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UK Lawyers Report BBC to Counterterrorism Police for Possible Payments to Hamas
A Palestinian Hamas terrorist shakes hands with a child as they stand guard as people gather on the day of the handover of Israeli hostages, as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Feb. 22, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
An organization of lawyers who support Israel in the United Kingdom has reported the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and two film producers from a London-based production company to counterterrorism police for possible terrorism offenses, which include allegedly giving money to the family of a senior Hamas official.
UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) announced on Monday that it submitted the reports in connection to the documentary “Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone,” which the BBC screened on Feb. 17 and produced alongside Hoyo Films. It was recently revealed that the film’s Palestinian narrator, 14-year-old Abdullah Al-Yazouri, is the son of Hamas Deputy Minister of Agriculture Dr. Ayman Al-Yazouri. The BBC admitted last week that Hoyo Films made licensing fee payments to the family of the film’s narrator, knowing that he was the son of a Hamas official.
“It is amazing that the BBC thought it could treat anti-terrorism legislation with such disdain and ignore its obligations to report its suspicions to the police,” said UKLFI Director Caroline Turner in a released statement. “Not only did the BBC fail to carry out its own investigations into the family connections of the child, as it has admitted in its statement, it also failed to inform the police of its suspicions, and allow the police to investigate, as it was obliged to do.”
A spokesperson for BBC said Hoyo Films failed to tell the corporation in advance about Abdullah’s family connection to Hamas, even though the BBC asked “a number of times” about any potential ties the child narrator and his family might have with the US- and UK-designated terrorist organization. Investigative journalist David Collier discovered that the younger Al-Yazouri and his father are also related to Hamas founder Ibrahim Al-Yazouri.
“During the production process, the independent production company was asked in writing a number of times by the BBC about any potential connections he and his family might have with Hamas,” the BBC said. “Since transmission, they have acknowledged that they knew that the boy’s father was a deputy agriculture minister in the Hamas government; they have also acknowledged that they never told the BBC this fact. It was then the BBC’s own failing that we did not uncover that fact and the documentary was aired.”
UKLFI noted that because the BBC asked Hoyo Films repeatedly about any potential ties the film’s narrator had to Hamas, “it was clear that the BBC had suspicions that its money may be used for funding terrorism.” What that in mind, the British association of lawyers reported the BBC to counterterrorism police for “being concerned or entering into an arrangement whereby money is made available to another, and they have reasonable concerns that it will be or may be used for the purposes of terrorism,” which is an offense according to the UK’s Terrorism Act 2000.
UKLFI also reported BBC for a second offense.
“If a person believes or suspects another person has committed an offence of entering an arrangement to pay money which may be used for terrorism, in the course of their business, they have a duty to disclose this to the police according to Section 19 of the Terrorism Act of 2000,” UKLFI explained. “It is an offence not to disclose it. Since it is unlikely that the BBC reported their suspicions to the police, UKLFI has also reported the BBC for this Section 19 offence.”
Turner said the BBC “has either been duped by the Hamas propaganda machine or has co-operated with it – or both.”
“We hope that if the BBC is found to have breached counter-terrorism law, the police will treat the BB’’s executives like any other criminal, and will prosecute it accordingly,” she added.
UKFLI also reported the documentary’s two film producers from Hoyo Films to counterterrorism police for possible terrorism offenses and for violating the UK’s Fraud Act of 2006. The producers are being accused of fraud for false representation and “by failing to disclose information to another person where there is a legal duty to disclose the information.”
The post UK Lawyers Report BBC to Counterterrorism Police for Possible Payments to Hamas first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Report: IDF Probes Whether Houthis Used Iranian Cluster Bomb-Bearing Missile
Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi addresses followers via a video link at the al-Shaab Mosque, formerly al-Saleh Mosque, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
i24 News – The Israeli military said Saturday it launched a probe into the failure of its defenses to fully intercept a missile launched by Yemen’s Houthi jihadists, parts of which struck not far from the Ben Gurion airport on Friday night.
According to the Ynet website, one of the hypotheses being examined is that the projectile contained cluster munitions, similar to those used by Iran to fire at Israeli cities during the 12-day war in June. Cluster munitions pose a challenge to interceptors as they disperse smaller explosives over a wide area.
In June, Iran fired several missiles carrying scattered small bombs with the aim of increasing civilian casualties.
The IDF said on Saturday that its initial review suggests the ballistic missile from Yemen likely fragmented in mid-air. Five interceptors from various systems engaged with the missile, including THAAD, Arrow, David Sling & Iron Dome.
Authorities said that shrapnel impacted a house in the central Israeli moshav of Ginaton, yet no one was hurt, with the fragment landing in the house’s backyard.
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Iran Forces Kill Six Militants, IRNA Reports, Israel Link Seen
The Iranian flag is seen flying over a street in Tehran, Iran, Feb. 3, 2023. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iranian security forces shot dead six militants in a clash in southeastern Iran on Saturday, a day after armed rebels killed five police officers in the restive region, the official news agency IRNA reported.
IRNA said evidence showed the group was linked to Israel and may have been trained by Israel‘s Mossad spy agency. There was no immediate Israeli reaction to the allegation.
Another two members of the militant group were arrested, the report said. All but one of the militants were foreign, it added, without giving their nationality.
Iranian police said this month they had arrested as many as 21,000 suspects during the 12-day war with Israel in June.
Iran’s southeast has been the scene of sporadic clashes between security forces and armed groups, including Sunni militants and separatists who say they are fighting for greater rights and autonomy.
Tehran says some of them have ties to foreign powers and are involved in cross-border smuggling and insurgency.
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Benny Gantz Urges Time-Limited National Unity Government to Further Chances of Hostage Deal
Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz attends his party’s meeting at the Knesset, Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, June 27, 2022. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – Blue and White Party leader Benny Gantz on Saturday called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition politicians to form a temporary national unity government to further the chances of bringing home the hostages held in Gaza.
Addressing Netanyahu, Yair Lapid and Avigdor Liberman, Gantz said that the proposed government’s two supreme priorities would be the release of Israeli hostages held by the jihadists of Hamas and instituting universal conscription in Israel by ending the exemption from military service enjoyed by the ultra-Orthodox.
Upon attainment of the goals, the government would dissolve and call an election.
“The government’s term will begin with a hostage deal that brings everyone home,” Gantz said in a video address. “Within weeks, we will formulate an enlistment outline that would see our ultra-Orthodox brethren drafted to the military and ease the burden on those already serving. Finally, we will announce an agreed-upon election date in the spring of 2026 and pass a law to dissolve the Knesset [Israeli parliament] accordingly. This is what’s right for Israel.”