The British broadcasting company BBC has suspended six Middle East reporters and started an internal investigation in connection with posts on social networks in which the journalists expressed support for the Palestinian group “Hamas” in its war against Israel, the newspaper “Financial Times” reports.
Some reporters clicked “like” buttons on photos and videos showing Hamas attacks and dead bodies, the newspaper found.
The BBC has rules about what staff can post on social media about public and political issues.
The broadcasting company has announced that it will conduct an urgent investigation.
At the same time, the BBC reminds that last week the Israeli police in Tel Aviv attacked the correspondent of the BBC’s Arabic editorial.
“Journalists must be able to freely cover the conflict in Israel and the Gaza Strip,” the broadcaster said.
Even before that, critics criticized the BBC for not calling Hamas fighters terrorists.
In turn, Palestinian supporters in London accused the broadcaster of justifying “Israeli war crimes” and splashed the broadcaster’s building with red paint.
“Financial Times” also reports that the British newspaper “The Guardian” has decided not to renew the contract with cartoonist Steve Bell, who has collaborated with the publication for 40 years.
As recently as last week, Bell announced on the social network “X” that the newspaper refused to publish his cartoon depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
It is “impossible to draw this character for The Guardian newspaper and not be falsely accused of using ‘anti-Semitic clichés’,” explained the cartoonist.
Photo: Daniel LEAL / AFP / Scanpix
2023-10-17 08:27:49
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