BBC apologises for Gaza documentary after backlash

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy called for more scrutiny of the broadcaster

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said she would keep MPs informed on the BBC's internal investigation into its Gaza documentary. Getty Images

Under government pressure, the BBC apologised for serious flaws in its recent Gaza documentary after a backlash over links with Hamas.

It said although the intent was to "tell the story of what is happening around the world, even in the most difficult and dangerous places – the processes and execution of this programme fell short of our expectations"

"BBC News takes full responsibility for these [flaws] and the impact that these have had on the Corporation's reputation,” it said. “We apologise.”

A government minister vowed on Thursday to obtain “cast-iron assurances” that Hamas did not receive money from the broadcaster when it made the programme.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was “concerned” about the documentary when asked about it during a visit to Washington.

Critics of the documentary Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone called for the film to be taken down after it emerged that its child narrator, a 14-year old boy, was the son of Ayman Alyazouri, who was Hamas’s deputy minister of agriculture.

Weaponising family associations to discredit a child’s testimony is both unethical and dangerous

Open letter

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, who met BBC officials on the matter, said she was waiting for the outcome of the broadcaster's internal investigation.

Shadow culture secretary Stuart Andrew raised concerns that £400,000 ($505,000) of public funds had “indirectly supported a terrorist organisation”, as he called for a public inquiry.

The decision last week to remove the programme from BBC streaming platforms prompted outcry from some supporters of the film, who question the critics' motives. On Wednesday, more than 700 television and film professionals condemned the BBC’s withdrawal of the film in an open letter to the broadcaster.

Former footballer and BBC presenter Gary Lineker, actors Khalid Abdalla, Miriam Margolyes and Juliet Stevenson, as well as 12 BBC staff, were among the signatories. The letter claims that criticism of the documentary is based on “racist assumptions and weaponisation of identity”, and that Mr Alyazouri is a civil servant concerned with food production.

“This broad-brush rhetoric assumes that Palestinians holding administrative roles are inherently complicit in violence – a racist trope that denies individuals their humanity and right to share their lived experiences,” it says. "Conflating such governance roles in Gaza with terrorism is both factually incorrect and dehumanising."

It was sent to BBC director general Tim Davie, chairman of the board Samir Shah, chief content officer Charlotte Moore, and head of news and current affairs Deborah Turness.

BBC presenter and former footballer Gary Lineker condemned the broadcaster for withdrawing its Gaza documentary in an open letter signed by hundreds of industry professionals. Getty Images

The letter also raised concerns about protecting Abdullah, the narrator, after suggestions were made that his father could be part of Hamas, which is proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the UK. Children, the letter states, “must not be held responsible for the actions of adults, and weaponising family associations to discredit a child’s testimony is both unethical and dangerous”.

The programme, which followed the lives of four young people in Gaza’s so-called safe zones, was co-directed by Bafta and Emmy award-winning Gaza-based filmmaker Youssef Hammash, and produced by the independent London company Hoyo Films.

The BBC said some of the flaws were caused by the production company which made the programme, and some were by the BBC. All were unacceptable, it said. It pointed out that Hoyo Films did not disclose the fact it was aware of a connection between the child narrator and Hamas, despite being asked, but the BBC did not follow it up.

The military wing of Hamas has been proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the UK since 2006 and the government moved to ban its political wing in 2021. Civil servants in Gaza are not necessarily involved in Hamas's political activities.

Israel's deputy foreign minister Sharren Haskel suggested that taxpayers' money could have been paid to Hamas directly or indirectly through the making of the film.

“[The BBC] must have paid the children, right? Who received those funds? Did the parents receive it or maybe they actually passed it on directly to Hamas pockets?" she told The Telegraph. “If we find out that the BBC actually funded a terrorist organisation ... this is actually a legal offence and the police should investigate that.”

Dozens of prominent British-Jewish journalists and TV executives, including former BBC director Danny Cohen, wrote an open letter to the BBC last week, calling for “an independent investigation” and adding that the "BBC's commitment to impartiality on the Israel-Hamas war lies in tatters".

Phil Rosenberg, director of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, also called for an independent inquiry this week.