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An Anti-Israel BBC Journalist Published a Piece Sympathizing with Hateful UK Group and Terror Suspects
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.
For more than three years, CAMERA UK has been documenting examples of the BBC’s failure to fully inform the British public about the agenda and actions of the radical group calling itself “Palestine Action.”
On November 14, a report was published on the” London” page of the BBC News website under the headline “‘My daughter was branded a terrorist.”. The article — credited to Anna O’Neill of BBC London — opens as follows:
In August, Clare Rogers’ daughter was arrested after allegedly taking part in direct action at an Israeli defence firm near Bristol.
“I discovered, three days in, still no phone call, that she was held under the Terrorist Act. And that meant seven days in solitary, and no right to a phone call… It was shocking,” she said.
Zoe Rogers, 21, is one of a group of pro-Palestinian protesters charged in relation to an incident at the Elbit UK, part of Elbit Systems, a global Israeli defence firm.
Zoe was eventually charged with criminal damage, violent disorder and aggravated burglary and denied bail. Her trial is not set to take place until November 2025.
The link in that third paragraph leads to a BBC Bristol report from August 13, 2024 titled, “Seven appear in court after ram-raid at defence firm,” which provides details of the incident that are absent from O’Neill’s article:
Seven people have appeared in court over a ram-raid on a defence technology firm – with two others held on suspicion of terrorism offences.
A group allegedly used a vehicle to smash through the doors of Elbit Systems UK, near Bristol, in the early hours of 6 August. […]
Police said two officers who attended the incident, on Bolingbroke Way in Patchway, were “seriously assaulted in the course of their duties”.
Extensive damage was caused to the building and employees were allegedly seriously assaulted.
That report describes the charges filed against the two women who are the topic of O’Neill’s report — Zoe Rogers and Fatema Zainab Rajwani — as follows:
Jordan Devlin, 30, of Stoke Newington High Street, London, Leona Kamio, 28, of Clifden Road, Hackney, London and Fatema Rajwani, 20, of Commonside, East Mitcham, Merton, have all been charged with criminal damage, violent disorder and aggravated burglary using a sledgehammer.
Charlotte Head, 28, of White Ash Glade, Caerleon, Newport, and and Zoe Rogers, 20, of Selborne Road, Southgate, Enfield, have also been charged with the same offences.
The same report states:
A 33-year-old man, from Manchester, who was arrested on Friday, also remains in custody on suspicion of the commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism after a warrant of further detention was granted by magistrates.
Another BBC Bristol report published three days later on August 16, under the headline, “Three more charged after ram-raid at defence firm,” provides the name of that “33-year-old man from Manchester”:
Three more people have been charged after an apparent ram-raid at a defence technology firm.
Members of the campaign group, Palestine Action, allegedly used a vehicle to ram the entrance of the Bristol HQ of Elbit Systems on Bolingbroke Way in Patchway, Bristol, shortly before 04:00 BST on 6 August.
Employees at the premises were “seriously assaulted” and “extensive damage” was done to the building, Counter Terrorism Policing South East (CTPSE) said.
The trio have been jointly charged with criminal damage and aggravated burglary.
Ian Sanders, 45, of Regent Place in Royal Leamington Spa, William Plastow, 33, of High Croft Avenue in Manchester and Madeline Norman, 29, of Wester Drylaw Drive in Edinburgh, will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday.
Interestingly, the BBC’s report does not clarify that William Plastow — also known as Will Nyerere Plastow — is (as some have noted was already reported by the Standard in September) a BBC script editor who had participated in previous Palestine Action agitprop in Leicester in April.
Anna O’Neill’s report amply promotes emotional quotes from the mothers of the two women charged with criminal damage, violent disorder, and aggravated burglary, rather than terrorism offences:
The idea of my daughter being branded a terrorist just fills me with horror,” Clare said.
She added: “Someone who believes so passionately in justice, is lamenting the deaths of innocent civilians and children. To be called a terrorist?
“That really disgusts me.
“It makes me very angry and it worries me about the future of activists in this country, and the expression of free speech.” […]
“She is someone who is very loving and very shy,” Clare says of her daughter.
“She thinks very deeply and cares very deeply about social justice. She started to see what was unfolding in Gaza and that became a huge part of her life.”
That “loving and shy” activist is quoted as follows on the ‘Palestine Action’ website:
I am honoured to be imprisoned in solidarity with thousands of Palestinian political prisoners. Down with the apartheid state!
Readers of O’Neill’s report also find a quote from Palestine Action — but no explanation of that organization’s agenda and record of violence and vandalism is provided.
In a statement to the BBC, Palestine Action defended direct action and condemned the use of anti-terror laws.
“Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons producer, market their arms as “battle-tested” on the Palestinian people,” it said.
“By misusing counter-terrorism powers against those who take direct action to shut Elbit down, the state is prioritising the interests of a foreign weapons manufacturer over the rights and freedoms of its own citizens.”
O’Neill also promotes a quote from the NUJ, without explaining its relevance to the story:
And organisations such as the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) are also worried about the use of counter-terror legislation by police.
Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, said: “The rise in the use of counter-terror legislation by British police against journalists is alarming and we are concerned recent cases are without clear or sufficient explanation to those under investigation.
“Being able to report freely on issues in the public interest without fear of arrest is a fair expectation for every journalist abiding by the union’s code of conduct. We have urged an end to the apparent targeting for its harm on a free press and the risks posed to both journalists and their sources.”
O’Neill’ goes on to present comments from two lawyers, one of whom is Michael Mansfield. Readers are of course not provided with any information about that contributor’s long-standing anti-Israel activism and collaboration with lawfare campaigns against Israel.
The one-sided nature of O’Neill’s long report, together with her failure to provide readers with relevant context, including that relating to the agenda and actions of Palestine Action, becomes more comprehensible when one is aware of her social media activity.
Apparently the BBC is of the opinion that its obligation to provide its funding public with impartial reporting is not compromised by a puff-piece about members of a violent anti-Israel group which, according to a UK government report, “engages in law breaking and business disruption” (with the help of a BBC script editor) written by a journalist who “likes” social media posts promoting BDS and other anti-Israel content.
Hadar Sela is the co-editor of CAMERA UK — an affiliate of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA), where a version of this article first appeared.
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Northwestern University Community Denounces Passover Vandalism
The campus of Northwestern University, a day after a US official said $790 million in federal funding has been frozen for the university while it investigates the school over civil rights violations, on April 9, 2025. Photo: Vincent Alban via Reuters Connect.
Northwestern University on Tuesday denounced the antisemitic vandalism of two administrative buildings located on the Evanston section of campus, a disturbing act that was perpetrated during the Jewish holiday of Passover.
According to the The Northwestern Daily, Kregse Hall and University Hall were graffitied with hateful speech calling for “Death to Israel” and an “Intifada,” alluding to two prolonged periods of Palestinian terrorism during which hundreds of Israeli Jews were murdered. The vandals also spray-painted an inverted triangle, a symbol used to express support for the terrorist group Hamas and its atrocities.
“Antisemitic acts cannot and will not be tolerated at Northwestern, nor will vandalism or other violations of our polices on displays, demonstrations, or conduct,” university president Michael Schill said in a statement following the incident. “We are working systematically and utilizing camera footage, forensics, and other methods to identify the individuals responsible for this vandalism. If these individuals are current Northwestern students, they will be immediately suspended and face full disciplinary proceedings under university policies, as well as criminal charges under the law.”
Schill’s statement went on to report that he had hosted a Passover Seder hours before the vandalism took place, continuing a messaging campaign Northwestern University launched earlier this month to tout its “progress” on addressing campus antisemitism. The university’s alleged failure to protect Jewish students from discrimination recently caused the Trump administration to impound $790 million in taxpayer funds that were previously awarded to it. Before the move, Northwestern released a report enumerating the policies it has enacted to combat antisemitism and strengthen its disciplinary code.
“As a university, we should take pride in the progress we have made over the past year, but we can never become complacent,” Schill continued. “In that report and in many communications prior, we made abundantly clear that violations of our rules and policies will result in strict enforcement and that antisemitic behavior will be met with consequences.”
Following the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, Northwestern struggled to combat an impression that it coddled pro-Hamas protesters and acceded to their demands for a boycott of Israel in exchange for an end to their May 2024 encampment.
Schill denied during a US congressional hearing held that year that he had capitulated to any demand that fostered a hostile environment, but his critics noted that part of the deal to end the encampment stipulated his establishing a scholarship for Palestinian undergraduates, contacting potential employers of students who caused recent campus disruptions to insist on their being hired, creating a segregated dormitory hall that will be occupied exclusively by students of Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) and Muslim descent, and forming a new advisory committee in which anti-Zionists students and faculty may wield an outsized voice.
The status of those concessions, which a law firm representing the civil rights advocacy group StandWithUs described as “outrageous” in July 2024, was not disclosed in the university’s “progress report” on antisemitism.
Speaking to The Northwestern Daily on Monday, Jewish community leaders representing Northwestern Hillel said that the Passover vandalism is “despicable” and an example of the extent to which political discourse in the US has degenerated into “beyond the pale” pronouncements of extremist views.
“To see an upside-down red triangle on University Hall on the Northwestern campus, it feels like that’s where the terms like ‘egregious’ and ‘vile’ immediately come to mind for me,’” Northwestern Hillel executive director Michael Simon told the paper.
Sari Eisen, Hillel president said, “It was really disheartening and troubling to see those words and symbols, especially spray painted on the building.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Former Hamas Hostage Noa Argamani Included in Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2025 List
Noa Argamani joins Ambassador Danny Danon of Israel as he briefs the media after the Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, at UN Headquarters in New York, on Feb. 25, 2025. Photo: Lev Radin/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
Rescued Hamas hostage Noa Argamani has been featured in the 2025 TIME100, TIME magazine’s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world that was revealed on Wednesday.
The 22nd annual list by TIME includes individuals from 32 countries. Argamani, 27, is mentioned on the list under the category of “leaders,” which include US President Donald Trump, journalist and commentator Megyn Kelly, Venezuelan “Iron Lady” María Corina Machado, Argentina’s President Javier Milei, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum, and World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Argamani said she is “deeply honored” to be included on the list but also “grateful that this recognition continues to shine a light on the hostage crisis and the horrific attacks of October 7th. It’s a powerful reminder of the urgent need to keep speaking out.”
The former Hamas hostage has traveled the world to speak with politicians, other leaders, and communities about her abduction and the grave need to take action to secure the release of the 59 people still being held hostage in Gaza. She said she is “humbled to serve as a voice for the hostages who remain in captivity — those who can’t speak for themselves.”
Argamani was taken hostage by Hamas terrorists during their deadly rampage at the Nova music festival in Re’im, in southern Israel, on Oct. 7, 2023. She was held captive in the Gaza Strip by members of the internationally designated terrorist organization for eight months until she was rescued by the Israel Defense Forces during a heroic operation in June 2024. An only child, she was rescued in time to see her terminally ill mother before she died of brain cancer less than a month after returning home. Argamani’s boyfriend Avinatan Or, is still in Hamas captivity and is one of 24 hostages whom Israel believes is still alive. Or recently turned 32, his second birthday in Gaza.
Argamani has become one of the most recognized faces of the hostages who were kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023, because of harrowing footage that went viral around the world showing her being taken by force into Gaza on the back of a motorcycle, while she pleads for her life and reaches her arm out desperately towards her boyfriend, as he is marched alongside her on foot.
TIME magazine pairs members of its TIME100 list with guest contributors who were chosen by the publication to write about them. Argamani was paired with former Second Gentleman of the United States Douglas Emhoff, who wrote about seeing the heart-wrenching footage of her being abducted.
“The video of Noa Argamani on Oct. 7, 2023, is forever seared into my soul,” Emhoff wrote. “She was joyfully dancing with so many others at the Nova music festival when Hamas launched its brutal terrorist attack. As she was kidnapped into Gaza on a motorcycle, her harrowing expression became a symbol of the pain and trauma Jews worldwide, myself included, continue to feel.”
Emhoff added that since Argamani’s rescue by the IDF, “she has shown extraordinary courage and humanity in speaking out for the remaining hostages.”
“My wife Kamala Harris and I stand with Noa in fighting for the release of all the hostages. We cannot give up until every one of them is home,” he noted. “Noa’s advocacy has illuminated Hamas’s extreme brutality, but more importantly, her bravery has embodied Jewish resilience and strength even in the worst moments. She is living proof to the world that, despite everything, ‘we will dance again.’”
Argamani said on Wednesday that her life “changed forever” on Oct. 7, 2023.
“I spent 246 days as a hostage, stripped of freedom and control,” she explained. “Since my rescue, I’ve made a promise to do everything in my power to bring the others home — including my love, my partner, Avinatan Or, who is still being held in the tunnels of Gaza. There are still 59 hostages in Gaza. Innocent people. They need us. We must not stop. Bring Them ALL Home. NOW.”
Members of the 2025 TIME100 list will gather in New York City on April 23 at the TIME100 Summit and a day later at the 19th annual TIME100 Gala, which will air as a primetime television special on May 4 on ABC for the sixth year in a row. It will be available to stream the next day on Hulu.
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US Condemns UN for Extending Mandate of Anti-Israel Official Francesca Albanese
Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, attends a side event during the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, March 26, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
The United States has “strongly denounced” the United Nations for extending the tenure of controversial UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, repudiating the decision as an example of “antisemitic hatred” within the international organization.
“The Human Rights Council’s (HRC) support for Ms. Albanese offers yet another example of why President Trump ordered the United States to cease all participation in the HRC,” the US Mission to the UN said in a statement on Tuesday. “Ms. Albanese’s actions also make clear the United Nations tolerates antisemitic hatred, bias against Israel, and the legitimization of terrorism.”
Albanese, an Italian lawyer and academic, has held the position of UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories since 2022. The position authorizes her to monitor and report on alleged “human rights violations” that Israel supposedly commits against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
Earlier this month, the UN Human Rights Council renewed the mandate of Albanese, despite widespread calls from several countries and NGOs urging UN members to oppose her reappointment due to her controversial remarks and alleged pro-Hamas stance.
Critics of Albanese have long accused her of exhibiting an excessive anti-Israel bias, calling into question her fairness and neutrality.
Albanese has an extensive history of using her role at the UN to denigrate Israel and seemingly rationalize the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s attacks on the Jewish state.
In the months following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, atrocities across southern Israel, Albanese accused the Jewish state of enacting a “genocide” against the Palestinian people in revenge for the attacks and circulated a widely derided and heavily disputed report alleging that 186,000 people had been killed in the Gaza war as a result of Israeli actions.
The United Nations launched a probe into Albanese last summer for allegedly accepting a trip to Australia funded by pro-Hamas organizations. She has also celebrated the anti-Israel protesters rampaging across US college campuses, saying they represent a “revolution” and give her “hope.”
While speaking at a Washington, DC bookstore in October, Albanese also accused Israel of weaponizing the fallout of the Oct. 7 slaughters to justify the continued “colonization” of Gaza.
“The 7th of October is a tragic date for the Israelis, but this is what also triggered the opportunity for Israel to complete and channel the project of colonial erasure. Israel seized the opportunity to complete that plan of realizing Jewish sovereignty only in the land of Palestine,” Albanese said at the time.
The UN official has also decried Israelis as “foreign” Jews who expelled “indigenous” Palestinians from their land for the purpose of creating an exclusionary ethnostate, erasing the millennia-long presence of Jewish people within the land of Israel. She has also repeatedly condemned Israel as a “colonial” enterprise, comparing the Jewish state to British India or French Algeria.
“They used to say, let us colonize Palestine as the Brits have colonized India, as the French have colonized Algeria, because up to 70 years ago, colonialism was totally acceptable. Today, it’s not and so the narrative has changed,” Albanese said.
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