In another post, she praised Gazans who “killed the Jews” and expressed joy over a “hero” synagogue shooter who murdered five people. When three civilians in Tel Aviv were killed in 2022, she called the attacker a “martyr” and said he will go to “heaven”.
On October 7, the doctor changed her profile picture on Facebook to a photo with the words: “This land cannot accommodate two identities. [It’s] either us – or us” (Photo: Facebook)[Missing Credit]
She has repeatedly posted about Israel “without the Jews” and has written that “the Jews are traitors.” On October 7, she changed her Facebook profile picture to an image of her holding a sign which read: “This land cannot accommodate two identities. [It is] either us – or us”.
Media monitoring group Camera translated Assouli's May interview on BBC Arabic’s EgyptMean Time in which she detailed her experiences as a doctor during the raid on Nasser Hospital in the south of the Gaza Strip.
She said that doctors were “used to dealing with Jews... I tell you, the people had no certain connection with the resistance. I mean, they were very peaceful”.
The presenter interrupted to say that doctors had been arrested, but Assouli claimed this was “because they were deceived. Yes, [as though] your names are registered and have reached the Jews, so you have assurance. You have assurance that you will stay and you will see the patients and anyone present.”
She went on to make allegations about the “abuse and torture of doctors”, including beatings and interrogations.
At no point during the exchange did the BBC journalist, Assouli or her co-guest, Dr Mohammed Abu Lehya – who said he had been in Nasser Hospital since the beginning of the war – address the Israeli claim that Nasser hosted a large Hamas base and had been used to house Israeli hostages.
Released hostage Ada Sagi said she was held in the hospital, alongside nine other hostages, one of whom is still a captive.
The Israel Defence Force said it detained 200 Hamas fighters inside the hospital during the February raid when they found ammunition and unused medication intended for hostages.
In the segment on BBC News at Ten in March, the allegations about Nasser medics holding hostages were put to the interviewees – which included Assouli – but they denied any knowledge of the claims.
EgyptMean Time has frequently invited anti-Israel guests.
Cairo University professor, Hassan Nafaa, appeared on the programme in January after celebrating the “valiant resistance” of Palestinians on October 7. Later in October, he wrote: the Israeli “regime [is] more brutal than the Nazi regime”.
Another repeat interviewee on the programme, Tarek Fahmy, posted about the “Jewish lobby’s interference in the world’s film festivals”; while guest Fawzy Elashmawy wrote on October 7 that Israel “will eventually demise, Allah willing”.
When Camera complained to BBC Arabic about platforming Nafaa, the corporation defended their choice, responding: “It is not standard practice for us to vet the entire body of work of an interviewee, as the complaint suggests, particularly if they are invited to comment on a specific issue related to their expertise or field of specialisation.”
In a separate complaint, Camera highlighted claims made by Fahmy on the programme that “There is a war cabinet [in Israel] which is made out of terrorists, they are wanted in the world’s airports as terrorists.”
In leaked emails seen by the JC, BBC Arabic admitted that during the interview, "Fahmy made inaccurate claims regarding some Israeli ministers which our reporter did not repudiate and/or challenge in the moment.”
The BBC subsequently edited the video, removing Fahmy’s claims.
After uncovering Assouli's most recent BBC appearance, Camera said: “Like several other Gazan doctors who were uncritically platformed by the BBC, only for their past record of antisemitism to later resurface, the case of Dr al-Assouli was brought to the attention of BBC management by other media outlets in March.
“By May, however, the BBC was already yet again attempting to pass her off as a ‘credible eyewitness’ deemed fit for testifying against IDF personnel, this time to Arabic-speaking audiences only. BBC Arabic failed to challenge her and her companion Dr Abu Lehya on the issue of testimonies indicating that hostages were kept in the Nasser hospital where they both were working.
“This comes in the context of BBC Arabic consistently ignoring evidence of the involvement of Gazan medical staff in holding Israeli hostages and the use of the Nasser Hospital specifically as a command centre for Hamas.”
A BBC spokesperson said: “We refute these allegations. BBC News Arabic, like all BBC News output it is committed to hearing from a range of contributors and experts to offer a variety of views and perspectives from the Middle East. Across our coverage, we frequently hosted experts and interviewees with varying viewpoints and our journalists will continue to routinely question and challenge the views of contributors on air. We are clear that there is no place for antisemitism in our output.”
The JC contacted Assouli, Fahmy, Elashmawy and Nafaa for comment.
