BBC journalists have allegedly been “crying at work” over the corporation’s “dehumanising” coverage of Palestinians.
Concerns were raised during meeting this week that the BBC had been too lenient on Israel, with staff left crying in toilets and taking time off work over the approach to the conflict.
An email setting out fears that the BBC was “treating Israeli lives as more worthy than Palestinian lives” was sent to Tim Davie, the director-general.
READ MORE: Humza Yousaf attacks Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer over Gaza ceasefire stance
“What Hamas did was atrocious and nobody is excusing its actions, but the mood from a lot of people in the building is that we aren't getting the coverage right,” a source told The Times.
“Staff have been crying in the toilets and freelancers have been sacrificing earnings by not showing up to work because of the distress caused.”
In another email to Davie, Beirut-based correspondent Rami Ruhayem said that he had “the gravest possible concerns” about the output.
“Words like ‘massacre’, ‘slaughter’ and ‘atrocities’ are being used prominently in reference to actions by Hamas, but hardly, if at all, in reference to actions by Israel,” he said.
“Does this not raise the question of the possible complicity of the BBC in incitement, dehumanisation and war propaganda?”
He claimed the BBC was frequently going easy on Israeli officials and allowing them “comfortable airtime”.
“The BBC has taken upon itself in recent years the task of fighting fake news, disinformation, hate speech and such things, a trend in western media,” he said.
“Where is the content analysing the flood of incitement against Palestinians and tracking its impact?”
Journalist John Simpson earlier this week said the BBC has received an almost equal number of complaints about it being biased towards and against Israel.
“People rail at the BBC because they hope they can force it to come down on their side; and when that doesn’t happen — and it’s not going to — they get angrier still,” he wrote in the New Statesman.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel