The BBC apologize to Israel on behalf of Anjana Gadgil’s comments on Israel’s Jenin operation in an interview with former prime minister Naftali Bennett included ‘inappropriate’ language
The BBC apologize to Israel publicly for the “inappropriate” language of one of its presenters when she declared on-air during an interview with former prime minister Naftali Bennett that “Israeli forces are happy to kill children”. “.
During the segment, Anjana Gadgil asked Bennett about the recent IDF incursion into the West Bank city of Jenin, stating that “the Israeli military is calling this a ‘military operation,’ but we now know that young people are being killed.” Four of them are under eighteen years old.”
“Is this really what the army wanted to do? To kill people aged 16 to 18,” she asked, to which Bennett replied that “the fact that there are youth terrorists who decide to bear arms is their responsibility.”
“Genin has become an epicenter of terror. All those killed in this case were Palestinian terrorists,” he said.
“Terrorists, but kids. Gadgil retorted, saying, “The Israeli army is happy to kill children.” He said, “Under your definition, you are calling them terrorists. The United Nations is calling them children.”
Gadgil’s comments received strong criticism from both Bennett and the local Jewish community, with the Board of Deputies of British Jews saying it was “appalled” by the presenter’s “simply outrageous” comments, which it said were “the corporation’s own”. clear violation”. Editorial Guidelines.” They asked BBC apologize.
In response to the massive protests, the BBC issued a statement on Thursday announcing that it had covered ongoing events in Israel and the West Bank “in a fair and robust manner” and that “the United Nations had raised the issue of the operation’s impact”. On children and youth in Jenin.”
But the BBC apologize by saying, “While this was a legitimate topic to be probed in the interview, we apologize that the language used in this line of questioning was not well worded and was inappropriate.”
Responding to the apology on Twitter, Bennett celebrated what he called a “tremendous victory”, adding that “this is how you fight the propaganda machine.”
He declared, “We are not silent about respect for the State of Israel.”
Last year, local media regulator Ofcom found the BBC “made a serious editorial error” in a report it said victims of an anti-Semitic incident in London had uttered anti-Muslim slurs during encounters with their attackers. ,
In a video of the incident, people can be seen banging the windows of the bus with their hands and shoes, shouting “Free Palestine”, spitting on the bus and waving their middle fingers at passengers as the bus moves forward. At least one person performs a Nazi salute.
The BBC claimed in an article about the incident that “racial slurs about Muslims” could be heard inside the bus. This was later amended to say that only one expletive was heard. But the Board of Deputies of British Jews said that their own expert analysis of the video showed that there was no evidence of anti-Muslim slurs, and that it was possible that the BBC had instead misinterpreted a Hebrew phrase.
In 2021, the broadcaster came under criticism after airing a debate on whether Jews should be considered an ethnic minority as a panel discussion featuring four non-Jewish panellists and a Jewish commentator as guest .
source – Haaretz