Anti-Israel bias at BBC News runs so deep that most people don’t see more than the tip of the iceberg. And while the Jews (the victims of BBC anti-Jewish racism) have grown tired of making complaints that are always ignored, the racist perpetrators (the elitist British supremacists and their Islamist ex-Al Jazeera buddies at BBC News) have grown so confident in their untouchability – they no longer bother to hide the bias. Anti-Jewish racists inside the BBC are now so embedded, they are trying to hound their Jewish colleagues out of their jobs.

December 23rd provided a perfect example of inexcusable anti-Jewish discrimination. I picked up on it because of a Facebook post by a Jewish Rabbi based in Jerusalem. He had been interviewed by BBC News and was annoyed at how he was treated. I went digging to see if he had cause. And this shocking exclusive is the result – the story of when the Jew, the Muslim and the Christian, were interviewed by BBC News.

A Jew, a Muslim and a Christian walk into a studio…

The starting point was this FB post by Rabbi Gideon Sylvester from Jerusalem. The post stated he had been invited to talk about celebrating Chanukah during wartime but instead had faced hostile political questions.

Rabbi Gideon Sylvester handled himself very well but given the invitation asked him to appear to talk about Chanukah – the tone and questioning of BBC’s Ben Brown seemed seriously out of place (more on this later).

In the opening Ben Brown said that they had already heard ‘from leaders of different faiths including a Christian Reverend, and a Muslim faith leader at the Al Aqsa Mosque.’ This meant that the Rabbi was the third of a set. And this presented a rare opportunity. If I tracked down the other two interviews – then I could compare the manner in which all three interviews were handled. Unlike a standalone article, a direct comparison could be made – and all things being equal – the three interviews should have been handled in a similar fashion.

It took some time because the interviews were spread out over more than three hours of BBC News reports (12:20-15:30 on the 23rd) – but what I found should be enough even for the most sceptical of audiences (uploaded in full to YouTube).

 The BBC News bias hidden in plain sight

Before I break down the three interviews, there was bias hidden in plain sight that needs to be addressed. It is true that one leader from each of the three main Abrahamic religions were given a platform. But the interviews were really all about the conflict – not communities. So it wasn’t a Muslim, Christian and Jew being interviewed – it was two Palestinians, and an Israeli.

1. Palestinian Christian: Reverend Dr Munther Isaac
2. Palestinian Muslim: Dr. Imam Mustafa Abu Sway
3. Israeli Jew: Rabbi Gideon Sylvester

Both Munther Isaac and Mustafa Abu Sway are well known activists for the Palestinian cause. Which means the Palestinian voice was given twice as much airtime as the Israeli one. There are Christians who are far more balanced than Munther Isaac. And given there are about 4x as many Christians in Israel, as there are Christians left in the PA areas  – it must have been a deliberate choice to run with a Palestinian. You may try to excuse the BBC, arguing that picking a Christian from Bethlehem is a no-brainer – but why is it never a Christian from Nazareth? Is Nazareth not part of the Jesus story?

Make no mistake about it – Israeli Christians in Nazareth have endured a terrible year – not that the BBC would ever tell you about it.

It isn’t difficult to understand. If far more Christians live in Israel – but every single time the BBC speak to a Christian they speak to one from the Palestinian Authority – it cannot be perpetually excused. Israeli Christians are being no platformed by the BBC. These things have become so normalised nobody even notices.

But back to the interviews.

The BBC interview with the Christian Reverend

The first interview was with Dr Munther Isaac. It was before Ben Brown took his seat so the interview was carried out by Geeta Guru-Murthy. The interview was preceded by a short news item about medics in Gaza claiming that Israel had killed five people (including two children) in a humanitarian zone. A clip runs of a Gazan man describing how the Israelis were bombing them in their tents. Geeta Guru-Murthy (for some reason) then gives Hamas’ running total of the conflict dead. So this interview was headed by unverified demonising talk of civilian deaths from an alleged Israeli airstrike on a humanitarian tent.

During the interview Munther Isaac faces three questions:

• Question 1: How is this year proving in comparison from previous years?
• Question 2: In terms of your message this year – just tell us what you are focusing on?
• Question 3: This year there are no celebrations, but you were involved with a very specific moment or celebration last year, just tell us what you did and why.

Munther Isaac speaks about the anger and despair amongst Palestinian Christians and says Christmas celebrations are cancelled in solidarity with Gaza. From the moment he starts talking the screen is split and we are shown respectful religiously themed images:

The interview is polite, and Guru-Murphy is sympathetic and friendly towards the Reverend throughout. The third question referred to an exhibit from Christmas 2023 – a manger called ‘Christ in the Rubble’ in which baby Jesus was placed on top of rubble (to represent what was happening in Gaza). As the Reverend tells his story – footage of the exhibit is played on screen. Which means all this was agreed, choreographed and prepared in advance. The Reverend quotes Hamas figures (such as saying 17000 children have been killed) and none of it is challenged.

The BBC interview with the Muslim Imam

The second interview occurred exactly two hours later with Mustafa Abu Sway. The story about the Israeli strike on the Gazan humanitarian tent had gone. Instead, in the intro this time, there was a video relating to a disturbing but week old story about ‘Israeli settlers setting a mosque on fire’:

 

Which means the BBC set the stage for this interview just as they did with the Reverend – with footage that demonises Israel. Mustafa Abu Sway is then given just two questions:

1. What are your thoughts, what are your reflections as we come to come to the end of this year, another year of war in the Middle East?
2. Can there be peace in the Middle East, given all the horrific events. Can there be two states living side by side?

Throughout the interview the screen splits again – as it did with the Reverend – and we are shown respectful, religiously themed images to accompany his words:

As Abu Sway began to relay his thoughts the sixth word he used was ‘genocide’, and from there until the end he unleashes lie after lie on the audience. He even calls tourists visiting the Temple Mount ‘settlers’ – saying they occupy and pray in Al Aqsa on a daily basis. This is all absolute poppycock and Netanyahu has explicitly stated the ‘status quo’ remains unchanged. Brown does point out to the audience that the Israelis deny the genocide label – but lets all of the other distortions and propaganda lies pass unchecked, And he does not challenge Abu Sway directly at all. Not even when Abu Sway completely blames the lack of peace on the Israelis. At no point does Brown stray from script and conducts a polite and respectful interview that permits Abu Sway to say whatever he likes.

The BBC interview with the Jewish Rabbi

From the first two interviews we have our baseline.

1. Conducted respectfully
2. The statements from the two religious leaders were not challenged
3. Both interviews were headed by related footage
4. And both were accompanied by numerous respectful religiously themed images.

It is time to turn to the interview with the Jewish Rabbi. The only way to balance this out would be to have played a video related to the hostages, or the rockets still being fired at Tel Aviv before the interview started. Or perhaps footage from the funeral of 12-year-old Yehoshua Aharon Tuvia Simcha who had been shot and murdered by Palestinian terrorists on 12 December. Instead there was nothing. The BBC gave the Reverend the unverified tent attack, and the Imam the week-old settler attack on the mosque – but the Rabbi had to start cold.

It began with the same type of questioning the other two had faced about general thoughts, peace and the idea of a two state solution:

1. Can there be more peace in 2025 than in 2024?
2. What about the idea of a two state solution – of Palestinians living in a homeland alongside an Israeli homeland – is that still a viable option?

And this facade lasted for about one minute and eight seconds. As Rabbi Gideon Sylvester was (correctly) stating the problem of peace required a Palestinian partner – the BBC’s Ben Brown (who had sat quietly as the Imam spouted his nonsense) interrupted the Rabbi and began to visibly unleash the BBC’s hatred of Israel, by turning what had meant to be a discussion about Jews celebrating Chanukah into a raw anti-Israel rant. His third question suggested the war was needless and Bibi Netanyahu was simply killing Palestinians to keep himself out of jail:

“But doesn’t it also (peace) depend on your government – on the government of Benyamin Netanyahu. Because there are a lot of Israelis who say that he has been pursuing war for his own ends in a sense and he has been pushed by some of the right wing nationalists in his government. And there are a lot of Israelis who want to see an end to war and also deals to release the hostages?”

His fourth question simply turns a Rabbi who had come to answer questions about Jews celebrating Chanukah into an IDF spokesperson being expected to personally respond to Hamas propaganda points and justify Israeli military action:

“when YOU look at the actions of the Israeli military in Gaza which many people around the world have condemned – some people in Israel itself have condemned as well – 45000 people dead according to the Hamas run health ministry in Gaza, most of them, the majority of them, they say, women and children – do you think that has been a proportionate response to the attacks of October 7?”

Struggling to make enough time to continue his attack Ben Brown squeezes in a fifth question.

“But, I mean, just very briefly, we have only got a few seconds left. I’ve frequently interviewed people like Gideon Levy from Ha’aretz Newspaper who said Israel cannot keep living in a state of war – it has to make peace.”

And when the Rabbi hits back (correctly) that Gideon Levy is not representative (it would be like frequently interviewing George Galloway types in the UK and holding them up as representative) Ben Brown continues arguing:

“we interview lots of voice in Israel (remember, he said he interviewed people like Gideon Levy ‘frequently’) including your own right now”

Then it was over.

And remember the respectful religious civilian images and footage, the BBC ran alongside the interviews of the Reverend and the Imam – well this is the imagery that the BBC put alongside the interview with the Rabbi. Soldiers, bulldozers, and tanks:

The final tally

And there you have it. Looking at three interviews that should have been conducted in comparable fashion we can see that the Rabbi faced an entirely different environment. I reached out to the Rabbi and received this:

Rabbi Gideon Sylvester who has worked in the past for Human Rights Organisations and in the Office of the Prime minister of Israel said, “Although I prepared for a completely different set of questions, it was a privilege to stand up for Israel. I’d do it again happily.”

We can summarise the interviews like this:

I will let the above speak for itself. There really is no need for me to lay it out. The BBC is visibly engaging in anti-Jewish discrimination – the people paying the license fee are funding it – and nobody seems to be willing to do anything about it.

 

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