Richard Powell — The BBC News website today added a small but crucial attribution to a key piece of information it has been reporting since 7/10 after I wrote to them to express my profound reservations about its accuracy.
It could, of course, be a complete coincidence, however, I have been watching and reading a large portion of news output regarding Operation Al-Aqsa Flood and its aftermath from as many sources as I can since it was executed, and it’s the first time I have seen this wording from the BBC.
The text from today’s story is:
“Hamas gunmen took about 250 people hostage and killed 1,300 others when they carried out an unprecedented cross-border attack on southern Israel on 7 October, Israeli authorities say.”
The key change is the addition of “Israeli authorities say.”
This weekend, I wrote to BBC Complaints with the below grievance regarding their reporting of this information, which is parroted by most news organisations every day. As a former BBC journalist myself, I was saddened that the BBC would do the same when the facts prove this allegation is categorically not true.
I admit to taking inspiration from the essential coverage and analysis of the war by journalist Owen Jones of The Guardian. More specifically, I was moved to make the complaint after seeing his recently published video on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@OwenJonesTalks/videos) of what the average person on the street can do in the face of the seemingly unstoppable genocide being perpetrated by Israel in Gaza and the West Bank against the Palestinian people, since 7/10.
My complaint to BBC News and their response is below…
Case number CAS-7742362-H7M8C5
BBC Complaints
Fri, 19 Jan, 23:19 (3 days ago)
to Richard
Thanks for contacting the BBC. This is to confirm we’ve received the attached complaint sent in this name. We’ve included the text of the complaint and a case reference for your records (see below).
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Here are the details of your complaint:
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YOUR COMPLAINT:
You gave a serious misrepresentation about 7/10
You say: “Hamas killed around 1,300 people and took 240 hostages in their surprise attack on southern Israel.”
Hamas was one of multiple armed groups from Gaza that breached Israel’s security fences on 7/10, along with numerous individuals from Gaza who had no affiliations with any group.
The Israeli state quickly reported that 1,400 of its citizens had been killed that day, but revised this figure to 1,200 after accounting for Palestinians among the dead.
Israel attacked the Palestinians who had breached the fence with Apache helicopters and Tanks firing shells, causing the scenes of hundreds of cars to be burned out and houses in nearby kibbutzes to be burnt out and have structural damage. Israel calls this strategy of attacking its enemy AND its own people the “Hannibal Directive”.
Many Israelis at the music festival and in the kibbutzes that day were killed by Israeli fire from their own police and the IDF, together.
Israel has acknowledged this by saying it will not investigate how many died in friendly fire because such an investigation would ‘not be morally sound’.
So there is no way Hamas killed around 1,300 people as you keep saying – it is extremely bad reporting to keep saying that it did, given the official statements from the Israeli state and testimonials from survivors of the 7/10 attacks.
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Thank you again for contacting us,
BBC Complaints Team
www.bbc.co.uk/complaints
Please note: this email is sent from an unmonitored address so please don’t reply. If necessary please contact us through our webform (please include your case reference number).
And the response from the BBC…
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Reference CAS-7742362-H7M8C5
Dear Mr Powell
Thank you for contacting us about the BBC News website.
I can assure you that BBC News always aims for the highest standards when reporting, and we aim to include accurate, impartial and comprehensive information likely to be of interest to our readers.
The devastating human cost of the Israel-Gaza war, the claims and counter-claims put forward by both sides and the limited access for journalists, have made this a difficult and complex aspect of the story to cover. We have been careful to attribute information, making clear what we have been able to verify.
Throughout our coverage of the war we have made clear the nature of the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7th. We reported the initial Israeli estimates of the numbers of people killed in the attacks and reflected the changing total as the authorities worked to establish the full picture of deaths and hostage-taking.
As is always the case, we are committed in our coverage of the war to delivering reporting that our audience can trust. We have and will continue to examine new information as it emerges. We hope the above explains the approach we have taken. We welcome your feedback and have shared your concerns with senior editors at BBC News.
Kind regards,
Darren Loughlin
BBC Complaints Team
www.bbc.co.uk/complaints
