DayofPal– The BBC is facing mounting criticism after refusing to correct a widely challenged claim that echoed Israeli allegations against slain Palestinian journalist Anas Al-Sharif.
They didi so despite internal agreement of the error as a “grave editorial breach,” according to a leaked email obtained by Novara Media.
Al-Sharif, a veteran correspondent for Al Jazeera, was killed on 10 August in an Israeli airstrike on a tent marked “PRESS” near Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza. Five other media workers were killed alongside him.
In its coverage of the incident, BBC News reported that al-Sharif “did some work with a Hamas media team in Gaza before the current war.” The statement closely mirrors unverified allegations made by Israeli officials, who went as far as claiming Al-Sharif was a Hamas commander.
The Israeli government posted online spreadsheets as “proof,” but offered no substantiating evidence, nor any justification for the killing of Al-Sharif’s five colleagues.
Al Jazeera has strongly denied the accusation, calling it a smear. Weeks before his death, Al-Sharif’s name had appeared in an Israeli “kill list” graphic targeting Al Jazeera staff.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) warned at the time that these accusations were designed to legitimize his assassination. “These claims were meant to justify killing him,” CPJ said, urging the international community to ensure his protection.
A leaked internal email dated 18 August and sent to around 1,200 BBC staff reveals that senior figures within the BBC Global News division had called for the statement to be amended.
The email, signed by senior news editors and deputy executives, instructed that the report should clarify that the claim originated from a single source, Israel, and that Al Jazeera had explicitly denied it.
However, as of the article’s last update on 13 August, the BBC has left the claim unchanged across its platforms. It continues to appear in the original article, on the BBC liveblog, and in a TikTok post published by BBC Verify.
A BBC employee speaking to Novara Media described the incident as symptomatic of a “culture of intimidation, fear, and political control” within the organization. “Such a breach would have led to resignations in any other newsroom,” the source added.
The controversy surrounding the BBC’s handling of the Al-Sharif report is unfolding amid broader scrutiny of the corporation’s coverage of the war in Gaza.
A June report by the Centre for Media Monitoring found that Israeli fatalities received 33 times more coverage per death than Palestinian fatalities on BBC platforms. The report accused the BBC of systemic bias, stating that its coverage displayed “double standards” and often “shut down discussion of genocide in Gaza.”
Further concerns have been raised about the tactics used by Israeli authorities to target Palestinian journalists. Recent revelations indicate the existence of a secret Israeli military unit tasked with linking Palestinian journalists to Hamas or Islamic Jihad.
The strategy, according to sources cited in August, is designed to reduce international backlash over the killing of journalists in Gaza.
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