The BBC has received more than 600 audience complaints about Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone, the scandal-engulfed documentary with links to the Hamas regime.
The British broadcaster’s fortnightly complaints log has revealed that it received 611 messages from viewers who felt the Hoyo Films documentary was “biased against Israel” and “failed to explore potential connections with Hamas.”
Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone premiered on February 17 and chronicled the experience of children living their lives amid a brutal conflict after the events of October 7. The film failed to declare, however, that its English-speaking narrator, Abdullah Al-Yazouri, was the son of Ayman Al-Yazouri, the deputy minister of agriculture in Gaza’s Hamas-run government.
Hoyo Films knew about Al-Yazouri’s Hamas links but did not disclose them to the BBC. The BBC has since removed Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone from iPlayer, with chairman Samir Shah describing the film as a “dagger to the heart” of the BBC’s claims to trustworthiness and impartiality.
Peter Johnston, the BBC’s director of editorial complaints and reviews, is overseeing an in-depth editorial investigation into the editorial failings that led to the documentary being broadcast.
“This is a really bad moment,” Shah told lawmakers last week. “What has been revealed is a dagger to the heart of the BBC’s claim to be impartial and trustworthy, which is why I and the board are determined to answer the questions being asked.” The BBC board is “very exercized” by the scandal and “we will get to the bottom of this and take appropriate actions,” added Shah.
The decision to remove the film followed a group of 45 Jewish television executives, including former BBC content chief Danny Cohen and J.K. Rowling’s agent Neil Blair, writing letters to the BBC raising questions about How To Survive a Warzone, including that two other children featured had Hamas links.
The BBC has also come under pressure from Palestinian sympathizers, including Gary Lineker, Riz Ahmed, and Ken Loach, who have described the decision to remove the film from iPlayer as “censorship.” In a letter signed by hundreds, they said: “Conflating such governance roles in Gaza with terrorism is both factually incorrect and dehumanising. This broad-brush rhetoric assumes that Palestinians holding administrative roles are inherently complicit in violence — a racist trope that denies individuals their humanity and right to share their lived experiences.”
