Mick Hartley

Another BBC Arabic reporter. Honoured, this time.

A BBC Arabic correspondent who previously praised the “exquisite journalism” of a Holocaust revisionist has been named as one of the winners at the British Council’s Study UK Alumni Awards.

Layla Bashar Al-Kloub, a senior journalist at the public broadcaster, has also previously condemned the “Zionist entity”, labelled Israel as “terrorists”, and called the suspected killer of an Israeli rabbi a “martyr”.

Pretty much par for the course at BBC Arabic. 

Al-Kloub was named the 2025 Jordan Winner of the Culture and Creativity Award for her “remarkable contributions” to “storytelling and cultural engagement”.

But, in a series of exposés published by the JC over recent years, it was revealed that Al-Kloub has a long history of expressing anti-Israel sentiment online.

In May 2021, the reporter posted a gushing tribute on X for television journalist Muna Hawwa, a Palestinian activist suspended by Al Jazeera for producing a 2019 video that asked: “How true is the #Holocaust and how did the Zionists benefit from it?”

In her message hailing the Palestinian activist’s return to X, Al-Kloub wrote: “My dear Muna… there was a great victory for you, yourself specifically, the victory of the free word, and the victory of exquisite journalism, you have proved everybody you are capable of confronting large institutions by yourself, may Allah strengthen you.”

In the documentary, Hawwa also said: “Israel is the biggest winner from the Holocaust, and it uses the same Nazi justifications as a launching pad for racial cleansing and annihilation of the Palestinians… The ideology behind ‘the State of Israel’ is based on religious, national, and geographic concepts that suckled from the Nazi spirit.”

Exquisite journalism indeed.

A spokesperson for the British Council said: “An investigation into concerns that were raised about a national finalist in Jordan found insufficient evidence that would overturn the original decision.

“A review by an independent panel confirmed that Layla Al-Kloub was the strongest candidate overall for the Culture and Creativity award in Jordan, which recognises individuals who can demonstrate their influence and creativity through their work in arts and culture. We congratulate all our Jordan winners on their awards.

“The British Council operates in both Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and we are committed to ensuring that everyone we work with around the world feels respected and treated with dignity.”