By pulling Gaza film, BBC shows it cannot stand up to Israel
The documentary’s 13-year-old narrator Abdullah Alyazouri, the son of Ayman Alyazouri, the Gaza deputy agriculture minister
Chris Doyle writes in Middle East Eye on 24 February 2025:
Back in 2003, the BBC aired a documentary on Israel’s nuclear programme, titled Israel’s Secret Weapon. Israeli leaders hit the roof and banned its officials from appearing on the BBC. The documentary was spot on. Israel was embarrassed at having its nuclear arsenal exposed when Iraq was being invaded for a non-existent stash of weapons of mass destruction.
I asked a senior BBC official at the time how relations with Israel were panning out. “For a country that wants to influence news coverage, boycotting us is a strange way of doing things,” was the reply, seemingly unruffled by Israeli antics. The BBC did not cave in, and Israel lifted its boycott.
Twenty-five years later, the BBC has lost any semblance of a spine on Israel. Last week, it pulled a documentary titled ‘Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone’ from its online streaming platform. The corporation said it would carry out a “due diligence” exercise before it could be allowed to air again.
The documentary was a nine-month depiction of life in Gaza under siege through the eyes and experiences of Palestinian children.
The primary objection was that Abdullah, the main child narrator, was the son of Ayman Alyazouri, the deputy minister of agriculture in Gaza’s Hamas-run government. The BBC had amended the programme to acknowledge this, but then further accusations led to it being dropped.
Cheerleaders for genocide
The pile-on was massive and appeared well orchestrated. The anti-Palestinian mob has targeted the messengers, not the message – a well-honed tactic.
Nearly all those who castigated this documentary have shown scant regard for Palestinian lives and rights. Many have been cheerleaders for Israel’s genocide in Gaza, including the Israeli ambassador, a representative for a state that shut down Al Jazeera’s local broadcasting and has been responsible for the killing of at least 170 journalists and media workers since the Gaza war began on 7 October 2023.
A more ridiculous propagandist than ambassador Tzipi Hotovely would be hard to find. She claimed that there was no humanitarian crisis in Gaza when Gaza has been under siege for many years, not just the last 500 days.
One wonders how many had watched the documentary before it was pulled. It was far from being a propaganda vehicle for any party. It was not in the least bit pro-Hamas or anti-Israel, unless you are one of those who think that humanising Palestinian children constitutes a crime. It was barely political at all. Criticism of Hamas from Palestinians in Gaza was frequent. Within the first minutes, one Palestinian woman exclaimed: “God damn you [Yahya] Sinwar,” referring to the late Hamas leader. A Palestinian man cried: “They killed our children, killed our women, while Sinwar is hiding under the ground.”
Another Palestinian woman remembered how people celebrated on 7 October, but admitted: “If we had known this would happen to us, no one would have celebrated.” One of the child narrators, 11-year-old Zakaria, blamed Hamas: “They caused all this misery.