BBC headline claim on October 7 deaths is clear disinformation and a dangerous deception - Part 3

Further exchange with BBC (previous correspondence here and here). 

  

Enquiry now raised to Stage 2 level for consideration by the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU). 

From the BBC

22 November 2023 

Dear Mr Hilley,

Ref: CAS-7679120-B1Y1G2-1

Thank you for getting in touch again about BBC News.

The BBC’s Editorial Guidelines refer to due accuracy and due impartiality, which is to say the accuracy and impartiality must be adequate and appropriate to the output, taking account of the subject and nature of the content, the likely audience expectation and any signposting that may influence.

What other media outlets report is a matter for them, but we will monitor developments about the killings as the story unfolds.

 

This concludes Stage 1 of our complaints process. That means we can’t correspond with you further here. If you remain unhappy, you can now contact the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU). The ECU is Stage 2 of the BBC’s complaints process. You’ll need to explain why you think there’s a potential breach of standards, or if the issue is significant and should still be investigated. Please do so within 20 working days of this reply.

Full details of how we handle complaints are available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/handle-complaint/.

How to contact the ECU:

We’ve provided a unique link for you in this email. This will open up further information about how to submit your complaint. You’ll be asked for the case reference number we’ve provided in this reply. Once you’ve used the link and submitted your complaint, the link will no longer work.

This is your link to contact the ECU if you wish: 

Click Here

 

Best wishes,

Sean Moss

Assistant Editor

News Editorial Standards

www.bbc.co.uk/complaints 

…………………………………….

To the Executive Complaints Unit (ECU)

23 November 2023

Ref: CAS-7679120-B1Y1G2-1

The BBC have reported, without any apparent challenge, both of Israel’s claims that Hamas killed 1400/1200 people on and around 7 October. 

Two initial questions arise here. Aren’t both these numbers too precisely rounded, and therefore  suspect? And why take Israel’s claims alone without corroborating evidence?

The more specific point of my enquiry concerns the people who were not killed by Hamas on and around 7 October. It’s about the people killed by Israeli forces. 

Strong, available evidence indicates that Israeli forces killed a significant number of Israelis on and around 7 October. 

That key information is not stated in the repeated BBC headline that “Hamas killed 1400/1200 people”. 

Further to my previous references, please see this well-informed article, drawing together all the main sources and evidence, to date.

https://electronicintifada.net/content/evidence-israel-killed-its-own-citizens-7-october/41156

Whatever one thinks about what happened on those days, the claim that Hamas alone killed 1400/1200 Israelis has not been verified, and therefore cannot be justified as a BBC headline/statement. 

The BBC has clearly been reproducing a crucial untruth in publishing and broadcasting this unverified claim. 

I have written in my previous correspondence with the BBC about the key implications of this in terms of fostering public perceptions of the 7 October events, and, most crucially, what Israel has gone on to do in Gaza. 

In all such senses the BBC has a responsibility to convey clear and accurate information. This headline claim is clear disinformation. 

I wish the ECU to consider why the BBC decided to use, and continues to use, the wording “Hamas killed 1400/1200 people”. 

I wish the ECU to consider my request that the BBC withdraw this headline/statement with immediate effect. 

I wish the ECU to consider my request that the BBC issue a prominent statement conceding their culpability in producing and repeating this misleading headline, and issue a properly informed replacement headline/statement.

BBC headline claim on October 7 deaths is clear disinformation and a dangerous deception - Part 2

Further exchange with BBC

(Initial complaint here)

Friday, 17 November 2023

Reference CAS-7679120-B1Y1G2

Dear Mr Hilley

Thank you for contacting us about the BBC News website.

We note your concerns regarding our recent coverage of the current situation in the Middle East.

I can assure you that BBC News always aims for the highest standards of accuracy and impartiality when reporting, and we do aim to report accurate, impartial and comprehensive coverage likely to be of interest to our readers.

The bullet points within our live reporting pages aim to summarise some of the main aspects of our coverage - with more detailed information being provided across our articles:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/c2vdnvdg6xxt

BBC News has provided our global audiences with coverage and first-hand testimony of the atrocities committed by Hamas, and the suffering in Gaza. We have made clear the devastating human cost to civilians living in Israel and Gaza, and the unprecedented nature of what has happened. The huge loss of civilian life on both sides makes this a shocking and difficult story to cover. 

Our correspondents have been to the scenes of attacks, massacres and potential war crimes; and reported on the harrowing scenes they have witnessed. 

We have reported on the atrocities committed by Hamas in their assault on Israel and have heard many accounts from survivors of these attacks and family members of the victims, reflecting the trauma they are suffering. 

On the ground in Gaza our teams have reported on the rising death toll from Israeli air strikes and the unfolding humanitarian crisis, as first-hand testimony of the atrocities committed by Hamas, and the suffering in Gaza. water supplies are cut and thousands try to move out of the way of danger.

We have reflected statements from the UN and NGOs. We have interviewed representatives of the Israeli government, Hamas and UK government ministers and asked whether international law is being adhered to.

BBC News has also examined the history and complexities of the Israel-Palestinian conflict and analysed the potential consequences of the war for the wider region. Our reporting has included opinions from all sides, the region and the wider world. 

We have previously covered the escalation in tensions between Israel and the Palestinians, and the reasons for it.

Careful consideration has been given to all aspects of our coverage to ensure that we report on developments accurately and with due impartiality in line with the BBC Editorial Guidelines, which are publicly available.

We know that our audiences turn to us for clarity and to help them separate fact from fake. We know that trust is earned and we do not take that for granted. 

BBC News Chief Executive Deborah Turness has published a blog which addresses some of the concerns about our coverage: 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/articles/2023/how-bbc-is-covering-israel-gaza

We do value your feedback about this. All complaints are sent to senior management and we’ve included your points in our overnight report. These reports are among the most widely read sources of feedback in the company and ensures that your concerns have been seen by the right people quickly. This helps inform their decisions about current and future content.

Many thanks again for getting in touch.

Kind regards,

Darren Loughlin 

BBC Complaints Team 

www.bbc.co.uk/complaints 

............................................

Sunday, 19 November 2023

Reference CAS-7679120-B1Y1G2

Dear Darren Loughlin 

Thank you for responding to my complaint, however belatedly. 

As expected, this is a typical piece of BBC obfuscation, littered with loaded and imbalanced language. 

You write:

“On the ground in Gaza our teams have reported on the rising death toll from Israeli air strikes and the unfolding humanitarian crisis, as first-hand testimony of the atrocities committed by Hamas, and the suffering in Gaza.”

Why is one simply “Israeli air strikes”, and the other “atrocities committed by Hamas”? Why not also use “atrocities” to describe what Israel has done in Gaza? Where is the equivalence of language? 

Why are the BBC still saying "Hamas killed 1200 people" (the now reduced figure) when there is strong and mounting evidence to contest this claim?

For example:

“It’s almost six weeks since Hamas went into Southern Israel and killed 1200 Israelis”. 

(Victoria Derbyshire, Newsnight, 16 November 2023.)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001sh62/newsnight-tunnel-found-near-alshifa-hospital-israel-claims

Some other BBC captions now appear more circumspect: 

“Israel began striking Gaza after Hamas's 7 October attacks, in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 taken hostage” https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-middle-east-67423274

This appears to leave the question of the killing more 'open-ended', but still lacking any indication that Israeli forces were also responsible. 

And after over 6 weeks of slaughter in Gaza, any such amended wording comes far too late for helping to halt the killing spree which BBC statements like these have helped to drive.   

There is now clear evidence that Israeli forces killed an unspecified number of its own people during the 7 October events. 

This has been further confirmed in witness statements carried by Haaretz and other Israeli media.

Where are the BBC's own investigative reports on this?

Please see also:

https://x.com/aliabunimah/status/1725958732113162579?s=46&t=KuUo_VjYJYAxKcydnWm3EA

https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israeli-helicopter-shot-civilians-7-october-rave-police-find

Do the BBC dispute this evidence? If so, please state why. If not, then they have a clear obligation to report such evidence, and to remove any false and misleading headlines or annotations.   

I need a full and open reply to my initial enquiry.  Having failed to address these substantive points, I wish to have my case elevated to a higher stage for further examination. 

Kind regards 

John Hilley 

BBC headline claim on October 7 deaths is clear disinformation and a dangerous deception

Text of complaint to the BBC (3 November 2023) about the deceptive use of its headline statement on the deaths within Israel on and around 7 October:

   

The BBC introduce and annotate every news report with the words:

“Israel began its operation after Hamas killed more than 1,400 people in Israel”.

(For example, 1 and 3 November 2023.)

Whatever one thinks about what happened on and around 7 October, this statement is false, a clear case of BBC disinformation. 

Whilst there is little doubt that Hamas and other resistance groups were responsible for a large proportion of deaths, there is strong evidence to suggest that Israeli forces were also responsible for substantive numbers of those killed. This must be accounted for. 

The entire account of how all these deaths occurred, showing all those involved, must be told as a matter of public information and historical record. 

Please consider the following as a key compendium of Israeli civilian and military witness statements and media references, undermining official Israeli claims and the repeated BBC headline that “Hamas [alone] killed more than 1400 people”. 

The BBC’s consistent use of this inaccurate statement avoids the full story behind these events, offering no serious understanding or clarity for those affected. 

Most disturbingly, the claim has been used to validate Israel’s illegal attack on Gaza, resulting in the killing of over 9,000 people, nearly half of them children, and displacement of an entire population, actions described by a leading UN figure as "a textbook case of genocide." 

In presenting this false picture about 7 October, the BBC has served to condition public support for Israel's mass killing and genocidal actions. Given the strong body of evidence now questioning Israel’s claims of sole Hamas responsibility, the BBC should withdraw this statement and issue a corrective explanation.

.............................................................

Further reading:

Max Blumenthal (Grayzone News): 'October 7 testimonies reveal Israel’s military ‘shelling’ Israeli citizens with tanks, missiles'

Jonathan Cook: What the BBC fails to tell you about October 7

Asa Winstanley: Watch the video about 7 October YouTube doesn’t want you to see 

Ali Abunimah and David Sheen: Israeli forces shot their own civilians, kibbutz survivor says

Robert Inlakesh and Sharmine Narwani (The Cradle): What really happened on 7th October?

Matt Kennard (tweet) on "textbook case of genocide."

Palestinian suffering and Israel's genocidal plan for Gaza did not begin on 7 October

Even after 75 years of systematic repression, Israel is now engaged in truly staggering levels of genocidal murder and removal of Palestinians, all backed by its Western patrons.     

As of 26 October, it has taken Israel just over two weeks to murder over 7000 people in Gaza, almost 3000 of them children. Another 940 children lie missing beneath the rubble. A truly astonishing and depraved kill rate. 

'Go south', they ordered 1 million people, 'for your own safety', then bombed them mercilessly there as well as in the north.

The death list of names grows by the day. Whole, extended families have been wiped out. Children shake with fear, utterly traumatised. This not just a humanitarian crisis. It's a genocidal annihilation.

Enumerating the drastic scale of death and destruction, Defence for Children International note the specific legal implications of Israel’s actions:

“Under international law, genocide is prohibited and constitutes the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group, in whole or in part. Genocide can result from killing or by creating conditions of life that are so unbearable it brings about the group’s destruction.”

Yet, for all the notes of ‘humanitarian concern’ coming from Western states, Israel could bomb and murder any number of Palestinians anywhere and it would still make no difference to their unfailing endorsement of this savage regime. 

After decades, not just weeks, of this killing and blind-eye support, Palestinians and those who duly observe their suffering, have come to the same rational conclusion: Israel can slaughter with impunity. Palestinian deaths, in whatever circumstances, are deemed ‘unfortunate’, mere ’collateral’ results of an ‘intractable conflict’ and Israel's ultimate 'right to prevail'.  

How readily ‘our’ politicians and media use words like ‘inhuman’, ‘bestial’ and ‘evil’ to describe what Hamas forces did to Israelis. And how terrible much of that incursion was. But would you ever hear such adjectives being used to illustrate what’s being done to Palestinians? 

It’s quite remarkable how the process of Palestinian bodies being ripped apart by horrific bombs can be sanitised as ‘Israeli air raids/strikes’. Think of the language of outrage we see after the carnage of any terrorist attack. Yet somehow the calculated dropping of a bomb - Israel has now dropped thousands - on a packed residential apartment block in Gaza extinguishing all inside carries no such terminological equivalent. 

The entrenched racism underlying this selective language and treatment of 'other' peoples is a subject essentially unspoken of in 'mainstream' discussion. As we've seen with Ukraine, how different the jingoistic reactions and flag-flying support from western capitals and media to the deaths and displacement of white westerners.

The same callous Western response to Palestinian suffering is being orchestrated at the UN. After 17 days of relentless bombardment, a Security Council ceasefire proposal was vetoed by the US and UK. 

Despite having no legal binding, a later resolution from the UN General Assembly calling for an immediate ceasefire and emergency aid was overwhelmingly carried.

Rejecting global-wide public support for a ceasefire, Biden and Sunak have suggested instead a ‘humanitarian pause’. Again, such language only underscores the ruthless violence they’ve hitherto supported. As Craig Murray best summarised it:

“The great brainwave of US, EU and UK leaders is to call for not a ceasefire but a "humanitarian pause". This is to give small children a few sips of water before blasting them to pieces.”

Biden was also lauded for 'negotiating' the movement of aid trucks at the Rafah crossing, a paltry gesture while green-lighting the further massacre of children. 

UNICEF has called the mass casualties of children “a stain on our conscience.” More accurately, it's a huge blood stain on Israel and its international backers. 

Meanwhile, Israel has killed over 200 in the West Bank since 7 October, and arbitrarily arrested - effectively taken hostage - over 1360. 

Statistics on the UN's own losses in Gaza also make for grim reading. And, after killing 38 UNRWA staff, bombing 41 UNRWA facilities, refusing UNRWA emergency fuel and aid, and rejecting the UN ceasefire plea, Israel has now even refused visas to UN diplomats in response to this perfectly factual statement by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres: 

“It is important to also recognise the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.”

In essence, Palestinian suffering didn’t start on 7 October. But the attack on Guterres, and Israel's call for his resignation, for daring to say so, is deeply symptomatic of the Western narrative centred around Israel's 'primary suffering'.

Western hand-wringing and global solidarity

In stark rejection of their complicit Western governments, people across the West have joined millions more around the world in solidarity with the people of Gaza, and for all Palestinians, in saying that they are witness to their suffering, support their heroic resistance, and that they themselves won't be constrained or intimidated in defending the Palestinian cause. 

It’s also worth remembering, in that vital regard, the words of Desmond Tutu: “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” And that message goes out especially to all those liberal-tortured figures and 'anti-racist' bodies who pander to the Israel-support lobby, their so-called ‘peace’ stalls, and all who serve to normalise Israel’s crimes.  

Alas, there’s no equivocation in the sides ‘our’ so-called leaders are taking. Israel's genocidal crimes in Gaza are being carried out with the full approval of its Western sponsors. As Sunak said to Netanyahu during his visit to the regime: "We want you to win.” He also said: “I know you are taking every precaution to avoid harming civilians.” That’s about as clear a statement of complicity to an internationally-defined crime that you can get. 

How telling that Sunak should arrive in Israel from the off-ramp of a military plane, rather than stepping down from a civilian one. Biden's and Sunak's support for the regime's bombing, invasion and collective punishment was also echoed by Von der Layen and the EU. 

Encouragingly, evidence of the clear violations being committed by all of Israel’s accomplices is being collated and actioned by international legal bodies:

“On Friday, 100 genocide scholars and Palestinian and international organizations wrote to International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan, calling on him to “urgently issue arrest warrants” for cases related to Palestine already under investigation by his office. They also call on him to investigate ongoing crimes in Palestine and to issue a preventive statement that warns potential perpetrators of the consequences of their actions – measures Khan has so far failed to take.”

We should also be clear that Israel is not just committing war crimes, it is systematically using such actions as an erasure project, rather than a military objective. As Ali Abunimah writes:

“"Israel" is not "fighting a war" in which it is sometimes committing war crimes. It is waging a genocidal revenge and extermination campaign against a civilian population using war crimes and crimes against humanity as its main method. There is no "military purpose" to this barbarism.”

Again, the regime could not enact such violence on an entire people without the consistent assurances of Washington, London and the EU. 

Fittingly, Keir Starmer is also now feeling the full backlash of Labour party councillors, members and potential voters after giving his own open backing to Israel’s brutal and illegal actions, and refusing to back a ceasefire. Due political punishment surely beckons.  

Denial and lies

Israel's epic genocidal act requires an equally epic campaign of deception and lies. As Chris Hedges writes regarding Israel’s culture of deceit, the regime has taken the ‘kill, deny and lie’ stratagem to a whole new level. 

We’ve seen the repeated pattern played out by Israel's hasbara machine over decades of bombing, shooting and repression: as with the murder of Rachel Corrie - kill and deny; as with the esteemed Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh - murder and deny; and now with the wilful attack on Al-Ahli and so many other hospitals - bomb and deny - even when their claims are forensically analysed, strongly disputed and duly exposed. 

Amid the mass death and injuries, what kind of ‘civilised’ leader or state could support an entity that orders the evacuation and bombing of hospitals? Biden, Sunak, and Von der Leyen all have - the latter being a particularly rapacious voice for the regime. 

Yet, as Clare Daly reminds us, the vast crowds across European capitals turning out for Palestine shows that she doesn’t speak, as she arrogantly asserts, for Europe.

Besides all this political protection, Israel's denial and lies could not be disguised without the active collusion of a power-serving media. The same media will note their ‘concern’ over the ‘looming humanitarian crisis’, but still report Biden and his cohorts as 'honest brokers'. 

We've also seen these past weeks how the BBC has consistently peddled the message of Israel’s ‘right to defend itself’. Routinely, we're told that Israelis have been “killed”, while Palestinians have “subsequently died” (BBC News at Ten, 21 October 2023). 

In another such example, an admirable young Palestinian took a Sky reporter to task over the same ‘killed/died’ selectivity, and loaded framing. 

See also Palestinian Ambassador Husam Zomlot putting the BBC's Lyse Doucet right on the whole 7 October narrative.  

Of course, when the regime itself doesn't like what's being reported, it is only too ready to target the reporter, as in the deliberate killing of Al Jazeera journalist Wael Al-Dahdouh's family.

Existence and resistance

75 years of Palestinian suffering, from the Nakba catastrophe to the occupation and now this genocidal onslaught on Gaza, gets cursory attention, relegated to Israel’s own privileged history. 

People ask: 'Does Israel have a right to exist?' The plaintive answer to that lies in the returned question: 'Did apartheid South Africa have such a right to exist?'

Whatever the human carnage, the mass murder of children, the destruction of homes and infrastructure, it's Israel's 'history of homeland' that Palestinians are expected to see as sacrosanct. 

And now that 'history' is being abbreviated to a singular, 'iconic' moment, as though 7 October is the only landmark of any importance. So much of what passes for media ‘analysis’ insinuates the falsehood that all of the conflict started on this day. Thus, the hostility Guterres has encountered for stating a simple, historical and unalterable truth.

In repeatedly negating this key context, the BBC and other service media trot out the same unending mantra that Israel’s actions are in ‘response’ to the Hamas killings, and that Hamas is a banned terrorist organisation.  Again, where's the much longer timeframe of suffering, pre-Hamas, as intimated by Guterres? And why aren’t Hamas' own actions ever treated as a ‘response’ to the historic and relentless attacks on Gaza and Palestinians at large? Don't Palestinians have the right to exist and resist?

The answer to that lies in a more hidden truth: that this is not actually a ‘war to destroy Hamas’ at all, as peddled by the regime and regurgitated by the media: it's about the systematic erasure of all Palestinians, the continuous Nakba. 

And herein lies another telling message: that those who really do understand the processes of historical oppression and resistance are the first to be castigated for doing so.   

Guterres tried to make an essential historical point, and has been hounded for his honesty. The list of those who call out the regime are likewise smeared and demonised. Yet still they continue in resolute voice.   

Once again, as a prime example, Jeremy Corbyn finds himself on the right side of history, illustrating perfectly why the establishment wanted him banished and silenced. Note: he's still here and more vocally relevant than ever. 

We also find in admirable Jewish figures like Gabor Mate a voice of deep and traumatic experience, yet still unswerving in his concern for justice, and with the moral courage to call-out Israel's heinous historical crimes. 

We even see that historical understanding and empathy demonstrated by a certain set of admirable football fans showing their defiant resolve in flying the flag of resistance and telling Palestinians that 'they'll never walk alone'. Celtic fans’ courage here in resisting the intimidations of their club, UEFA and the establishment at large is a guiding lesson to all.

And we can be very certain in these dreadful, existential times for Palestinians themselves that they will never forget their own history or succumb to their oppression. 

We can, in turn, show our dutiful support and solidarity in many ways, such as demonstrating on the streets, but also in actively challenging the narrative of Israel’s 'historic supremacy' being peddled by its warmongering patrons and our war-stoking media. We can also refuse to countenance their contrived narratives of condemnation and blame.  

There can be no peace without justice. There can be no progress without recognising the very roots of the conflict. There can be no resolution of it until we address the real historical facts on the ground: that Israel is a racist-colonial entity, an apartheid state, and a genocidal regime now intent on enacting its despotic task of total elimination. Only with an end to the occupation, the apartheid system, and the brutal siege of Gaza could any real peace process even begin to germinate. 

This is an historic chapter in the suffering of Palestinians. But it's also an historic opportunity to help generate new mass awareness of all Palestinian history and their rightful claims.  

Yet, as Jonathan Cook shows, the regime itself also comprehends the importance of this crucial, historical moment:    

“Israel knows enough history to understand that occupied and oppressed peoples never come to accept their subjugation. They continue to find ways to resist. Even if Hamas can be wiped out, a new, more fearsome adversary will emerge among the next generation currently being traumatised by Israel’s bombs.”

Which is why the regime is now preparing to enact its own ‘historic solution’ in its push for complete dispossession and expulsion of Gaza's entire population to the wilderness of Sinai: 

“Netanyahu is aware that he has only a limited time-window to effect enough carnage to realise Israel’s plan.”

However broken, any such genocidal endeavour is likely to meet historic resistance from resilient Palestinians. 

As of this writing tonight, all internet connections have been cut to a blacked-out Gaza, as another terrifying bombardment is unleashed ahead of a possible all-out invasion.

All of our thoughts, solidarity and supportive intentions must be with the people of Gaza and all Palestinians in these dark and desperate times. 

 

Further reading

Media Lens: The ‘Absolute Right’ To Commit War Crimes? Gaza, Israel And Labour ‘Opposition’ 

Chris Hedges: Israel’s Culture of Deceit

Maureen Clare Murphy: Hospital massacre compounds Gaza’s nightmare

Jonathan Cook: Israel-Palestine war: Israel is caught lying time and again. And yet we never learn

Craig Murray: Genocide Unfolding 

Jonathan Cook: Did Israel choose to kill Hamas and the hostages indiscriminately?

Maureen Clare Murphy: Gaza tortured by Israel and US, not failed by “the world”