The airing of a Hamas-linked documentary is a “dagger to the heart” of the BBC’s credibility, the chairperson of the partially government-funded UK broadcaster admitted to Parliament.
The controversial “Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone” told the story of Israel’s incursion into the enclave through the eyes of Palestinian children and was narrated by 13-year-old Abdullah al-Yazouri — the son of a Hamas deputy minister.
Horrified BBC executive yanked the propaganda-filled documentary from the BBC iPlayer two weeks ago after learning of the Hamas family ties.
“I agree that this is a really bad moment,” BBC chairperson Samir Shah said during a parliamentary session on Tuesday. “What has been revealed is a dagger to the heart of the BBC’s claim to be impartial and trustworthy.”
The broadcaster, which also gets private funding, received about 500 complaints of the film being “biased against Israel” before it was pulled from air, according to Tim Davie, the BBC’s director general.
There were also about 1,800 calls for the disgraced documentary to be put back on iPlayer, Daive told the parliament’s Media Committee.
The BBC launched a full-scale investigation into the documentary, which aired on Feb. 17, after it was revealed that the young narrator’s father was a Hamas official, executives said.
“Have you ever wondered what you’d do if your world was destroyed?” the Hamas-linked narrator says in a trailer for the documentary, posted by production company Hoyo Films on YouTube.
“After all this, you could say we’re experts, so let me tell you our story,” the narrator continued. “Who knows? One day, you might need it.”
But Hoyo allegedly kept crucial information from the BBC despite repeated questioning, the broadcaster told The Post on Wednesday.
“During the production process, the independent production company was asked in writing a number of times by the BBC about any potential connections he and his family might have with Hamas,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “Since transmission, they have acknowledged that they knew that the boy’s father was a Deputy Agriculture Minister in the Hamas Government.”
Hoyo also allegedly paid the young boy’s mother a “limited sum of money” for narrating the film, the BBC told The Post.
The London-based production company reportedly told the BBC that no payments had been made to Hamas members or affiliates.
“We are cooperating fully with the BBC…to help understand where mistakes have been made,” Hoyo said in a statement on its website. “We feel this remains an important story to tell, and that our contributors — who have no say in the war — should have their voices heard.”
Despite admitting they were shocked by the revelation, top brass at the network argued that the BBC’s editorial standards were solid.
There were “serious failings on both sides, on the independent production side, as well as on the BBC side,” Shah said.
But “the standards the BBC has are very good. They’re very strong,” he insisted. “I have a worry that it wasn’t so much the processes were at fault, as people weren’t doing their job.”
Days after the BBC removed the documentary, an open letter signed by more than 1,000 media professionals condemned the decision.
In the letter, actors, screenwriters and filmmakers said they were “appalled that the BBC has chosen to give credence to a politicized campaign that sought to discredit a documentary about children’s experiences of unspeakable Israeli military violence.”
During the parliamentary session on Tuesday, the heads of BBC said they still backed the idea of a documentary about war-torn Gaza.
“The idea that we see what’s happening in Gaza through the eyes of children was a good documentary idea — I do not want anybody to think that’s not the case,” Shah said.
Davie added that “voices of those children and children in Gaza is absolutely something we need to hear.”
But the BBC said it has no plans to return the documentary to iPlayer after the investigation is completed.