Protesters condemn BBC over stance on not labelling Hamas ‘terrorists’

Demonstrators chanted “BBC, Shame on you” and “don’t pay the licence” outside Broadcasting House on Monday evening.

The National Jewish Assembly hosted the rally alongside the UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI), the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) and the European Jewish Association.

Protesters placed posters of kidnapped Israelis on a wall opposite Broadcasting House while others chanted, prayed and waved Israeli flags for around 90 minutes.

Gideon Falter, speaking on the behalf of the CAA, told crowds: “When it comes down to it ,the BBC has used the word ‘terrorists’. I’m sure you can all remember where you were in 2005 during the London bombings. Do you know what the BBC called that, a ‘terrorist atrocity’.

“What do you call it when Hamas terrorists cross into Israel and gun people down at a music festival?”

He added: “It is not impartial to call a terrorist a militant. It is excusing the terrorist.”

Speaker Asher Edreyi also told the crowd how painful it was hearing about the attacks that had taken place in Israel on October 7.

He said: “This black Saturday is a day that will go down in history as one of the most tragic and painful days that us Jews, us Israelis have experienced and will be remembered for generations.

“I have been privileged to have served in the IDF Air Force and I have experienced just a fraction of the hard work our soldiers are doing in order to protect our loved ones.

“Trust me if it was hard for me then I can only imagine the long days and sleepless nights our soldiers are experiencing.”

At one stage, the rally was paused briefly to pray after hearing there had been warnings of rockets in Tel Aviv before chanting broke out again.

A BBC spokesperson said: “We always take our use of language very seriously. Anyone watching or listening to our coverage will hear the word ‘terrorist’ used many times – we attribute it to those who are using it, for example, the UK Government.

“This is an approach that has been used for decades, and is in line with that of other broadcasters.”

The spokesperson added: “The BBC is an editorially independent broadcaster whose job is to explain precisely what is happening ‘on the ground’ so our audiences can make their own judgment.”

Meanwhile, it is being reported that hospitals in the Gaza Strip face collapse as water, power and medicine near depletion.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians face dwindling food supplies as Israel maintains punishing air strikes in retaliation for the deadly rampage by Hamas.

Thousands of patients’ lives are at risk, UN officials said, and mediators are struggling to reach a ceasefire deal to let in aid waiting at the Egyptian border.

More than a week after Israel stopped entry of essential supplies, all eyes are on the Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.

Trucks carrying badly needed aid have waited there for days unable to pass through, and Israeli air strikes last week forced the shutdown of Gaza’s only connection to Egypt.

Egypt’s foreign minister Sameh Shoukry said Israel “has not taken a position” on allowing access. The Israeli government did not respond to a request for comment.

As Israel prepares a likely ground offensive into the Gaza Strip that would mean deadly house-to-house fighting, fears rose over the conflict spreading. Israel evacuated towns near its northern border with Lebanon, and Hamas militants in Gaza continue to fire rockets into Israel.

Speaking to the Israeli Knesset on Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Iran and Hezbollah: “Don’t test us in the north.

"Don’t make the mistake of the past. Today, the price you will pay will be far heavier,” referring to Israel’s 2006 war with Hezbollah, which operates out of Lebanon.

At least 2,778 have been killed and 9,700 wounded in the Gaza Strip, according to the Heath Ministry there, and more than 1,400 Israelis have been killed, the vast majority civilians in Hamas’s October 7 assault.