebanon-based reporter was not a presenter, she should have been “challenged” on her comments on air. 

Since then, however, Khalek has appeared on BBC Arabic repeatedly.

While discussing Lebanese-Israeli tensions, BBC presenters have failed to confront her when she has referred to Israel as "an imperialist colony" and described its cities as "occupied Palestinian territories”, according to researchers at media monitoring group Camera Arabic, who have examined the channel’s output.

In March, Khalek praised Joelle Maroun, France 24’s former correspondent in Lebanon, who had been sacked after a series of posts she made about Adolf Hitler were revealed.

Writing on social media in 2013, Maroun said: “They asked Hitler ‘what did you do with the Jews?’ He said ‘nothing extraordinary, just having barbecue with the guys’.”

In other tweets, she wrote, “if only Hitler was Lebanese,” and “rise, Sir Hitler, rise, there are a few people that need to be burned.”

Writing on X in March, Khalek said: “All solidarity with colleague Joelle Maroun, everybody bears her witness for her professionalism, objectivity and alignment to the side of truth without differentiation or bigotry.”

Jouelle Maroun wrote on X, 'rise, Sir Hitler, rise, there are a few people that need to be burned' (Photo: X)

Khalek has used incendiary language while appearing as a pundit on BBC Arabic and on her personal social media account.

In 2021, describing on air how a Lebanese man had died, she said: “He and a group of youths were hit by RPGs that Israeli military shot at them during their attempt to cross the border fence in front of the imperialist colony of Metula.”

Metula is an Israeli town on the Lebanese border.
Without being interrupted by the presenter interviewing her, she added: “These events also come after three rockets were launched yesterday from South Lebanon towards occupied Palestine.”

In a 2016 social media post about the Syrian war, Khalek wrote: “Death to Israel”.

She continued: “Is it your business to resist the Arab countries or Israel? Oh, sorry, Israel is an ally of your friend Russia, and they coordinate in the Syrian war.”

When previously contacted about Khalek’s comments, the BBC said: “Mayassa Abdel Khalek is not a BBC News Arabic co-host or presenter. She is a contributor invited on occasion to talk about Lebanon.

“In a live and brief interview held May 14th 2021, when Ms Abdel Khalek delivered her analysis on rockets fired from Lebanon on May 13th 2021, she should have been challenged when she described Metulla as a ‘colony’.

"Further, when Ms Abdel Khalek commented on the intended target of the rockets, the presenter should have disputed her remark that they were headed to ‘occupied Palestine’. They were presumably launched towards northern Israel, which the BBC wouldn’t describe as ‘occupied Palestine’.

“We do not ban guests from appearing on the BBC. Careful judgements are made and will continue to be made about the guests we invite on and the context in which we hear from them.”

BBC Arabic’s continued use of Khalek is the latest in a series of examples of anti-Israel bias from the channel.

Following October 7, it repeatedly interviewed Major General Wasef Eriqat, who celebrated October 7 as a “heroic military miracle”.

It has also employed Layla Bashar al-Kloub, who asked god to “strengthen” a Holocaust denier and described Israel as “terrorists”.

From 2021 to 2023, BBC Arabic issued more than 130 corrections following complaints of bias and inaccuracy in reports about Israel and Jewish affairs – an average of more than one every week.

The channel, which is run by the BBC World Service, is supposed to be bound by the same rules that apply to channels in English, which stipulate that news coverage should be accurate and impartial.

A BBC Arabic spokesperson previously said: “The BBC invites a range of contributors on our programmes as we are committed to hearing a broad spectrum of voices and perspectives, and as audiences expect, our journalists routinely question and challenge the views of contributors.

“As with all our services, BBC News Arabic is committed to achieving due impartiality across its output. Separately, being related to a BBC staff member does not preclude someone from appearing on our programmes to provide commentary.”

The BBC was contacted for comment about Khalek’s recent social media activity and its continued use of the Lebanon-based journalist.

Eriqat and al-Kloub did not respond to earlier requests for comment.