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Surprise: Head of BBC News Caught Pushing Hamas Narrative in Leaked Zoom Call
The BBC logo is displayed above the entrance to the BBC headquarters in London, Britain, July 10, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Hollie Adams
When it comes to Israel, the BBC can’t seem to stop generating controversy.
As HonestReporting highlighted following last month’s controversy surrounding the airing of a violent anti-IDF chant at the Glastonbury music festival, the British public broadcaster has a long history of bias and misinformation in its coverage of the Jewish state.
This latest controversy (courtesy of the BBC’s CEO of news, Deborah Turness) is actually an offshoot of a separate controversy that rattled the media organization earlier this year.
In February 2025, the BBC removed the documentary Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone from its streaming platform after investigative reporter David Collier revealed that the teen narrator of the film was the son of a Hamas minister and that his mother had been remunerated by the production company responsible for filming.
The documentary was also found to have engaged in several instances of mistranslation, sanitizing the interviewee’s language by translating the Arabic word for “Jews” as “Israelis” or “Israeli forces” and representing the word “Jihad” as “battle” or “resistance.”
After the embarrassment of having to pull the documentary, the BBC apologized for the “serious flaws” it contained.
An @BBC news thread – for those who do not understand JUST HOW BAD the BBC Hamas propaganda documentary was. There have been several key scoops – and I thought I would bring the issues together.
Thread
— David Collier (@mishtal) February 21, 2025
In mid-July, the BBC issued a report admitting that the documentary had breached the broadcasting corporation’s editorial standards, and that it should never have been signed off on the film.
In response to the BBC report, HonestReporting’s Editorial Director, Simon Plosker, released a statement that read in part:
Apologies are not enough. It’s time for the BBC to start reporting impartially and to address those parts of its newsroom that are clearly incapable of doing so.
And now it seems that one of the parts of the newsroom that is “clearly incapable” of reporting impartially is the CEO of news herself, Deborah Turness.
This is Deborah Turness, the CEO of BBC News, on a staff call about the Gaza documentary which broke impartiality rules.
Incredibly, she doesn’t seem to know that BOTH the armed wing and the political wing are deemed terrorist organisations by our government. pic.twitter.com/jGuup6x0if— Nicole Lampert (@nicolelampert) July 16, 2025
A 30-second clip was recently leaked online and shared on social media showing Turness on a Zoom call with BBC employees, stating:
I think it’s really important that we are clear that Abdullah’s father was a deputy agricultural minister and therefore, you know, was a member of the Hamas-run government, which is different to being part of the military wing of Hamas. And I think externally, it’s often simplified that, you know, he was in Hamas. And I think it’s — it’s an important point of detail that we need to continually remind people of the difference and of that connection.
So, not only is a BBC executive trying to downplay the gravity of the serious breach of editorial guidelines that the British broadcaster admitted to in releasing the controversial documentary, but she is also creating a false division within Hamas that is not recognized by the British government.
Since 2021, the entirety of Hamas has been proscribed as a terror organization by the UK government. At the time of this designation, a Home Office statement declared that any distinction between a “military” and “political” wing is “artificial, with Hamas as an organisation involved in committing, participating, preparing for, and encouraging acts of terrorism.”
Perhaps this attempt to whitewash Hamas shouldn’t be so surprising, as the BBC itself has a policy of refusing to refer to the organization and its members as “terrorists.”
However, it should alarm every British taxpayer that one of the executives in charge of news at the British public broadcaster sought to revise reality to exculpate the BBC of any wrongdoing.
What does this say about the BBC’s impartiality? How can the average viewer trust any item that emerges from a newsroom run under the oversight of Deborah Turness?
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 Surprise: Head of BBC News Caught Pushing Hamas Narrative in Leaked Zoom Call first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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UK Blocks Israeli Officials From Its Biggest Defense Show
Visitors look at ammunition on display at the Defense and Security Equipment International trade show in this file photo in London, Britain, Sept. 12, 2017. Photo: REUTERS/Hannah McKay
Britain has barred Israeli officials from its biggest defense trade show over its escalation of the war against Hamas in Gaza, its latest effort to pressure a historically close ally over the conflict.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government said in July it would recognize a Palestinian state unless Israel took steps to relieve suffering in the enclave and met other conditions, enraging the Israeli government.
Israel’s Ministry of Defense said that as a result of the trade fair ban it would not run its national pavilion as it has done previously at London’s Defense & Security Equipment International (DSEI) event.
Israeli defense companies, such as Elbit Systems, Rafael, IAI, and Uvision, will still be able to attend.
Britain’s move had echoes of a dispute at the Paris Air Show three months ago, when France blocked off with black partitions the stands of Israeli defense companies after they refused to remove attack weapons from display, sparking a furious response from Israel.
A British government spokesperson said on Friday that the Israeli government’s decision to further escalate its military operation in Gaza was wrong.
“As a result, we can confirm that no Israeli government delegation will be invited to attend DSEI UK 2025.”
“There must be a diplomatic solution to end this war now, with an immediate ceasefire, the return of the hostages and a surge in humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza,” the spokesperson added.
Israel said Britain’s decision was a “regrettable act of discrimination” and “introduces political considerations wholly inappropriate for a professional defense industry exhibition.”
The four-day show, due to open on Sept. 9, features national delegations and private companies, who showcase military kit and weapons at London’s Excel center. The event takes place every other year.
DSEI is organized by a private company, Clarion Defense and Security, but with backing from the British government and the military.
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Israel Pounds Gaza City Outskirts as Military Push Quickens
Palestinians gather near a cemetery as smoke rises following an explosion during an Israeli operation in Gaza City, Aug. 28, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Israel‘s military stepped up armed operations around Gaza City on Friday, ending temporary pauses there that had allowed for aid deliveries, as it announced the recovery of the body of Ilan Weiss, a hostage seized by Hamas.
Israel is pushing ahead with a plan to take full control of the whole Gaza Strip, starting with Gaza City, with the goal of destroying Hamas after nearly 23 months of war.
“The local tactical pause in military activity will not apply to the area of Gaza City, which constitutes a dangerous combat zone,” the Israeli military said.
The Gaza City campaign has gradually intensified over the past week as Israel has urged civilians to leave for the south of the Palestinian enclave.
The Israeli military‘s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said the military was operating with great intensity on the outskirts of Gaza City and would “deepen our strikes” as it pressed its assault.
It announced daily 10-hour tactical pauses in fighting across the enclave and new aid corridors in late July, after months of restricted humanitarian deliveries drew international criticism.
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Germany Tells Nationals to Leave Iran, Fearing Retaliation Over Move With UK, France to Restore UN Sanctions
United Kingdom’s Ambassador to the United Nations Barbara Woodward, accompanied by other E3 members German Ambassador Ricklef Beutin and Deputy French Ambassador Jay Dharmadhikari, speaks to members of the press about Iran and nuclear weapons outside the UN Security Council chamber at UN Headquarters in New York City, US, Aug. 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Angelina Katsanis
Germany has told its nationals to leave Iran and refrain from traveling there to avoid getting caught in retaliatory acts by Tehran over Germany‘s role in triggering UN sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.
Britain, France, and Germany on Thursday launched a 30-day process to reimpose UN sanctions on Iran over its disputed nuclear program, a step likely to stoke tensions two months after Israel and the United States bombed Iran.
“As Iranian government representatives have repeatedly threatened with consequences in this case, it cannot be ruled out that German interests and nationals will be affected by countermeasures in Iran,” the foreign ministry said in a statement posted on its website on Thursday.
“Currently, the German Embassy in Tehran can only provide limited consular assistance on site,” it warned.
Britain, France, and Germany urged Iran at the United Nations on Friday to meet three requirements so their threat of reimposing UN sanctions can be delayed to allow space for talks on a deal to address their concerns about Tehran’s nuclear program.
UN envoys for the three countries – known as the E3 – issued a joint statement before a closed-door Security Council meeting.
The E3 offered to delay reinstating sanctions – known as snapback – for up to six months if Iran restored access for UN nuclear inspectors, addressed concerns about its stock of enriched uranium, and engaged in talks with the United States.
“Our asks were fair and realistic,” said Britain’s UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward, who read the statement. “However, as of today, Iran has shown no indication that it is serious about meeting them.”
“We urge Iran to reconsider this position, to reach an agreement based on our offer, and to help create the space for a diplomatic solution to this issue for the long term,” she said, with her German and French counterparts standing next to her.
In response, Iran‘s UN Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said the E3 offer was “full of unrealistic preconditions.”
“They are demanding conditions that should be the outcome of negotiations, not the starting point, and they know these demands cannot be met,” he told reporters.
Iravani said the E3 should instead back “a short, unconditional technical extension of Resolution 2231,” which enshrines a 2015 nuclear deal that lifted UN and Western sanctions on Iran in return for curbs on its nuclear program.
SINO-RUSSIAN DRAFT
Russia and China have proposed a draft UN Security Council resolution that would extend the 2015 deal for six months and urge all parties to immediately resume negotiations. But they have not yet asked for a vote.
The pair, strategic allies of Iran, have removed controversial language from the draft – which they initially proposed on Sunday – that would have blocked the E3 from reimposing UN sanctions on Iran.
Iravani described the Russian and Chinese draft resolution as a practical step to give diplomacy more time. A resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the US, France, Britain, China, or Russia.
UN nuclear inspectors have returned to Iran for the first time since it suspended cooperation with them after attacks in June on its nuclear sites by Israel and the United States. But Iran has not yet reached an agreement on how it would resume full work with the International Atomic Energy Agency.