Protesters call on BBC to ‘stop whitewashing terrorism’ following ‘propaganda’ Gaza documentary

A large crowd of protesters gathered outside the BBC’s headquarters in London last night following the broadcaster’s controversial documentary about Gaza that was pulled off air last week.

Demonstrators rallied around the Broadcasting House in Portland Place holding placards featuring the BBC logo and the words “spokespeople for terrorists”. Other signs showed Hamas militants with headbands saying “BBC”.

It comes after it was revealed by investigative journalist David Collier that the child narrator of BBC Two’s Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, was the son of a senior Hamas official.

“The BBC has become a mouthpiece for terror. It cannot call terrorism by its name. The BBC has become a spokesperson for terrorists,” said Gideon Falter, the chief executive of the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), which organised the demonstration.

The group is calling for more regulation of the broadcaster and an independent inquiry into the BBC’s coverage of Israel since war broke out with Hamas following October 7.

The CAA submitted a Freedom of Information request to the corporation, demanding to know whether the BBC made payments in relation to the documentary, to whom and in what amounts.

“This is an opportunity for the BBC to come clean on whether licence fee funds have gone to Hamas, a proscribed terrorist organization,” the Jewish advocacy group said.

"We all came out this evening because it is time for transparency and accountability. We need to know if licence fee funds went to Hamas, we need to know how a Hamas propaganda programme was broadcast, we need resignations and we finally need an independent inquiry into BBC bias against the Jewish state.”

It comes after Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch called on the BBC to formally investigate accusations that it is “systemically biased” against Israel.

“It is well known that inside Gaza the influence of the proscribed terrorist organisation Hamas is pervasive,” she wrote in a letter published by the Daily Mail.

“How could any programme from there be commissioned, without comprehensive work by the BBC to ensure that presenters or participants were – as far as possible – not linked to that appalling regime?”

In a meeting with the BBC’s director-general yesterday, culture secretary Lisa Nandy expressed "deep concern” regarding the Gaza documentary and pressed for answers on the “checks and due diligence” that the broadcaster carried out.

Also attending the rally was Collier, who told the crowd: “Last Monday night, the BBC aired a Hamas propaganda documentary. Four days later they took it down. But let us be clear about one key point. They did not take it down because it was raw Hamas propaganda… The only reason the BBC took down its documentary is because they were caught and this time – they had no excuses to hide behind.”

The BBC said it was conducting “further due diligence” following its admission that Abdullah Al-Yazouri, the 13-year-old narrator of the documentary purporting to be about “ordinary Palestinians”, was the son of the Deputy Minister of Agriculture in the Hamas government.

The documentary was pulled on Friday after criticism that key information about the narrator’s family ties had been withheld.

A spokesperson for the corporation said: “There have been continuing questions raised about the programme and in the light of these, we are conducting further due diligence with the production company that made the film. The programme will not be available on iPlayer while this is taking place.”