The National Jewish Assembly (NJA) condemns the BBC’s latest string of antisemitic failures, which expose a disgraceful pattern of editorial negligence, deliberate provocation, and a systemic lack of accountability in its Arabic-language service.
Among the most egregious examples, a BBC Arabic video claimed that Jews spit on Christians as part of a “holiday ritual” during Sukkot – a grotesque distortion of Jewish tradition that plays into centuries-old blood libels. Another article, published on the anniversary of 9/11, went so far as to liken ancient Jewish rebels under Roman occupation to modern jihadist suicide bombers, falsely linking the Sicarii with contemporary Islamist terror.
Both pieces were eventually corrected – but only after more than a year and a half of pressure, and only after watchdog group CAMERA relentlessly pursued the BBC for accountability. These weren’t minor slip-ups. They were deeply antisemitic narratives given oxygen by one of the world’s most powerful media platforms. And they weren’t isolated either – CAMERA reports at least six additional unresolved complaints dating from before October 7, 2023.
NJA Vice Chairman Keith Rowe said: “The BBC seems determined to prove, time and again, that it is incapable of learning from its own disgraceful record. These are not ‘mistakes’ – they are part of a culture that repeatedly seeks out fringe voices and antisemitic tropes, especially in its Arabic service, to score cheap narrative points at the expense of truth. The BBC wouldn’t dare allow comparable falsehoods about other communities. Why is it always Jews?”
Rowe continued: “That it took 19 months to correct such blatant falsehoods is bad enough. That these errors passed through editors, fact-checkers, and producers with nobody raising an alarm tells you everything you need to know about the editorial culture at the BBC. This isn’t journalism – it’s propaganda dressed in licence-fee respectability.”
The NJA calls on Ofcom, Parliament, and the BBC Board to launch an independent investigation into the editorial standards at BBC Arabic, and for urgent reform to prevent this from ever happening again. Enough excuses. British Jews deserve better.
