The Daily Telegraph - Saturday
Davie acknowledges anti-Semitism in the BBC and promises to stamp out the abuse
THE BBC director-general has acknowledged anti-Semitism at the corporation for the first time, as he promised to stamp out “abhorrent” abuse.
In an email to all staff, seen by The
Telegraph, Tim Davie also urged colleagues to report anti-Jewish and other racist behaviour, promising that “the senior team and I are listening”.
He said: “As many of you may have seen, sadly in recent weeks we have been alerted to some anti-Semitic behaviour by people who have worked with us.
“I want to be clear that there can be no place at the BBC for racist abuse of any kind, whether towards our Jewish colleagues or indeed colleagues from any background or belief. Any form of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia or racist abuse is abhorrent, and we will always act whenever it occurs.”
The message was framed in the context of covering “events in the Middle East”. It follows months of criticism about the BBC’s response to the Hamas massacre of Oct 7 and the subsequent war in Gaza.
Shortly after the massacre, The Telegraph exposed social media activity by multiple BBC journalists in the region that appeared to justify the Hamas attack on Israeli and other civilians.
The corporation has also come under significant political pressure for not calling the armed group “terrorists”, with reports that Jewish staff had been distressed by the stance.
‘Any form of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia or racist abuse is abhorrent, and we will act whenever it occurs’
The BBC now refers to Hamas as a “proscribed terrorist organisation”.
More recently there was an outcry after a contestant on The Apprentice was not kicked off the show after he was accused of posting anti-Semitic material on social media.
Asif Munaf, who has denied anti-Semitism but apologised for “any offence caused”, was subsequently dropped from the spin-off show, The Apprentice:
You’re Fired, and the corporation had edited content relating to his appear
ance on it. However, despite a complaint of “despicable anti-Semitism” by the Board of Deputies of British Jews, he can still be seen on catch-up footage of the main show.
Meanwhile, Dawn Queva, a BBC Three scheduling co-ordinator, was sacked after posting several anti-Semitic comments on Facebook.
In his email, Mr Davie also said that “in these troubled times, it is more vital than ever that we act with empathy and humanity”.
He urged staff to report abuse, having previously launched a “listening” session to try to ease tensions between staff members over coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.
Despite Mr Davie’s message appearing to refer only to anti-Semitism among people who have previously worked at the BBC, several of the BBC Arabic journalists whose social media activity was exposed by The Telegraph in October appear still to be working.
The BBC promised an investigation at the time but has not disclosed what
action has been taken. Reporters liked comments likening Hamas to freedom fighters, as well as describing the Oct 7 atrocity as a “morning of hope”.
One senior correspondent also appeared to make fun of the Israeli relatives of a grandmother who was abducted by Hamas.
Danny Cohen, a former director of BBC Television, said yesterday: “The
director-general has at last acknowledged that the BBC has a problem with anti-Semitism.
“The evidence is irrefutable. It has taken months too long for this acknowledgement to happen.
“It’s a significant management failure on racism which has had a damaging and distressing impact on British Jews.
“I’m sure that the Jewish community won’t find much comfort in this email. Actions are what matter.”
The controversy over anti-Semitism in the BBC has spilled over into the longstanding issue of Gary Lineker’s social media use.
The Telegraph reported last month that Jewish staff at the BBC had lodged
formal complaints about the Match of
the Day presenter’s posts on the Israel-Gaza war.
News of the complaints came after Lineker shared, then deleted, a message calling for Israel to be banned from international football tournaments, and as the BBC faces accusations of bias in its coverage of the conflict in Gaza.