On Saturday afternoon a group of Jewish people, most from families of Holocaust survivors, staged a protest outside the BBC headquarters at Portland Place in London.
Security staff ensured they were prevented from approaching the entrance, and a BBC spokesperson offered to give them BBC contact details for them to raise any concerns.
Of course, they had already raised concerns of pro-Israeli bias on numerous occasions with little in the way of response, and so armed with placards that read ‘Jews Against Genocide – Stop Arming Israel’, they gave a series of speeches as staff passed in and out.
They believe the BBC has not accurately portrayed the views of very many Jews in the UK who do not support Israel’s genocide in Gaza and repression and killings in the West Bank. Citing the major coverage given to the Board of Deputies of British Jews, they point out that the organisation actually only represents 20% of the deputies sent by synagogues. Many other groups, including Jews for Justice for Palestinians, Jewish Voice for Labour, Jewish Network for Palestine, Jewish Socialist Group, Na’amod, rarely if ever are represented by the state broadcaster.
One of their demands is for the BBC to reinstate the film ‘Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone’ which was removed from iPlayer after complaints about a child narrator’s familial relationship to a Hamas official – an agriculture minister.
Jews Against Genocide are fearful that by portraying Jews as supportive of Israel, the BBC is in danger of inciting antisemitism, and by not properly holding the government to account for its continued weapons supply, surveillance and political support for the Israeli state, they are complicit in the current genocide.
