Mick Hartley

The Telegraph has picked up on the accusations made by David Collier about that BBC Gaza documentary:

The BBC has been accused of focusing a documentary about ordinary Palestinians on the son of a Hamas government minister without disclosing the connection.

The documentary, Gaza: How To Survive a War Zone, was broadcast on Monday evening as an account of the conflict through the eyes of three children whose lives have been devastated by Israel’s military campaign against Hamas.

The hour-long film was narrated by a 14-year-old English-speaking boy named Abdullah, who is listed in the film’s credits under his full name, Abdullah Al-Yazouri.

It has since been claimed that Abdullah’s father, Ayman Alyazouri, is a senior figure who currently holds the position of deputy minister of agriculture in the Hamas-run government.

Critics have said the BBC has allowed itself to be used as a propaganda platform for Hamas by giving airtime to the child of one of its senior figures.

The child’s alleged family background was not revealed to viewers and it is not clear if the film crew were aware of the Hamas links….

The row comes only a few days after Danny Cohen, the former director of BBC Television, warned that the broadcaster risks becoming a mouthpiece for Hamas.

Mr Cohen told The Telegraph that the latest revelations confirmed his fears.

He said: “This appears to be another appalling example of journalistic failure and anti-Israel bias. The BBC appears to have given an hour of prime-time coverage to the son of a senior member of the Hamas terrorist group.

“Questions must be asked as to whether the BBC carried out the most basic journalistic checks.”

Mr Cohen added: “Licence fee payers across the UK are being repeatedly conned into paying for Hamas PR. There can be no doubt now that the BBC has a very serious problem with the quality of its journalism and anti-Israel bias.”