The BBC has pulled its documentary about children in Gaza from iPlayer after mounting pressure over a featured child being the son of a Palestinian minister, in a move some commentators have slammed as “cowardly”.
Outrage over Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone reached its highest point on Wednesday and Thursday, with the Israeli ambassador in London complaining to Britain’s public broadcaster, and culture secretary Lisa Nandy saying she will “be discussing” the issue with the BBC.
Most criticism has focused on the fact, first reported by researcher David Collier, that the documentary’s 13-year-old narrator Abdullah Alyazouri is the son of a minister in Gaza’s Hamas-run government.
Middle East Eye found on Thursday that Dr Ayman Alyazouri, Gaza’s deputy agriculture minister, appears to be a technocrat with a scientific background who previously worked for the United Arab Emirates government and studied at British universities.
Earlier this week a group of 45 prominent Jewish journalists and members of the media, including former BBC governor Ruth Deech, piled on pressure by sending a letter to the broadcaster demanding the film be removed from the iPlayer.
Obviously, they lied about his dad being Hamas.
But what I don’t get is, how does it even matter who the father is?
He is 13 years old.
But thanks for the mirror.
I believe the debate is if it was actually a documentary or a propaganda peice from Hamas called a documentary. Seems official sources are contradicting at the moment, and regardless of your side and the horrific things going on there, fact should be reported as fact. The BBC may know something we don’t, or can’t prove origin, and the Telegraph seem to be more specific.