The BBC has denied that it acted as a “propagandist” for terrorist groups after it was accused of repeating unverified speculation that Israel was responsible for the Gaza hospital attack.
Its coverage of the heavily contested blast at al-Ahli Arab Hospital was denounced, with Israel’s military claiming the broadcaster’s “misreporting” had inflamed tension with Arab nations in the region.
The corporation rejected any criticism of its reporting, with a spokesperson telling i that “we have set out both sides’ competing claims about the attack”.
A BBC source blamed the “fast-moving” nature of the story after correspondent Jon Donnison sparked a furious reaction for telling BBC News viewers in the aftermath: “It’s hard to see what else this could be really… other than an Israeli air strike.”
The source said the speculation was “a correspondent giving a report on the ground on a fast-moving situation; this obviously doesn’t represent the entirety of our output”.
Meanwhile, the BBC’s international editor, Jeremy Bowen, said investigators would question whether Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the group Israel accused of causing the devastation with a misfired rocket, had the firepower to flatten an entire building.
The Israel Defence Force (IDF) accused the BBC of “accepting at face value the word of a terrorist organisation” by giving prominence to claims, shared by militant groups, that Israel was responsible.
It posted on X, formerly Twitter, that the “BBC claims to be impartial and independent” but chooses “to believe a genocidal terrorist [organisation]”.
A BBC spokesperson said: “We reject these claims about our coverage; anyone watching, listening to or reading it can see we have set out both sides’ competing claims about the attack, clearly showing who is saying them, and what we do or don’t know.”
In his report, delivered just hours after the blast on Tuesday night, Mr Donnison said: “It’s hard to see what else this could be, really, given the size of the explosion, other than an Israeli air strike, or several air strikes.”
Speaking after watching a video of the explosion which “was still to be verified”, he added: “When we’ve seen rockets being fired out of Gaza, we never see explosions of that scale.”
Former culture secretary Nadine Dorries shared a clip of Mr Donnison’s report, asking: “Who is this propagandist on the BBC?”
Mr Bowen told BBC News at Ten that a “very powerful missile” had caused the explosion but PIJ missiles only “caused pretty much minor damage” in southern Israel where he was stationed.
He said an investigation was needed to establish “whether the PIJ had missiles which had that much power in them” to destroy an entire building. Mr Bowen said he could not answer the question of which side fired the fatal rocket.
He later rejected the IDF accusations, telling the Radio 4 Today programme: “I was careful in my choice of words to attribute to what both sides were saying. I didn’t say it was an Israeli air strike.
“The Arab nations issued their statements (condemning Israel) before I filed,” said Mr Bowen who urged the IDF and others to watch his report in full.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has accused broadcasters covering the Israel/Gaza conflict of trying to “outpace” social media by rushing out news before it has been verified.
He told the Commons: “The days of breaking news on those traditional platforms is long in the past. They should focus on accuracy rather than pace because their words have impact here in the UK and around the world.”
Although he did not identify organisations by name, the Government has already been highly critical of BBC News since the conflict began for not using the word “terrorists” to describe Hamas. Under its editorial guidelines, the group is referred to as “militants”.
There is unrest in the BBC newsroom over an online article by world affairs editor John Simpson which invoked the Nazis as it defended the BBC’s position on Hamas.
Placing the BBC’s refusal to call Hamas “terrorists” in historical context, the post referred back to the Second World War, when the broadcasters were told not to call the Nazis “evil” or “wicked”.
The reference was insensitive to Jewish staff members, it was reported in The Times. That section of the blog was included in a note to all staff, giving guidance on the BBC’s language rules sent by Deborah Turness, the BBC’s CEO of News.
This week the BBC indicated it would consult on the language it uses to describe acts of terror at a review of its guidelines next spring. Bosses have defied calls from ministers to label Hamas – a proscribed terrorist group – as “terrorists”. The BBC says contributors are free to use the word on air but its impartiality would be compromised if journalists used terms which are “value judgements”.
