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Why Is the BBC Telling Audiences About a ‘Lebanese-Palestinian Border’ That Doesn’t Exist?
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.
On the evening of September 17th, a few hours after the explosions of Hezbollah pagers in Lebanon and Syria, the BBC News website launched a live page covering that story.
That live page — edited by Sean Seddon — remained active until the evening of September 20th, and some of its entries include problematic use of language, significant omissions, and the adoption and promotion of Hezbollah terminology and messaging.
As regular readers will be aware, BBC audiences are regularly told that “settlements“ are “illegal under international law” — in line with instruction in the BBC’s style guide.
On the morning of September 20th, visitors to the BBC News website’s live page found the following entry:
The linked Tweet in that entry is in Hebrew, and therefore useless to the majority of readers. The tweet has an IDF announcement, which uses the word “yishuvim,” which can be translated as communities, places of permanent residence — such as towns and villages — or settlements.
The BBC (and, perhaps not coincidentally, Google Translate) chose the latter option to refer to civilian communities near training areas in unspecified regions of northern Israel, despite the fact that the corporation has for years employed a policy of telling its audiences that settlements are “illegal.”
Another entry on September 20th, tells BBC audiences that:
BBC audiences are not told that “the international resolutions” include UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which says that Hezbollah should be disarmed and is not allowed anywhere near the border with Israel.
Later the same day, the following entry appeared on the BBC’s live page:
The IDF does not have a base called “Al-Ulaika barracks” in the Golan Heights, but the BBC clearly did not bother to fact-check that Hezbollah claim before promoting it worldwide.
As we see, the BBC refers to “the Lebanese-Palestinian border” despite the fact that no such border (and, as the BBC’s style guide clarifies, no Palestinian state) exists.
In other words, the BBC adopted — and uncritically promoted to its audiences — the Hezbollah narrative according to which all of Israel is “Palestine.” It is hence unsurprising to find that the BBC had nothing to tell its audiences about reports concerning the outcome of Hezbollah’s attack on Kela (rather than “Kila”):
Another notable entry on that live page came after a strike on terrorists meeting in Beirut on September 20:
The superfluous punctuation around the phrase terror attack would clearly hinder readers’ understanding of the fact that — as the BBC knows — in March 2023, an Arab-Israeli civilian was severely wounded in a roadside bombing attack on Route 65, near Megiddo Junction.
The armed terrorist who perpetrated that attack was caught and killed as he tried to return to Lebanon. Nevertheless, the BBC apparently thought it appropriate to qualify the nature of an attack involving infiltration into a foreign country to place a roadside bomb targeting civilian motorists.
That editorial choice of course means that the BBC can avoid the topic of Hezbollah’s provocations and escalations prior to October 2023 and thus frame its current actions solely as “support for Gaza.”
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 appeared.
The post Why Is the BBC Telling Audiences About a ‘Lebanese-Palestinian Border’ That Doesn’t Exist? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Trump Is Lying When He Speaks of Peace
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting with government officials in Tehran, Iran, April 15, 2025. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Donald Trump on Saturday of lying when the US president said during his Gulf tour this week that he wanted peace in the region.
On the contrary, said Khamenei, the United States uses its power to give “10-ton bombs to the Zionist (Israeli) regime to drop on the heads of Gaza’s children.”
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One after departing the United Arab Emirates on Friday that Iran had to move quickly on a US proposal for its nuclear program or “something bad’s going to happen.”
His remarks, said Khamenei, “aren’t even worth responding to.” They are an “embarrassment to the speaker and the American people,” Khamenei added.
“Undoubtedly, the source of corruption, war, and conflict in this region is the Zionist regime — a dangerous, deadly cancerous tumor that must be uprooted; it will be uprooted,” he said at an event at a religious center in Tehran, according to state media.
Earlier on Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Trump speaks about peace while simultaneously making threats.
“Which should we believe?” Pezeshkian said at a naval event in Tehran. “On the one hand, he speaks of peace and on the other, he threatens with the most advanced tools of mass killing.”
Tehran would continue Iran-US nuclear talks but is not afraid of threats. “We are not seeking war,” Pezeshkian said.
While Trump said on Friday that Iran had a US proposal about its nuclear program, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in a post on X said Tehran had not received any such proposal. “There is no scenario in which Iran abandons its hard-earned right to (uranium) enrichment for peaceful purposes…” he said.
Araqchi warned on Saturday that Washington’s constant change of stance prolongs nuclear talks, state TV reported.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that America repeatedly defines a new framework for negotiations that prolongs the process,” the broadcast quoted Araqchi as saying.
Pezeshkian said Iran would not “back down from our legitimate rights”.
“Because we refuse to bow to bullying, they say we are source of instability in the region,” he said.
A fourth round of Iran-U.S. talks ended in Oman last Sunday. A new round has not been scheduled yet.
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Hamas Confirms New Gaza Ceasefire Talks with Israel in Qatar on Saturday
Doha, Qatar. Photo: StellarD via Wikimedia Commons.
A new round of Gaza ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel is underway in Qatar’s Doha, Hamas official Taher al-Nono told Reuters on Saturday.
He said the two sides were discussing all issues without “pre-conditions.”
Nono said Hamas was “keen to exert all the effort needed” to help mediators make the negotiations a success, adding there was “no certain offer on the table.”
The negotiations come despite Israel preparing to expand operations in the Gaza Strip as they seek “operational control” in some areas of the war-torn enclave.
The return to negotiations also comes after US President Donald Trump ended a Middle East tour on Friday with no apparent progress towards a new ceasefire, although he acknowledged Gaza’s growing hunger crisis and the need for aid deliveries.
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Report: ICC’s Khan Goes on Administrative Leave Amid Sexual Misconduct Probe
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan speaks during an interview with Reuters in The Hague, Netherlands, Feb. 12, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
i24 News – Chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan has stepped down temporarily as an investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct by United Nations investigators is nearing its final phase, Reuters reported on Friday citing sources from the international court.
Khan allegedly forced sexual intercourse upon a member of staff on multiple occasions, the Wall Street Journal reported last week, linking the allegations to Khan’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-defense minister Yoav Gallant.
A statement is expected later today announcing that Khan is going on administrative leave, according to a source in the prosecutor’s office.
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