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BBC Reporter Uses News Story to Promote Israeli ‘Apartheid’ Lie and Other Falsehoods
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
To write an entire article relating to the topic of the current war between Israel and Hamas without mentioning even once why it began and without referring to the 50 hostages still being held by the terrorist organization that started that conflict must take some doing.
The BBC’s Geneva correspondent nevertheless managed to do exactly that in a report published on the BBC News website, under the headline “UN expert calls for companies to stop doing business with Israel.”
Imogen Foulkes continues to portray Francesca Albanese, the controversial United Nations Special Rapporteur on the “occupied Palestinian territories,” as an “expert” in the body of her report, without defining her supposed “expertise”:
A United Nations expert has called on dozens of multinational companies to stop doing business with Israel, warning them they risk being complicit in war crimes in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. […]
UN experts, or special rapporteurs, are independent of the UN, but appointed by it to advise on human rights matters.
Moreover, she goes on to portray her protagonist as having legal qualifications: [emphasis added]
Ms Albanese is an international lawyer from Italy, and she is known for her bluntness; in previous reports she has suggested that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
On Thursday she repeated that claim, accusing Israel of “committing one of the cruellest genocides in modern history”. […]
“It’s unlikely the US administration will pay much more attention to the words of one international lawyer.”
Apparently, Imogen Foulkes does not read the Italian edition of Vanity Fair, and is hence unaware of the fact that in late May, Francesca Albanese herself stated in an interview with that magazine that she did not pass a legal bar examination and has not been licensed to practice law.
The reference to Albanese’s “previous reports” in which she “suggested that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza” serves as a reminder that in March 2024, Foulkes similarly promoted claims made by the same UN special rapporteur, without providing BBC audiences with any information about her record.
Foulkes refrains from telling her readers that Albanese’s latest report is titled “From economy of occupation to economy of genocide,” but does make a mention of the latter part of that title:
Francesca Albanese, presenting her report to the UN human rights council, described what she called “an economy of genocide” in which the conflict with Hamas provided a testing ground – with no accountability or oversight – for new weapons and technology.
Foulkes, of course, provides no factual evidence of that “testing ground” allegation. While she names some of the companies mentioned in Albanese’s report — arms manufacturers, tech firms, vehicle manufacturers, and financial institutions — she fails to note the inclusion of other types of companies.
As noted in UN Watch’s legal analysis of Albanese’s report:
The Report demonizes Israeli agribusinesses for “producing goods and technologies serving Israeli settler-colonial interests.” Notably, Israeli companies are responsible for groundbreaking innovations like drip irrigation, biological pest control, and foodtech (e.g., developing alternative proteins and milk substitutes). Albanese accuses dairy and foodtech innovator Tnuva of building “market dominance” by “exploit[ing]” the “captive Palestinian market” while charging drip irrigation leader Netafim with branding “itself as a sustainable innovator, while perpetrating age-old techniques of colonial exploitation.” (Para 61-64).
Foulkes goes on to promote an “apartheid” comparison:
Ms Albanese is, in targeting economic ties, trying to remind multinationals, and governments, of what happened with apartheid South Africa.
For a while many businesses made good money trading with South Africa, but the injustice of apartheid attracted global condemnation and UN sanctions which forced disinvestment and, eventually, helped to end the apartheid regime.
By listing companies which are household names, Ms Albanese is probably also hoping to provide millions of consumers worldwide with information they can use when choosing whether or not to buy something, as they did with South Africa.
Foulkes continues with another misrepresentation of Albanese’s qualifications:
But when Ms Albanese presented her report to UN member states, she received primarily praise and support.
African, Asian, and Arab states backed her call for disinvestment, many agreed that genocide was taking place, and some also warned Israel against vilifying international lawyers like Ms Albanese for doing their job.
Some observers have noted that Albanese’s report is basically calling for the economy of Israel to be dismantled, as she herself told reporters at a press briefing:
Albanese: “It’s a fiction that there is a line dividing, separating the ‘good’ Israel within Israel and the ‘bad’ Israel in the occupied territories. No! The economy is one. Israel’s economy is one and one only and my report exposes a system […] that there is no possibility to fix it and redress it. It is to be dismantled.”
Were Albanese really an “international lawyer” as claimed by Foulkes, she may perhaps have understood the implications of a call for Israel’s economy to be “dismantled” — but clearly neither she nor her BBC Geneva correspondent cheerleader do.
Once again, we see that the long-standing BBC policy of uncritically amplifying UN messaging — while exempting that organization and its various departments, agencies, and officials from any kind of critical reporting — remains firmly in place.
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.
The post BBC Reporter Uses News Story to Promote Israeli ‘Apartheid’ Lie and Other Falsehoods first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Security Warning to Israelis Vacationing Abroad Ahead of holidays
A passenger arrives to a terminal at Ben Gurion international airport before Israel bans international flights, January 25, 2021. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – Ahead of the Jewish High Holidays, Israel’s National Security Council (NSC) published the latest threat assessment to Israelis abroad from terrorist groups to the public on Sunday, in order to increase the Israeli public’s awareness of the existing terrorist threats around the world and encourage individuals to take preventive action accordingly.
The NSC specified that the warning is an up-to-date reflection of the main trends in the activities of terrorist groups around the world and their impact on the level of threat posed to Israelis abroad during these times, but the travel warnings and restrictions themselves are not new.
“As the Gaza war continues and in parallel with the increasing threat of terrorism, the National Security Headquarters stated it has recognized a trend of worsening and increasing violent antisemitic incidents and escalating steps by anti-Israel groups, to the point of physically harming Israelis and Jews abroad. This is in light of, among other things, the anti-Israel narrative and the negative media campaign by pro-Palestinian elements — a trend that may encourage and motivate extremist elements to carry out terrorist activities against Israelis or Jews abroad,” the statement read.
“Therefore, the National Security Bureau is reinforcing its recommendation to the Israeli public to act with responsibility during this time when traveling abroad, to check the status of the National Security Bureau’s travel warnings (before purchasing tickets to the destination,) and to act in accordance with the travel warning recommendations and the level of risk in the country they are visiting,” it listed, adding that, as illustrated in the past year, these warnings are well-founded and reflect a tangible and valid threat potential.
The statement also emphasized the risk of sharing content on social media networks indicating current or past service in the Israeli security forces, as these posts increase the risk of being marked by various parties as a target. “Therefore, the National Security Council recommends that you do not upload to social networks, in any way, content that indicates service in the security forces, operational activity, or similar content, as well as real-time locations.”
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Israel Intensifies Gaza City Bombing as Rubio Arrives
Displaced Palestinians, fleeing northern Gaza due to an Israeli military operation, move southward after Israeli forces ordered residents of Gaza City to evacuate to the south, in the central Gaza Strip September 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Israeli forces destroyed at least 30 residential buildings in Gaza City and forced thousands of people from their homes, Palestinian officials said, as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived on Sunday to discuss the future of the conflict.
Israel has said it plans to seize the city, where about a million Palestinians have been sheltering, as part of its declared aim of eliminating the terrorist group Hamas, and has intensified attacks on what it has called Hamas’ last bastion.
The group’s political leadership, which has engaged in on-and-off negotiations on a possible ceasefire and hostage release deal, was targeted by Israel in an airstrike in Doha on Tuesday in an attack that drew widespread condemnation.
Qatar will host an emergency Arab-Islamic summit on Monday to discuss the next moves. Rubio said Washington wanted to talk about how to free the 48 hostages – of whom 20 are believed to be still alive – still held by Hamas in Gaza and rebuild the coastal strip.
“What’s happened, has happened,” he said. “We’re gonna meet with them (the Israeli leadership). We’re gonna talk about what the future holds,” Rubio said before heading to Israel where he will stay until Tuesday.
ABRAHAM ACCORDS AT RISK
He was expected to visit the Western Wall Jewish prayer site in Jerusalem on Sunday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and hold talks with him during the visit.
US officials described Tuesday’s strike on the territory of a close US ally as a unilateral escalation that did not serve American or Israeli interests. Rubio and US President Donald Trump both met Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani on Friday.
Netanyahu signed an agreement on Thursday to push ahead with a settlement expansion plan that would cut across West Bank land that the Palestinians seek for a state – a move the United Arab Emirates warned would undermine the US-brokered Abraham accords that normalized UAE relations with Israel.
Israel, which blocked all food from entering Gaza for 11 weeks earlier this year, has been allowing more aid into the enclave since late July to prevent further food shortages, though the United Nations says far more is needed.
It says it wants civilians to leave Gaza City before it sends more ground forces in. Tens of thousands of people are estimated to have left but hundreds of thousands remain in the area. Hamas has called on people not to leave.
Israeli army forces have been operating inside at least four eastern suburbs for weeks, turning most of at least three of them into wastelands. It is closing in on the center and the western areas of the territory, where most of the displaced people are taking shelter.
Many are reluctant to leave, saying there is not enough space or safety in the south, where Israel has told them to go to what it has designated as a humanitarian zone.
Some say they cannot afford to leave while others say they were hoping the Arab leaders meeting on Monday in Qatar would pressure Israel to scrap its planned offensive.
“The bombardment intensified everywhere and we took down the tents, more than twenty families, we do not know where to go,” said Musbah Al-Kafarna, displaced in Gaza City.
Israel said it had completed five waves of air strikes on Gaza City over the past week, targeting more than 500 sites, including Hamas reconnaissance and sniper sites, buildings containing tunnel openings and weapons depots.
Local officials, who do not distinguish between militant and civilian casualties, say at least 40 people were killed by Israeli fire across the enclave, a least 28 in Gaza City alone.
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Turkey Warns of Escalation as Israel Expands Strikes Beyond Gaza
Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a press conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (not seen) at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, May 13, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Umit Bektas
i24 News – An Israeli strike targeting Hamas officials in Qatar has sparked unease among several Middle Eastern countries that host leaders of the group, with Turkey among the most alarmed.
Officials in Ankara are increasingly worried about how far Israel might go in pursuing those it holds responsible for the October 7 attacks.
Israel’s prime minister effectively acknowledged that the Qatar operation failed to eliminate the Hamas leadership, while stressing the broader point the strike was meant to make: “They enjoy no immunity,” the government said.
On X, Prime Minister Netanyahu went further, writing that “the elimination of Hamas leaders would put an end to the war.”
A senior Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, summed up Ankara’s reaction: “The attack in Qatar showed that the Israeli government is ready to do anything.”
Legally and diplomatically, Turkey occupies a delicate position. As a NATO member, any military operation or targeted killing on its soil could inflame tensions within the alliance and challenge mutual security commitments.
Analysts caution, however, that Israel could opt for covert measures, operations carried out without public acknowledgement, a prospect that has increased anxiety in governments across the region.
Israeli officials remain defiant. In an interview with Ynet, Minister Ze’ev Elkin said: “As long as we have not stopped them, we will pursue them everywhere in the world and settle our accounts with them.” The episode underscores growing fears that efforts to hunt Hamas figures beyond Gaza could widen regional friction and complicate diplomatic relationships.