Israel condemns BBC over Auschwitz report
Jewish leaders suggest report on anniversary of Auschwitz liberation fuelled anti-semitism
Israel accused the BBC of “belittling the Holocaust” on the eve of a ceremony to commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz. Jewish leaders suggested that a report by Orla Guerin on News at Ten had fuelled antisemitism by appearing to link Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to the Nazi murders of six million people. A former BBC chairman demanded that the director general make clear whether he supported the “gratuitous and insensitive” broadcast.
THE BBC was last night accused by Israel of “belittling the Holocaust” on the eve of a major ceremony to remember the liberation of Auschwitz.
Jewish leaders suggested that a report on the News at Ten had fuelled anti-semitism by appearing to link Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to the Nazi murders of six million people.
A former BBC chairman demanded that the corporation’s director general make clear whether he supported the “gratuitous and insensitive” broadcast, while the Campaign Against Anti-semitism issued a formal complaint.
The row came as the Prince of Wales joined world leaders in Jerusalem to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Auschwitz-birkenau’s liberation by the Soviets on Jan 27 1945.
Shown on Wednesday, the segment was narrated by the BBC’S international correspondent Orla Guerin, who has previously faced accusations of anti-israel bias. After interviewing a
Holocaust survivor whose family was murdered, Ms Guerin ended her report by showing images of Israeli soldiers entering Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Centre in Jerusalem. In a voice-over she said: “The State of Israel is now a regional power. For decades it has occupied Palestinian territories. But some here will always see their nation through the prism of persecution and survival.”
Her report sparked an immediate backlash from Jewish groups who said it fell within the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-semitism adopted by the British government, which includes drawing comparisons between Israeli policy and the Nazis.
Ms Guerin’s sign off was also condemned by the Israeli government. Lior Haiat, spokesman for Israel’s ministry of foreign affairs, said: “The remarks made by BBC News reporter Orla Guerin ... belittle the Holocaust by aggressively pushing an irrelevant issue. Shameful and disgusting.”
A BBC spokesman last night defended the report, adding the corporation would not wish any comparison to be drawn between the Holocaust and Israel’s policy toward the Palestinians.
But the Board of Deputies, which represents British Jewish community, demanded an apology for the “crass and offensive” remarks.
Meanwhile former BBC chairman Lord Grade called on Lord Hall of Birkenhead, the corporation’s director general, to say whether he supported or disavowed Ms Guerin’s remarks.
“It was an extremely gratuitous and insensitive piece of commentary,” Lord Grade told The Telegraph. “The director general should say publicly whether he supports what was said.”
Ms Guerin, 53, has won multiple awards since joining the BBC in 1995.
However, while working as the BBC’S Jerusalem correspondent in 2004, the Israeli government accused her of displaying a “total identification with the goals and methods of the Palestinian terror groups” over a report on a 16-year-old would-be suicide bomber.
In 2015 Ms Guerin faced accusations of “directly misleading” viewers by failing to acknowledge the involvement of militant Palestinian groups in a spate of stabbings. On both occasions the BBC defended her coverage.
A spokesman for the BBC said: “The brief reference in our Holocaust report to Israel’s position did not imply any comparison between the two and nor would we want one to be drawn from our coverage.”
Ms Guerin declined to comment.