The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has updated its terminology for Hamas, now referring to it as a “proscribed terrorist organization,” after withering criticism over the broadcaster’s refusal to label Hamas as “terrorists” in its reports.
Post the October 7 invasion of Israel by Hamas, the BBC predominantly used terms like “freedom fighters,” “gunmen,” or “militants.” This choice of wording garnered significant viewer outrage, especially amidst unfolding reports of Hamas’ atrocities against civilians.
The BBC initially stood by its terminology. However, following a recent press release from the Board of Deputies of British Jews, there has been a notable shift. The release indicated that BBC Director General, Tim Davie, has now endorsed a change in nomenclature.
“The BBC regularly meets a range of groups and today met the Board of Deputies of British Jews. During the meeting we confirmed that we will continue to refer to Hamas as a proscribed terror organization by the UK Government and others,” the BBC later confirmed to Fox News.
The spokesperson further clarified the BBC’s stance, emphasizing, “What the BBC does not do is use the word terrorist without attributing it, nor do we ban words. We also confirmed that for some days we had not been using ‘militant’ as a default description for Hamas, as we have been finding this a less accurate description for our audiences as the situation evolves.”
The shift in the BBC’s approach reportedly came after a discussion between Davie and the Board of Deputies President, Marie van der Zyl, who said, “We emphasized our outrage at the refusal of the BBC to describe Hamas’ barbaric actions as terrorism.”
It’s worth noting that since 2021, the United Kingdom has classified Hamas as an “Islamic terrorist group.” Despite this, BBC World Affairs editor John Simpson penned an article earlier this month defending the BBC’s initial choice to avoid the term “terrorists”, stating, “Terrorism is a loaded word… It’s simply not the BBC’s job to tell people who to support and who to condemn.”
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9 Responses
Please remove the words MAEL TOV from the headline. “PROSCRIBED” terror organization is far from sufficient and is till outrageous. This means that there are some that call it a terror group. This gives the Impression for others to think that there Is room to disagree that they are a terrorist group. This horrible BBC broadcasting channel Is a true example of how low a human can deteriorate. SHEER SHAME !!!
Brits should sue, since it’s their tax pounds.
Actually they should be called “soldiers”, since that is the usual word used for government employees who are hired to engage in military operations, including deliberate killing of civilians. Calling them “terrorists” suggests they are some sort of criminals or psychopaths, rather the lawfully hired employees of the lawful (and democratically elected) government of Gaza. While they are violating the traditional rules of war as well as public international law, they are violating those rules at the behest of a democratically elected government.
Nothing to get excited about at all unfortunately – they are still as horrifically pro-Palestinian as ever
The Balestine Bropaganda Channel (to be read with a Gaza accent)
I love the line “‘Terrorism’ is a loaded word.” Um, however loaded it gets, it still doesn’t come close to what Hamas did on Simchas Torah.
nope, misleading headline. they still refused to call them terrorists themselves, that “magnanimous” gesture is to deign to call them merely “Hamas” instead of “militants” and that they will add boilerplate that the UK government says that “the military wing” (you can’t make this up!) is a terror organisation.
Weasel words from the Bias Broadcasting Corporation who lost their moral compass 70 years ago and never found it.
It took until now for the UK to realize these people are terrorists? They don’t want to tell people who to support and who to condemn? What normal person in the world could NOT condemn the actions of these worse-than-animals?
@YYaadd. Don’t combine THE UK and the outrages BBC racist channel. The UK government Immediately stood with Israel up until now. It’s the horrific BBC which Is acting this way. I guess they are supported by the Arab wealthy countries.
I’m not seeing this on their Website. No change at all.