A new report from The Telegraph claims that the BBC violated its own editorial guidelines 1,533 times during its early coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, according to a study led by British-Israeli lawyer Trevor Asserson, which found a “deeply worrying pattern of bias” against Israel in the BBC’s reporting.

Asserson’s team, comprising around 20 lawyers and 20 data scientists, used artificial intelligence to analyze approximately nine million words of BBC coverage across multiple languages and platforms from the start of the war on October 7. Their 100-page report, due for public release on Monday, claims that BBC coverage disproportionately linked Israel to war crimes, genocide, and international law violations, while downplaying Hamas terrorism. The BBC’s Arabic service was singled out as one of the most biased outlets in global media.

The report also criticized the BBC for mentioning Hamas’s designation as a terrorist organization only 3.2% of the time, despite its October pledge to describe the group as a “proscribed terrorist organization.” The study further alleges that several freelance journalists employed by the BBC had previously expressed support for Hamas without disclosing these biases.

A BBC spokesman responded, raising concerns about the methodology used, especially its reliance on AI to assess impartiality. “We don’t think coverage can be assessed solely by counting particular words divorced from context,” the spokesman said, defending the network’s approach to achieving “due impartiality” and pledging to review the report.

The findings were widely shared by Israel’s Foreign Ministry and hailed by Jewish community groups and media watchdogs. Gideon Falter, leader of the Campaign Against Antisemitism, called for “a transparent and unconstrained public inquiry,” while Laurence Julius, vice-chairman of the UK’s National Jewish Assembly, criticized the BBC for “nurturing an anti-Israel and antisemitic narrative.”

British lawmakers also weighed in, with Sir Oliver Dowden, shadow deputy prime minister, stating that “serious questions should be asked,” and Conservative MP Greg Smith urging the government to ensure greater compliance with the BBC’s neutrality and fairness requirements.

Trevor Asserson has a long history of challenging BBC coverage of Israel. He previously founded BBCWatch in 2000 and published several reports accusing the broadcaster of anti-Israel bias. He is now launching a new initiative, Campaign for Media Standards, aimed at monitoring bias across British media.

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