The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was forced to apologize on Wednesday after a news anchor falsely accused the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of committing war crimes in its latest military operation targeting a Hamas command center.
Hamas was using the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza as a command center, which is a common tactic for the terrorist group — as they often use civilian sites such as hospitals, using Gazans as human shields in an effort to either deter IDF strikes or create civilian casualties to rally support for their cause.
During the operation, Israeli forces raided the hospital — killing at least five terrorists while also delivering medical supplies to hospital staff.
IDF releases footage of troops bringing humanitarian aid to Shifa Hospital. pic.twitter.com/qFlVdvlmuZ
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) November 15, 2023
The BBC, which has pushed an anti-Israel editorial slant for years now, was caught lying on air about the operation — with a news anchor falsely claiming that the IDF had targeted medical personnel and “Arabic speakers” during the raid.
“We are hearing from Reuters that is reporting that Israel’s — it says its forces are carrying out an operation against Hamas in Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital and they are targeting people, including medical teams as well as Arabic speakers. They are also saying that Israel is calling on all Hamas operatives in the hospital to surrender at this point,” the BBC anchor claimed on live television, then repeated: “Once again we are hearing from Reuters that Israel says that its forces are carrying out an operation against Hamas in that hospital that we had just heard of; they are targeting Arabic speakers as well as some of the medical staff there and they are asking all Hamas operatives in the hospital to surrender.”
In the original broadcast, the BBC newscaster made sure to repeat the scandalous lie twice in case anyone missed it or misunderstood it. https://t.co/uio5O44Jri pic.twitter.com/pUGaFNO38y
— Adam Fisher (@AdamRFisher) November 15, 2023
However, the network was forced to apologize soon after, sending another anchor to retract the earlier comments and reveal that the IDF forces had actually brought medical personnel and “Arabic speakers” with them during the operation, and had not targeted them.
“And now, an apology from the BBC,” the anchor stated. “BBC News, as it covered initial reports that Israeli forces had entered Gaza’s main hospital. We said that medical teams and Arabic speakers were being targeted; this was incorrect and misquoted a Reuters report. We should have said IDF forces included medical teams and Arabic speakers for this operation.”
“We apologize for this error, which fell below our usual editorial standards,” she concluded.
BBC-
If you don't want to apologize over and over again for the false information you propagate against Israel – maybe just start publishing the truth? pic.twitter.com/uc62A93yqG— יוסף חדאד – Yoseph Haddad (@YosephHaddad) November 15, 2023
