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BBC Ignored Complaints About Journalists’ Anti-Israel ‘Terrorist’ Posts for Over a Year
The BBC logo is seen at the entrance at Broadcasting House, the BBC headquarters in central London. Photo by Vuk Valcic / SOPA Images/Sipa USA.
The BBC ignored complaints about several journalists, including one who called Israel a “terrorist apartheid state,” for more than a year, and even allowed them to report on the current Israel-Hamas war.
In 2022, HonestReporting uncovered social media posts written by journalist Marie-José Azzi, who is based in Lebanon and has worked for the corporation since 2019. She said Israel was a “terrorist” and “apartheid” state in tweets that were supportive of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign.
We also revealed a number of posts from an account belonging to Jordan-based BBC television and radio producer Layla Bashar Kloub, which described all Israelis as “terrorists,” and suggested that only Arabs have any right to be in Israel.
Meanwhile, UK-based BBC video curator Hala Hindawi labeled Israeli Jews “settlers,” and accused the country of “targeting children” in remarks posted to her Twitter account (now X). The latter remark is reminiscent of ancient blood libels in which Jews were accused of killing children for their blood to be used in religious rituals.
We complained to the BBC in August 2022 that the posts breached the corporation’s impartiality and social media usage guidelines.
In response, the BBC said that while it could not comment on individual staff matters, such cases would be “dealt with appropriately” where the BBC’s rules had been breached.
However, it appears that the BBC failed to take action against any of the journalists named, and — even more disturbingly — allowed them to work on the BBC’s coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.
In 2022, HonestReporting exposed Marie-José Azzi (& several other BBC journalists), who described Israel as a “terrorist state” & an “apartheid” country in tweets supporting the BDS campaign against Israel.
We contacted @BBCNews at the time. They knew. They chose to do nothing. https://t.co/n6lSzgS75g
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) March 17, 2024
Marie-José Azzi was credited alongside fellow BBC Arabic journalist Soha Ibrahim in a BBC Verify piece published this month that alleged Israeli soldiers beat and humiliated Gazan medics after a raid on Nasser Hospital.
According to the Daily Mail, Ibrahim, who is based in London and has worked for the BBC for 12 years, “liked” videos of people in Lebanon and Tunisia celebrating the October 7 Hamas attacks, and Egyptian football fans chanting, “we sacrifice our souls, our blood for Palestine.”
She also “liked” another post that praised “the first of the martyrs of the operation.”
The BBC is under pressure to suspend the BBC Arabic journalists until an investigation has been completed following criticism from UK Conservative Party Member of Parliament Nicola Richards.
However, questions remain as to why no action was taken sooner: why did the BBC seemingly fail to discipline any of the staff when their social media posts were initially revealed, and why has the BBC allowed them to report on the current Israel-Hamas war?
The broadcaster claims it is fully committed to impartiality and upholding editorial standards — outlined in its strict code of conduct for staff members — but has repeatedly ignored breaches of these rules.
The BBC’s credibility as it relates to Israel reportage is already at an all-time low. Further inaction from the corporation will destroy its floundering reputation.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
The post BBC Ignored Complaints About Journalists’ Anti-Israel ‘Terrorist’ Posts for Over a Year first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘With or Without Russia’s Help’: Iran Pledges to Block South Caucasus Route Opened Up By Peace Deal
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 8, 2025. Photo: Kevin Lamarque via Reuters Connect.
i24 News – Iran will block the establishment of a US-backed transit corridor in the South Caucasus region with or without Moscow’s help, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader was quoted as saying on Saturday by the Iran International website, one day after the historic peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
“Mr. Trump thinks the Caucasus is a piece of real estate he can lease for 99 years,” Ali Akbar Velayati said of the so-called Zangezur corridor, the establishment of which is stipulated in the peace deal unveiled on Friday by US President Donald Trump. The White House said the transit route would facilitate greater exports of energy and other resources.
“This passage will not become a gateway for Trump’s mercenaries — it will become their graveyard,” the Khamenei advisor added.
Baku and Yerevan have been at loggerheads since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous Azerbaijani region mostly populated by ethnic Armenians, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Azerbaijan took back full control of the region in 2023, prompting or forcing almost all of the territory’s 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia.
Yet that painful history was put to the side on Friday at the White House, as Trump oversaw a signing ceremony, flanked by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
The peace deal with Azerbaijan—a pro-Western ally of Israel—is expected to pull Armenia out of the Russian and Iranian sphere of influence and could transform the South Caucasus, an energy-producing region neighboring Russia, Europe, Turkey and Iran.
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UK Police Arrest 150 at Protest for Banned Palestine Action Group
People holding signs sit during a rally organised by Defend Our Juries, challenging the British government’s proscription of “Palestine Action” under anti-terrorism laws, in Parliament Square, in London, Britain, August 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
London’s Metropolitan Police said on Saturday it had arrested 150 people at a protest against Britain’s decision to ban the group Palestine Action, adding it was making further arrests.
Officers made arrests after crowds, waving placards expressing support for the group, gathered in Parliament Square, the force said on X.
Protesters, some wearing black and white Palestinian scarves, chanted “shame on you” and “hands off Gaza,” and held signs such as “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,” video taken by Reuters at the scene showed.
In July, British lawmakers banned Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged planes in protest against Britain’s support for Israel.
The ban makes it a crime to be a member of the group, carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
The co-founder of Palestine Action, Huda Ammori, last week won a bid to bring a legal challenge against the ban.
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‘No Leniency’: Iran Announces Arrest of 20 ‘Zionist Agents’
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi addresses a special session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, June 20, 2025. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
i24 News – Iranian authorities have in recent months arrested 20 people charged with being “Israeli Mossad operatives,” the judiciary said, adding that the Islamic regime will mete out the harshest punishments.
“The judiciary will show no leniency toward spies and agents of the Zionist regime, and with firm rulings, will make an example of them all,” spokesperson Asghar Jahangiri told Iranian media. However, it is understood that an unspecified number of detainees were released, apparently after the charges against them could not be substantiated.
The Islamic Republic was left reeling by a devastating 12-day war with Israel earlier in the summer that left a significant proportion of its military arsenal in ruins and dealt a serious setback to its uranium enrichment program. The fallout included an uptick in executions of Iranians convicted of spying for Israel, with at least eight death sentences carried out in recent months. Hit with international sanctions, the country is in dire economic straights, with frequent energy outages and skyrocketing unemployment.
In recent weeks Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi affirmed that Tehran cannot give up on its nuclear enrichment program even as it was severely damaged during the war.
“It is stopped because, yes, damages are serious and severe. But obviously we cannot give up of enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists. And now, more than that, it is a question of national pride,” the official told Fox News.