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.”

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