Cameron blasts BBC over failure to brand Hamas as ‘terrorists’
DAVID CAMERON has challenged the BBC over its failure to describe Hamas as ‘terrorists’ after the group released sickening video footage of a BritishIsraeli hostage in captivity and then claimed he was dead.
Appearing on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg, the Foreign Secretary urged the Corporation to ‘ ask itself ’ how it labels the ‘inhumane’ group after its terror attack on Israel on October 7.
Hamas murdered at least 1,200 innocent Israelis that day and seized 252 hostages, including British-born Nadav Popplewell. His brother was killed in the attack, while his mother was also taken hostage from her home but later released during a temporary ceasefire.
‘Terrible, dreadful, inhumane people’
Hamas, which is designated a terrorist group by the UK Government, released undated footage of Mr Popplewell, 51, on Saturday, showing him bruised around his right eye, and talking to the camera to give his name and age.
Having raised hopes that he was alive, just hours later they issued another clip in which they claimed he had died of wounds suffered during an Israeli strike on Gaza a month before.
Lord Cameron said the Foreign Office was unable to give an update on Mr Popplewell’s fate but questioned the broadcaster’s refusal to call Hamas terrorists.
The former prime minister said: ‘When I watch that video, I just think what callous people they are to do that, to play with a family’s emotions in that way. I realise just what terrible, dreadful, inhumane people we’re dealing with. Maybe it’s a moment for the BBC to ask itself again, “Should we describe these people as terrorists?” ’
He added: ‘They are terrorists.
If you kidnap grandmothers, you kidnap babies, you rape people, you shoot children in front of their parents – what more do they need to do for the BBC to say, “Look, these are terrorists”?’
Ms Kuenssberg did not respond to Lord Cameron’s questioning of the BBC but simply moved on to her next item.
Since October 7, the BBC has faced criticism over not referring directly to Hamas as terrorists. Amid an intense backlash, the Corporation stopped using the term ‘ militant’ as a ‘default description’ for Hamas but has said it only uses the word ‘terrorist’ with attribution.
‘When we mention Hamas, we make it clear, where possible, that they are a proscribed terrorist organisation by the UK Government and others,’ Deborah Turness, chief executive of BBC News and Current Affairs, wrote in a blog post last October.
Hamas has provided no evidence for its claim that Mr Popplewell was killed and Israel’s military has not commented. Lord Cameron told Ms Kuenssberg’s show: ‘I can’t give you any new updates this morning. Like everyone else, I watched the video on Twitter, X, last night, put out by Hamas of Nadav answering a question as to who he was. I met Nadav’s family, his sister, and I know the heartbreak they’ve been going through for over 200 days.’
The Foreign Office will not ‘say anything until we have better information’, he added. Campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum has described Mr Popplewell, originally from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, as ‘generous and kind’.
Lord Cameron also told the BBC a UK ban on selling weapons to Israel would only bolster Hamas, as he said the Government would not follow the US in threatening to halt some arms exports to the country if it attacks the Southern Gaza city of Rafah.