Complaints over Israel documentary rejected
BROADCAST WATCHDOG Ofcom has cleared Al Jazeera following complaints that its series investigating Israel’s influence in British politics was antisemitic and lacked impartiality.
Ofcom said complainants had also argued that the four-part documentary was misleading, but rejected all complaints in a 60-page ruling published on Monday.
The Lobby was aired by the Qatariowned channel in January and used hidden cameras to secretly record staff from Jewish and pro-Israel groups meeting politicians, diplomats and youth groups.
Among those to complain was Ella Rose, director of the Jewish Labour Movement, and Russell Langer, who was filmed in his role as public affairs manager at the Jewish Leadership Council.
When the objections were sent to Ofcom in March, Simon Johnson, JLC chief executive, confirmed it had been among those to file a formal complaint in relation to Ofcom’s code on fairness, privacy and due impartiality.
In its defence, Al Jazeera hired law firm Carter Ruck and told Ofcom: “The fact that the programmes uncovered evidence of inappropriate behaviour by those acting on behalf of the Israeli government, or by those belonging to a small number of organisations that promote Israeli policy, does not mean that they were antisemitic.”
The station said its programme was “classic undercover journalism” and contained “nothing that could conceivably be viewed as offensive”, and that it did “not generalise about Jews or make any stereotypical comments”.
Ofcom said it had taken into con- sideration the IHRA definition of antisemitism when making its ruling and, while accepting the documentary had been “controversial”, it did not believe the criticisms of Israel had constituted antisemitism.
Ruling that Al Jazeera had not breached rules on due impartiality, especially on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the watchdog concluded: “We considered that the programme had included a range of viewpoints on this matter of political controversy.”
Ella Rose, a former UJS president, was filmed by a hidden camera and shown being moved to tears following repeated clashes with anti-Israel activists.
Ofcom said her “contribution” to the programme had not been unfairly edited and that statements made about her “did not amount to significant allegations of wrongdoing”.
The episodes featured recordings of a junior employee at the Israeli embassy in London joking about “taking down” MPs who were critical of Israel, prompting questions in parliament.
Mark Regev, Israeli ambassador to Britain, apologised to Sir Alan Duncan, the Foreign Office Minister, who was one of those referred to in the programme.