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BBC Hits New Low in Repeatedly Comparing Israeli Hostages to Palestinian Terrorists
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 via Reuters Connect
The media’s coverage of the release of the first three Israeli hostages from Hamas captivity was revolting.
Several major news outlets drew grotesque comparisons between well-fed Palestinian detainees — most of whom were jailed for violent and deadly offenses — and the visibly emaciated Israeli hostages Eli Sharabi, Or Levy, and Ohad Ben Ami, who spent 491 days underground, malnourished, and subjected to torture.
The false equivalence was so extreme that Israel’s Government Press Office (GPO) issued a statement condemning these attempts to blur the distinction between convicted criminals and their victims.
HonestReporting called out — and successfully secured corrections from — several international news organizations, including NBC News and The Washington Post, whose reporting fell below even the most basic ethical standards.
Many outlets we engage with are at least willing to correct their mistakes. Sometimes, these amendments, retractions, and clarifications take time, but they do happen.
Then there’s the BBC — the outlier.
Despite being funded by UK taxpayers via the television licensing fee, the BBC repeatedly refuses to engage with legitimate criticism of its biased Israel coverage — both before and since Hamas’s October 7 massacre.
Rather than ensuring accuracy before publication or promptly correcting errors, the BBC resists taking action until it is quite literally forced to — usually after an intense and coordinated backlash makes the misreporting impossible to ignore.
The result? Barely a month goes by without the BBC issuing a public correction and apology — a recurring embarrassment gleefully reported by UK media as yet another example of the broadcaster’s journalistic failures.
And the male hostage exchange was no exception.
First, the BBC was once again forced into a public apology after one of its news anchors, Nicky Schiller, referred to the three Israeli hostages as “Israeli prisoners” of Hamas. Hours later, the network issued an on-air correction and apology, calling it a mistake.
But what kind of honest “mistake” is immediately repeated within 24 hours?
The very next day, as the BBC covered the release of the three emaciated hostages — exchanged for 183 Palestinian prisoners — it ran a glaringly misleading strapline across the bottom of its live news coverage: “Concerns over [the] appearance of hostages on both sides.” [Emphasis added]
“Concerns over appearance of hostages on both sides” — @BBCNews.
There are no “both sides” here.
What a disgusting false moral equivalence between actual Israeli hostages held by Hamas & Palestinian prisoners jailed for terror offenses.
It’s the BBC. Why aren’t we surprised? pic.twitter.com/FbCUZTk7mC
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) February 9, 2025
Let’s set aside the fact that the appearance of three starved, brutalized Israelis sparked far more than mere “concerns” — with their skeletal frames drawing comparisons to Nazi concentration camp survivors.
Who at the BBC thought that this grotesque false equivalence between convicted criminals and innocent hostages was remotely appropriate?
And if anyone still believes these incidents were just “mistakes,” as the BBC insists, or mere sloppiness, fast forward another 12 hours to high-profile BBC anchor Laura Kuenssberg’s Sunday morning interview with Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
In a brazen display of false equivalence, Kuenssberg used the horrifying condition of the freed Israeli hostages as a springboard to push baseless allegations of abuse in Israeli prisons — a remark Herzog rightly called “outrageous” for its vile moral equivalence.
Here’s the clip that @BBCPolitics hasn’t posted:
Israel’s President @Isaac_Herzog calls out the BBC for its consistent attempts to create a false moral equivalence between Israel and Palestinian terrorists.@bbclaurak, where’s your moral compass gone? https://t.co/2TYxjfiw0y pic.twitter.com/XePm7iBkaI
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) February 9, 2025
By now, it’s abundantly clear: this isn’t a string of unfortunate editorial slip-ups.
This is a pattern.
Whether it’s drawing a grotesque equivalence between Israeli hostages and the terrorists who kidnapped them and murdered their families, or describing 9-year-old Emily Hand — who was violently abducted from her kibbutz on October 7 — as simply having “gone missing” (as the BBC did), the BBC has made its position clear.
Emily Hand did not simply go “missing from Be’eri,” @BBCNews.
She did not walk out of her kibbutz into Gaza. Hamas terrorists abducted her.
Why is it so difficult for the BBC to give agency to Palestinian terrorists? pic.twitter.com/a33NGEsC4x
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) February 10, 2025
This time, the BBC’s bias must be properly scrutinized.
The broadcaster has repeatedly defended its disgraceful coverage, particularly its insistence on “both-siding” the conflict in the name of so-called impartiality. But when “balance” means whitewashing terrorism and dehumanizing its victims, it’s time to call it what it is: a complete failure of journalism.
The corporation’s ongoing insistence on applying this warped notion of impartiality to Hamas — a terrorist organization banned in the UK, one that Britons are legally prohibited from supporting under the UK’s Terrorism Act — speaks volumes about the editorial decisions coming from the top.
Unless the BBC’s taxpayer funding is cut, this will not stop.
The truth is, the BBC is rotten to its core — and its audiences deserve better.
They deserve a public broadcaster that serves them, not one that sympathizes with the extremists who seek to destroy them and their way of life.
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 Hits New Low in Repeatedly Comparing Israeli Hostages to Palestinian Terrorists first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Pro-Palestinian Rioters Splatter Israeli Singer With Red Paint, Try to Storm Stage at Concert in Poland
Illustrative: Anti-Israel protesters hold a banner that says, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” standing in front of the president’s palace in Warsaw, Poland, on Nov. 5, 2023. Photo: IMAGO/Marek Antoni Iwanczuk via Reuters Connect
Anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian demonstrators threw red paint on Israeli singer-songwriter and composer David D’Or and tried to storm the stage with a Palestinian flag during his performance in Warsaw, Poland, on Sunday night.
D’Or was singing the Hebrew prayer “Avinu Malkeinu” at a finale concert for an annual Jewish cultural festival in Warsaw when an anti-Israel agitator in the audience approached the stage and hurled red paint on him. While the protester was being apprehended by security, another activist emerged from the audience, carrying a Palestinian flag, and tried to storm the stage while reportedly shouting “Free Palestine.” Both activists were quickly removed from the auditorium.
D’Or posted a video of the incident on Instagram and detailed what happened in a Hebrew-language caption.
“In the middle of the prayer our father our king, when I pray for a good year and for peace in the world, I closed my eyes, when I suddenly felt a cold splash on my face, I opened my eyes to see a strong red color, similar to blood,” wrote the singer. “On the clothes on my face and on the stage and the musicians. The playlist was like stained in blood.” He said the stains of red paint reminded him “of the horror sights of October 7th,” referring to the deadly Hamas-led attack in 2023 in which Palestinian terrorists killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages back to the Gaza Strip, starting the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
D’Or said after he was splattered with red paint, “in the stunned crowd a sound of horror and crying began. I realized that I must pick myself up and encourage them.”
“I continued to sing and asked everyone to close their eyes and pray for the people of Israel,” he added. “It wasn’t easy, my eyes were teary with pain and great sadness from the situation we got to. At the end of the show the audience sang along with me and we came out strong … What terrible days, may God have mercy. Praying for better days.”
D’Or’s performance on Sunday night, accompanied by Sinfonia Viva, closed off the 22nd edition of the Singer’s Warsaw Festival of Jewish Culture. The concert took place at the Moniuszko Auditorium.
D’or’s career spans over 35 years and he has performed with many philharmonic orchestras around the world, including the Vienna Symphonic Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony, the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Philharmonic Orchestras of Rome, London, Moscow, Shanghai, Budapest, Beijing, and Los Angeles. He has 17 gold and platinum albums and previously performed at the Vatican six times, the United Nations, in front of former US presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, and had a close relationship with Israeli President Shimon Peres, who asked for D’or to sing at his funeral.
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Florida Man Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison for Plotting Attacks Targeting Jews, Blacks
An American flag waves outside the US Department of Justice Building in Washington, DC. Photo: Al Drago via Reuters Connect
A man from Margate, Florida, man was sentenced on Friday to 25 years in federal prison for planning attacks against Jewish and Black Americans, the US Department of Justice announced.
John Kevin Lapinski, Jr., 41, previously pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm as a convicted felon, possession of a firearm by a person subject to a court order, possession of an unregistered silencer, and possession of body armor by a violent felon.
On Oct. 31, 2024, officers from the Margate Police Department responded to a call about shots fired in a residential neighborhood and discovered that Lapinski was the shooter. Inside his home, police officers found a shooting target that depicted a Black male covered in bullet holes. They also found Lapinski’s arsenal that included five firearms, more than 3,000 rounds of ammunition, two silencers, body armor, smoke grenades, a Ghillie suit used for camouflage, and tactical gear.
Officers additionally found maps of local schools, parks, and community sites with racial slurs, written by Lapinski, that targeted Black and Jewish people. Lapinski had also compiled a “target list” for attacks based on race and religion and it mentioned a Jewish member of Congress, local synagogues, Jewish-owned businesses, and other religious and ethnically identified sites, according to the Justice Department
“This defendant stockpiled weapons, tactical gear, and detailed attack plans to terrorize Jewish and Black Americans in our communities. His intent was not abstract — it was written on his maps, his targets, and his so-called hit list,” US Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida said in a statement
“Thanks to the swift work of our law enforcement partners, his plan never became reality,” Quiñones added. “Instead of carrying out acts of racist violence, he will spend the next quarter-century behind bars. Let this sentence serve as a warning: hate-fueled violence will be met with decisive federal prosecution. We will disrupt your plans, seize your weapons, and ensure you never endanger the people of this district again.”
Investigators also linked Lapinski to a shooting in August 2024 that targeted the home and vehicle of a Jewish Florida resident.
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Houthi Terrorists Raid UN Premises in Yemen, Detain At Least 11 People
Houthi policemen ride on the back of a patrol pick-up truck during the funeral of Houthi terrorists killed by recent US-led strikes, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 10, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
Yemen‘s Iran-backed Houthi rebels raided United Nations offices in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Sunday and detained at least 11 UN personnel, the body said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the Houthis, an internationally designated terrorist group, forcibly entered World Food Program premises, seized UN property, and attempted to enter other UN offices in the capital.
The raid followed an Israeli strike on Sanaa on Thursday that killed the prime minister of Yemen‘s Houthi-run government and several other ministers.
UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg said in a separate statement that the 11 staff were detained in both Sanaa and the port city of Hodeidah.
UNICEF, the UN Development Program and the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees are among other UN agencies with offices in one or both of the two cities.
Grundberg said the detentions were in addition to 23 other UN staff previously detained, some since 2021, and one who died in detention this year.