Protesters outside the BBC headquarters in London on March 6, 2025. Photo: Nathan Lilienfeld/Campaign Against Antisemitism
Demonstrators gathered outside the London headquarters of the BBC on Thursday for a second week in a row to protest the corporation after it admitted to making “serious flaws” in its documentary about Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip.
The protest outside Broadcasting House was organized by Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) and took place following the BBC’s acknowledgment that licensing fee payments for “Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone” were given to the family of a senior Hamas official. Protesters held placards that said, “BBC I Refuse to Fund Terrorists,” and also signs that featured a masked face of a Hamas terrorist with a green ban across his forehead that said “BBC” in the center.
A spokesperson for CAA said the BBC “has allowed license fee money to go to the family of a Hamas terrorist in the production of what was essentially a Hamas propaganda film.” The spokesperson also cited recent polling published by CAA, revealing that a majority of Brits support the call for an independent investigation into the BBC’s actions.
“The BBC is trying to pretend that it is business as usual while hoping to get away with an internal report, but the British public is having none of it and does not want the BBC to mark its own homework,” the spokesperson added. “That is why we want the license fee to be suspended pending an independent investigation into this scandal and the wider issue of the BBC’s glaring bias. It is unconscionable to force people to pay a license fee that pays for biased reporting and has now even been handed to the family of a terrorist.”
British broadcaster and comedian Josh Howie – who is a presenter on GB News and “Headliners,” the GB News late night show – spoke at last week’s protest outside BBC headquarters and announced that he will no longer pay the BBC license fee. He gave a speech at the protest this week as well, and others who spoke on stage included Jewish actress Dame Maureen Lipman; Natalie Sanandaji, who survived the Nova music festival massacre on Oct. 7, 2023; and Mark Birbeck, founder of Our Fight UK, which is a group of mostly non-Jews who combat antisemitic sentiments in Britain.
Mere days after it debuted in late February, the BBC pulled “Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone” from its iPlayer streaming platform after it was revealed that the film’s narrator, Palestinian teenager Abdullah Al-Yazouri, is the son of Dr. Ayman Al-Yazouri, the deputy minister of agriculture in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. It was also discovered that the family is related to Hamas founder Ibrahim Al-Yazouri.
The BBC explained that it was not aware of Abdullah’s ties to Hamas prior to filming the documentary. The corporation apologized and insisted that it asked Hoyo Films, the London-based independent production company that produced the documentary for the BBC, “a number of times” about “any potential connections [Abdullah] and his family might have with Hamas.”
“Since transmission, they [Hoyt Films] have acknowledged that they knew that the boy’s father was a deputy agriculture minister in the Hamas government; they have also acknowledged that they never told the BBC this fact,” the BBC said. “It was then the BBC’s own failing that we did not uncover that fact and the documentary was aired.”
Hoyo Films told BBC it paid Abdullah’s family “a limited sum of money” for him narrating the film and deposited the money into his sister’s bank account. The Telegraph revealed this week that the family of the senior Hamas official was paid close to £790 ($856), which is equivalent to about a month’s salary in Gaza. An organization of pro-Israel lawyers in the UK has demanded that counter-terrorism police investigate the BBC and two producers from Hoyo Films for possible terrorism offenses, such as funding terrorism in violation of the UK’s Terrorism Act 2000.
On Tuesday, BBC Director-General Tim Davie and BBC Chair Dr Samir Shah spoke at a Culture, Media, and Sport Committee hearing in the UK Parliament about the scandal involving the documentary. “We will get to the bottom of this and take appropriate actions,” Shah said. “There’s a dagger to the heart of the BBC’s claim to be impartial and to be trustworthy. We need to restore trust in the BBC.” He also said that the “mechanics of the filmmaking itself” need to be investigated and that the BBC’s investigation into the matter will confirm whether or not money paid for the documentary was ultimately given to Hamas.
James Frith, Labour MP for Bury North, told Davie: “It’s fair to assume that if the family of a senior Hamas leader is paid, that that money goes into the orbit of Hamas.” He simply replied, “I’ve told you what I know.” Even amid the scrutiny, Davie told committee members that the BBC is “the most trusted brand in the world.”
In an interview with the Middle East Eye published this week, Abdullah said he and his family have been targeted with online harassment because of the scandal involving the documentary, his mental health is suffering as a result of the controversy, and he fears for his safety. He said he also holds the BBC “responsible” for anything that happens to him. He claimed that the only money he or his family received was for personal expenses related to his involvement in the film.
“In the contract that was signed between the production company … and my mother, there wasn’t any payment for me or my family,” he told the Middle East Eye. “However, I had $1,000 transferred to my sister’s account, which were for personal spendings, nothing else.”
The Telegraph discovered last week that Safia al-Yazouri, who is believed to be Abdullah’s sister, celebrated the deadly Hamas-led terrorist attacks across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. On the day of the massacre, she reportedly wrote on Facebook, “Amen O Lord,” and included an emoji of two hands clasped in gratitude and another emoji of a heart in the color green, which is seemingly a nod to the Hamas terrorist organization’s main color.
Safia has also voiced support for other attacks against Israel, according to The Telegraph. In May 2023, she reposted a message on social media that applauded a rocket attack on Tel Aviv that closed Israel’s main airport and added a heart emoji. She has also posted a picture depicting a map of the Gaza Strip next to a bullet.
The post Mass Protests Continue Outside BBC Headquarters as Corporation Faces Intense Scrutiny for Gaza Documentary first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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