BBC keeps using pundit who killed Israeli civilian
A PALESTINIAN jailed for his part in murdering an Israeli man is used as a regular contributor by the BBC’s Arabic channel without his conviction being disclosed.
Ismat Mansour has been interviewed by BBC Arabic at least seven times since Oct 7, billed as a “Palestinian political analyst” and “Palestinian author and researcher”.
But critics say BBC Arabic has failed to disclose that Mansour was sentenced to 22 years in jail following the murder of Haim Mizrahi, 30, and has since spoken of having “no regrets” over his role in the killing.
Mansour was among 26 prisoners freed early from prison by the Israel in August 2013, as part of a gesture to the Palestinian Authority in peace talks.
He had been jailed at 16 after helping two older teenagers stab Mr Mizrahi to death near the West Bank settlement of Beit El in October 1993.
An Israeli judge found that he held the victim down during the stabbing. Mansour said on his release: “I have no regrets. I was part of the struggle, I don’t reconsider my contribution.”
Mansour has appeared on BBC Arabic’s Talking Point programme six times since the Oct 7 massacres. In January, he appeared as a “researcher in the Madar centre of Israeli studies”.
He commented on an attack in Raanana, Israel, in which a 79-year-old woman was killed. He attributed it to the “atmosphere” in the West Bank and Israel’s actions there.
On another occasion, he was asked by the BBC Arabic website about the assassination in Lebanon of Saleh Arouri, a Hamas official. The site reported that Mansour had “spent 20 years in Israeli prisons” and “accompanied” Arouri, but did not specify the allegations. Mansour also appeared on Talking
Point when he was presented as an “author and researcher in Israeli affairs”.
A spokesman for the lobby group Campaign for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis, said: “Talking
Point once sought Ismat Mansour’s so-called ‘expert take’ on Israel’s alleged responsibility for Palestinians murdering a Jewish civilian – an attack just like the one he had taken part in.”
The BBC said: “Although at times we have referenced his 1993 conviction, we recognise that, when appropriate, further details should be given to provide additional context.”