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The BBC Knowingly Helped Spread Hamas Lies and Hate
(Telegraph-UK) Danny Cohen - The leaked Prescott Report is a devastating insider's account of serious and widespread failings of impartiality, systemic bias, and activist journalism spanning years of BBC news coverage. It lays bare how senior BBC executives repeatedly failed to uphold the highest standards of public service journalism. Michael Prescott's memo to the BBC Board exposes in forensic detail a deep and pervasive bias in the BBC newsroom. In the BBC's coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, for example, statements referring to "eyewitnesses" included Samer Elzaenen, who appeared on BBC Arabic 244 times between Nov. 2023 and April 2025. Elzaenen called on social media for Jews to be burnt as "Hitler did." Ahmad Alagha, who described Jews as "devils" and Israelis as less than human, appeared 522 times on BBC Arabic. The Prescott document also exposes how the BBC's flagship current affairs program "Newsnight" highlighted claims that thousands of babies were on the brink of starvation in Gaza that it already knew to be false. And it charts how BBC News gave extensive coverage to stories that painted Israel as the aggressor while burying stories that contradicted that narrative. Those at the top of the BBC have spent two years assuring me and others within the British Jewish community that they take issues of antisemitism and bias seriously. This report provides hard evidence that the BBC has helped to push Hamas lies around the world and fueled antisemitism at home. Those responsible for overseeing this deep offense to impartial journalism should hang their heads in shame and resign. The BBC is not safe in their hands. The writer is a former Director of BBC Television.