The BBC faces a “major crisis for its reputation” after being forced to take down from the iPlayer a controversial documentary about Gaza which featured the son of a Hamas minster, a former senior executive said.
The BBC said it was removing Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone, initially broadcast on Monday at 9pm on BBC Two, from the catch-up platform, while the broadcaster carries out “further due diligence with the production company”.
Earlier this week, the corporation apologised after it emerged that the film’s child narrator is the son of Ayman Alyazouri, who has worked as Hamas’s deputy minister of agriculture.
Following the discovery, the BBC later added a disclaimer to the programme. Further accusations have been made about the documentary, including claims that other children featured were pictured with the militant group Hamas.
On its clarifications and corrections page, the BBC said: “Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone features important stories we think should be told – those of the experiences of children in Gaza.
“There have been continuing questions raised about the programme and in light of these, we are conducting further due diligence with the production company. The programme will not be available on iPlayer while this is taking place.”
London-based Hoyo Films made the film after working with the BBC on the documentary Ukraine: Enemy In The Woods.
Lisa Nandy, the Culture Secretary, said she would discuss the programme with the director-general of the BBC as part of talks about its coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict.
She came under pressure to act after 45 prominent Jewish figures from TV, film and media, including the former director of BBC Television, Danny Cohen, called for the show to be taken down.
They asked whether any payments had been made to the family of the film’s 14 year-old narrator, and asked if the BBC knew the boy was the “son of a terrorist leader”.
Footage also emerged of a second boy in the film, Zakaria es-Sersek, 11, waving a gun while praising Mohammed Deif, one of the 7 October attack masterminds who was later killed in an Israeli strike.
The BBC defended the film and said it had not been informed of the Hamas link by the producers. It added a clarification on screen disclosing the boy’s family connection ahead of a repeat BBC screening, But in an embarrassing U-turn, the BBC has now pulled the programme altogether.
Cohen, who has accused the corporation of a persistent anti-Israel bias, said: “This is a shocking failure by the BBC and a major crisis for its reputation. The BBC’s commitment to impartiality on the Israel-Hamas war lies in tatters. The BBC’s senior leadership needs to wake up now and admit the corporation has a serious problem.”
Cohen added: “This documentary fails the most basic of programme standards. Links to the terrorist group Hamas were not disclosed, it appears that children have been manipulated by terrorists, a member of the production team celebrated the 7 October Hamas massacre and it now also appears that the documentary has been misleadingly edited.”
However International Centre of Justice for Palestinians criticised concerns raised about the documentary, and urged the BBC to “stand firm against these attempts to prevent first-hand accounts of life in Gaza from reaching audiences”.
A statement from the Harrow-based organisation also said: “For some, almost any Palestinian perspective appears to be deemed unacceptable.
“In this case, objections have been raised because Abdullah’s father holds a government role in Gaza‘s Hamas-run administration. However, this does not negate the child’s lived experience or invalidate his testimony.”
Concerns about the film were first raised by investigative journalist David Collier, who claimed the film’s narrator, Abdullah al-Yazouri, was the son of the deputy minister of agriculture and was related to one of the original founders of Hamas.
The BBC said it followed the usual compliance procedures in the making of the film but had not been informed of the Hamas connection by the show’s independent producers.
In its initial response, the BBC said: “The film remains a powerful child’s eye view of the devastating consequences of the war in Gaza which we believe is an invaluable testament to their experiences and we must meet our commitment to transparency.”
Jon Sopel, former North America editor for BBC News, said the BBC had “serious questions to answer” and called for a “health warning” to be placed on the documentary.
Since foreign journalists are not allowed by Israel to enter Gaza and report independently, the documentary was shot over nine months by two Gazan cameramen, who were remotely directed from London.
Co-director Jamie Roberts said: “Yousef (Hammash) and I wanted to make this documentary to show what everyday life is like for Gazan people trying to survive the horrors of this conflict as it unfolded.
“We focused on three children and a young woman with a newborn because they are the innocents in this war.”
Introducing the participants, Roberts wrote in a BBC blog: “Abdullah, 13, narrates the film. He speaks excellent English having attended the British school in Gaza before the war and does all he can to keep going with his education.”
How did the BBC get into such a mess over Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone?
With foreign reporters denied entry into Gaza, News bosses jumped at the chance to screen a harrowing film depicting the reality of life in the blighted territory through the eyes of four children.
But after pulling the film from all platforms, senior executives must now explain how a documentary accused of spreading “Hamas propaganda”, sailed through its editorial processes and on to screen without red lights being flagged at the highest level.
Did commissioners really have no idea that the film’s 14 year-old narrator Abdullah was the son of a Hamas government minister? The BBC says it was not informed of the connection by producers Hoyo Films.
Was any payment, in money or in kind, made to the boy’s family for his participation? Can the BBC be sure it did not inadvertently channel funds to Hamas members?
The documentary was shot over nine months by two Gazan cameramen, who were remotely directed from London.
Can viewers be sure that Abdullah, who had previously featured in a Channel 4 news report, wasn’t coached in his responses?
What role did Abdullah’s parents play in the supervision of the filming of the child and did the BBC comply with its duty of care obligations in filming with under-18s?
Did the film require Hamas authorisation or permission in any way? A former BBC News executive said: “It seems to be incredibly basic: The most obvious question is what where the terms of access?”
Director Jamie Roberts, an award-winning filmmaker behind series including Ukraine: Enemy in the Woods, has yet to respond to the BBC effectively throwing his Hoyo Films under the bus.
Despite additional context added on screen since its BBC Two screening, it’s unclear whether the Gaza film will now ever be made available again by the broadcaster.
An investigation into the affair is likely to ask what questions Deborah Turness, BBC News CEO, tipped to be the next Director-General, asked ahead of transmission about a film on such a sensitive topic.
BBC staffers are furious that the affair has plunged the organisation into another crisis.
Roger Mosey, former head of BBC TV News, said: “The film was the right one to want to make. But there seem to have been serious failures to ask the right questions, and it’s damaging to an organisation which seeks to be impartial.”
By Adam Sherwin
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