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The BBC Spreads Hamas Propaganda, Despite Telling the Truth in 2017

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
Nearly eight years ago, in May 2017, the BBC News website published a report on the topic of a policy document published by Hamas. At the time, the BBC accurately reported that:
The new document, which Hamas says does not replace the charter, accepts the establishment of a Palestinian state within territories occupied by Israel in 1967 as a stage towards the “liberation” of all of historic Palestine west of the River Jordan.
This is an apparent shift in Hamas’s stated position, which previously rejected any territorial compromise.
The document says this does not, however, mean Hamas recognises Israel’s right to exist in any part of the land or that it no longer advocates violence against Israel. [emphasis added]
However, as CAMERA UK documented at the time, additional BBC reporting — including from the BBC Jerusalem bureau’s Yolande Knell — promoted a false portrayal of the document as a “new charter,” and the inaccurate claim that “it really drops its long-standing call for an outright destruction of Israel.”
Months later, the BBC’s Lyse Doucet, was still promoting the inaccurate claim that Hamas had “made some changes” to its charter.
Notably, the BBC refused to correct that misinformation.
In January 2018, a Hamas leader clarified directly to the BBC that “we are not going to denounce a square meter of our land which is Palestine,” and in 2020, another Hamas leader told a different media outlet that “Palestine must stretch from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.”
Nevertheless, viewers watching BBC News channel coverage of the fifth phase of the release of Israeli hostages on the morning of February 8 heard the following from contributor Oliver McTernan of the British charity ‘Forward Thinking’. [emphasis in italics in the original, emphasis in bold added]
BBC anchor: “You talk about Hamas’ political will for a solution but they do still have in their charter — don’t they — the destruction of the State of Israel. They did launch those attacks, murdering 1,200 people on October 7th.”
McTernan: “Well I think there are two things there. On the one hand, the 2017 document was to replace the charter and as I say, that was the acceptance of a two-state solution on ’67 borders. But the horror of what happened on October 7th – and, let’s face it, it was reprehensible – the level of violence, the nature of the violence, the taking of innocent families and so forth into Gaza, that, I think, it…you cannot justify it on any level whatsoever. But you have to try and understand it – that you get an inevitable explosion of violence if there is no political track which people can follow and horizon where they can see some sort of future.”
The BBC should have been able to anticipate that disinformation concerning the 2017 document and Hamas’ purported “acceptance of a two-state solution” — as well as “conflict resolution expert”’ McTernan’s “contextualisation”of the massacre perpetrated by Hamas and others on October 7, 2023. On the morning of that very day,
McTernan was in a BBC studio describing the then ongoing invasion of Israel and slaughter of civilians as an “expression of frustration” and telling audiences about his then recent trip to South Africa, where he met with Palestinian representatives.
In July 2024, the BBC television and radio program Hardtalk interviewed McTernan:
Sarah Montague speaks to former Catholic priest Oliver McTernan who has spent more than two decades working in conflict resolution in the Middle East. He is the director of the organisation Forward Thinking and was involved in negotiations that led to the release of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011. While he has no formal role in the current talks over the war in Gaza, he regularly speaks to senior figures in both Hamas and the Israeli government. Given the history of this protracted conflict, does he hold any hope that it will ever be resolved?
In addition to repeatedly promoting the false Hamas narrative of a siege on the Gaza Strip and providing a decidedly bizarre explanation for the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit in 2006, McTernan responded to Sarah Montague’s observation that one of the terrorists released in exchange for Shalit was Yahya Sinwar who “masterminded October 7” with the claim that “if there had been the lifting of the siege of Gaza, circumstances would have changed and you would not have got, I think, the level of violence that we witnessed on October 7. […] It was the lack of political progress that actually empowered the militant side of Hamas.”
Towards the end of that interview, throughout which he tried to promote the redundant notion of separate ‘wings’ to Hamas, McTernan made the following statement: “We forget that in 2017 Hamas issued a political statement […] where they recognised a two-state solution on ’67 borders.”
In other words — despite the existence of BBC procedures concerning risk assessment, including of “factual errors”, in live content — when the BBC News channel invited McTernan to participate in its coverage of the release of three Israeli hostages on February 8, 2025, it already knew that he is a promoter of the false notion of “’67 borders”; that he spreads disinformation concerning non-existent Hamas acceptance of a two-state solution; that he wrongly claims that the 2017 document “replaced” the Hamas charter; that he advances the redundant claim of separate “wings” to that terrorist organization; and that he makes excuses for the worst massacre in Israel’s history.
Where is the outrage?
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 The BBC Spreads Hamas Propaganda, Despite Telling the Truth in 2017 first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Australian Police Arrest Alleged Perpetrator Behind 4 Antisemitic Attacks, Including Child-Care Center Torching

Southern Sydney Synagogue in the suburb of Allawah, Australia, was vandalized with antisemitic graffiti on Jan. 10, 2024. Photo: Screenshot
Australian authorities have charged a 27-year-old man who they say directed multiple acts of vandalism and antisemitic arson attacks against Sydney’s Jewish population.
Police on Wednesday named the suspect as Tarek Zahabe, who was arrested in July but only publicly revealed this week as the alleged organizer of four crimes in January. Investigators say he orchestrated the attacks and instructed Kye Pickering, his alleged 26-year-old accomplice.
The alleged crimes occurred in less than a month. On Jan. 10, swastikas were sprayed across the Allawah Synagogue in southern Sydney. A week later, on Jan. 17, vandals attacked the former home of Alex Ryvchin, co-executive chief officer of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry. They splashed red paint and torched four cars on the street, scrawling “f**k Jews” on one of the vehicles. On Jan. 21, a child-care center near the Maroubra Synagogue was set on fire and vandalized with antisemitic graffiti. Finally, on Jan. 30, a Jewish school in Maroubra was also targeted with spray-painted slurs.
Police allege Zahabe directed and coordinated each of these actions, while Pickering executed much of the damage.
Zahabe faces two counts of participating in a criminal group and one count of knowingly or recklessly directing such a group. Pickering has been charged with destroying property, participating in the conspiracy, and displaying Nazi symbols in public. Both are scheduled to appear before the Downing Centre Local Court on Oct. 30.
In Australia, the public display of swastikas and other Nazi iconography carries penalties as high as 12 months’ imprisonment or a fine of $11,000.
Some Australian states enforce stiffer penalties for those intent on promoting the Third Reich, such as Victoria with fines reaching $23,000 and 12 months in jail. In Western Australia, Nazi advocates face fines of $24,000 with as much as five years behind bars.
The arrests resulted from the efforts of Strike Force Pearl, a counterterrorism investigation launched after a wave of incidents targeting Sydney’s Jewish community. Authorities have linked Zahabe’s alleged actions to a broader set of more than a dozen attacks across the summer, including one case in which a caravan filled with explosives was discovered on the city’s outskirts.
“We thank the NSW [New South Wales] Police for their efforts and determination in bringing these alleged offenders to justice,” David Ossip, president of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, said in a statement. “Many in the community will sleep more soundly in the knowledge that at least some of these attackers are no longer a threat but big questions remain about the role of Iran in these events.”
At the time of the January attacks, political leaders condemned the criminals with Chris Minns, the New South Wales premier, calling the attackers “bastards … with hate in their hearts.” He would later describe the spate of firebombings and graffiti as Sydney’s “summer of racism.” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also denounced the attacks targeting Jewish sites and leaders.
Authorities have so far chosen to prosecute Zahabe as a domestic criminal conspiracy. However, Australian leaders have recently announced the involvement of Iran in other antisemitic crimes in the country, charges prompting diplomatic divisions resulting in the mutual expulsion of ambassadors.
In August, the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) said it had credible evidence that Iran directed two crimes — a firebombing of Lewis’s Continental Kitchen, a kosher deli in Bondi, and an arson attack on Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue.
Albanese described the incidents as “extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil.” His government responded by expelling Iran’s ambassador, suspending operations at Australia’s embassy in Tehran, and pledging to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei denied the allegations, calling them “ridiculous and baseless” while accusing Australia of manufacturing claims to justify an anti-Iran policy. Tehran responded by downgrading relations, sending the Australian ambassador home, and insisting that antisemitism was a “Western and European” problem with no place in Iran’s own cultural history.
“If you look at history, persecution of Jews because of their religion is rooted in Europe, and it is they who must be held accountable for their past,” Baghaei said.
The Guardian reported that police have not linked Zahabe’s case directly to Iran or to the organized crime networks mentioned earlier in the investigation.
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Faculty Driving US Campus Antisemitism Crisis, New Survey Finds

Students, faculty, and others at Georgetown University on March 23, 2025. Photo: ZUMA Press Wire via Reuters Connect.
A new survey conducted by two leading research nonprofits found that staff and faculty accelerated the antisemitism crisis on US college campuses by politicizing the classroom, promoting anti-Israel bias, and even discriminating against Jewish colleagues.
The actions by faculty provided an academic pretext for the relentless wave of antisemitic incidents of discrimination and harassment which pro-Hamas activists have perpetrated against Jewish and Israeli members of campus communities since the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, according to the survey.
Released on Wednesday as the result of a joint partnership by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Academic Engagement Network (AEN), the survey of “Jewish-identifying US-based faculty members” found that 73 percent of Jewish faculty witnessed their colleagues engaging in antisemitic activity, and a significant percentage named the Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine (FSJP) group as the force driving it.
Of those aware of an FSJP chapter on their campus, the vast majority of respondents reported that the chapter engaged in anti-Israel programming (77.2 percent), organized anti-Israel protests and demonstrations (79.4 percent), and endorsed anti-Israel divestment campaigns (84.8 percent).
Additionally, 50 percent of respondents said that anti-Zionist faculty have established de facto, or “shadow,” boycotts of Israel on campus even in the absence of formal declaration or recognition of one by the administration. Among those who reported the presence of such a boycott, 55 percent noted that departments avoid co-sponsoring events with Jewish or pro-Israel groups and 29.5 percent said this policy is also subtly enacted by sabotaging negotiations for partnerships with Israeli institutions. All the while, such faculty fostered an environment in which Jewish professors were “maligned, professionally isolated, and in severe cases, doxxed or harassed” as they assumed the right to determine for their Jewish colleagues what constitutes antisemitism.
Administrative officials responded inconsistently to antisemitic hatred, affording additional rationale to the downstream of hatred. More than half (53.1 percent) of respondents described their university’s response to incidents involving antisemitism or anti-Israel bias as “very” or “somewhat” unhelpful, and a striking 77.3 percent thought the same of their professional academic associations.
In total, alleged faculty misconduct and administrative dereliction combined to degrade the professional experiences of Jewish professors, as many reported “worsening mental and physical health, increased self-censorship, fear for personal safety,” and a sense that the destruction of their careers and reputations was imminent.
“Colleges and universities are meant to be open, safe, learning environments where faculty and students alike feel comfortable sharing ideas and having open discourse,” AEN executive director Miriam Elman said in a statement. “It’s disturbing, but perhaps unsurprising, that Jewish and Zionist faculty on campuses across the country are experiencing antisemitic hostility and retaliation for their beliefs.”
She continued, “Administrators must address these issues head-on and take meaningful action to protect the flow of free ideas and open inquiry on their campuses, or their institutions will suffer for generations to come.”
ADL chief executive officer Jonathan Greenblatt added, “What we’re seeing is a betrayal of the fundamental principles of academic freedom and collegiality. Jewish faculty are being forced to hide their identities, excluded from professional opportunities, and told by their own colleagues what constitutes antisemitism — even as they experience it firsthand. This hostile environment is driving talented educators and researchers away from careers they’ve dedicated their lives to building.”
As The Algemeiner has previously reported, FSJP is a spinoff of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), a group with links to Islamist terrorist organizations. FSJP chapters have been cropping up at colleges since Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, and throughout the 2023-2024 academic year, its members, which include faculty employed by the most elite US colleges, fostered campus unrest, circulated antisemitic cartoons, and advocated severing ties with Israeli companies and institutions of higher education.
The group’s contribution to antisemitism has drawn scrutiny from education watchdogs before.
In September 2024, AMCHA Initiative published a groundbreaking new study which showed that FSJP is fueling antisemitic hate crimes, efforts to impose divestment on endowments, and the collapse of discipline and order on college campuses. Using data analysis, AMCHA researchers said they were able to establish a correlation between a school’s hosting an FSJP chapter and anti-Zionist and antisemitic activity. For example, the researchers found that the presence of FSJP on a college campuses increased by seven times “the likelihood of physical assaults and Jewish students” and increased by three times the chance that a Jewish student would be subject to threats of violence and death.
FSJP, AMCHA’s researchers added, also “prolonged” the duration of “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” protests on college campuses, in which students occupied a section of campus illegally and refused to leave unless administrators capitulated to demands for a boycott of Israel. They said that such demonstrations lasted over four and a half times longer where FSJP faculty — who, they noted, spent 9.5 more days protesting than those at non-FSJP schools — were free to influence and provide logistic and material support to students.
Additionally, FSJP facilitated the proposing and adopting of student government resolutions demanding acceptance of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement — which aims to isolate Israel culturally, financially, and diplomatically as the first step toward its destruction. Wherever FSJP was, the researchers said, BDS was “4.9 times likely to pass” and “nearly 11 times more likely to be included in student demands,” evincing, they continued, that FSJP plays an outsized role in radicalizing university students at the more than 100 schools — including Harvard University, Brown University, Princeton University, the University of Michigan, and Yale University — where it is active.
“One of the important functions of these groups is to give academic legitimacy to the notion that anti-Zionism is not antisemitism, and that’s a hugely important trope being trafficked on campuses right now,” AMCHA Initiative executive director Tammi Rossman-Benjamin told The Algemeiner following the release of the study. “So when scholars say that ‘anti-Zionism is not antisemitism,’ how could it be otherwise? When faculty, [anti-Zionist] Jewish faculty say that ‘Zionism has nothing to do with Judaism,’ who is anyone to say otherwise?’ When faculty are the ones to say that Jews who report being subject to antisemitism that is motivated by anti-Zionism are in reality bad actors attempting to quell free speech of pro-Palestinian activists, who can argue with that? If a faculty member or organization claims that, it seems true to someone whose knowledge of the issue is only surface level.”
She added, “Essentially, what they are doing is giving academic legitimacy to gaslighting.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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NYPD to Increase Police Presence Ahead of Jewish High Holidays, 9/11 Anniversary, UN General Assembly

Pro-Palestinian protesters are detained by NYPD after taking part in a demonstration at Butler Library on the Columbia University campus in New York, US, May 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dana Edwards
The New York City Police Department will increase its presence at “critical” locations around the city ahead of the upcoming Jewish high holidays, 24th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and the United Nations General Assembly, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch announced on Tuesday.
Tisch said at a news conference that reports of threats “typically increase” during this time surrounding the 9/11 anniversary, the UN General Assembly, and major Jewish holidays. She noted that authorities are monitoring threats against New York City’s “critical infrastructure,” including bridges and tunnels connecting Queens and Manhattan.
“As always, we take all threats seriously and we are working with our federal partners through our Joint Terrorism Task Force while we investigate,” Tisch said. “Out of an abundance of caution, we are surging resources and you can expect to see an increase in police presence at critical infrastructure locations.”
New York City Mayor Eric Adams added in a post on X: “As we do every year around this time, we’re closely monitoring for any potential threats to NYC infrastructure. The NYPD, in coordination with federal partners, is taking all threats seriously and has enhanced security at key locations. You can be confident that New York City remains safe and well protected.”
The 80th session of the UN General Assembly opens on Sept. 9 and will end on the 28th. The holiday of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year begins on the evening of Sept. 22, followed by Yom Kippur and Sukkot, other major Jewish holidays, which are both in early October.