The BBC has taken six of its reporters off the air as an investigation has been launched into their pro-Palestinian posts on the social media website X.
The BBC News Arabic reporters were accused of breaking the so-called impartiality rules of the British broadcaster by making posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, that appeared to be in support of the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement or critical of Israel’s position in the ongoing war in the besieged Gaza Strip.
“We are urgently investigating this matter. We take allegations of breaches of our editorial and social media guidelines with the utmost seriousness, and if and when we find breaches we will act, including taking disciplinary action,” the BBC said in a statement on Monday.
One message is reported to have said: “Israel’s prestige is crying in the corner”, reported The Daily Telegraph.
According to media reports, all the posts have been taken down, although the reporters have not been formally suspended.
The reporters, including those based in Egypt and Lebanon, were also accused of liking posts that appeared to be in support of Hamas or critical of Israel.
In a separate statement, the BBC said that a member of its News Arabic team in Tel Aviv had been stopped and assaulted at the end of last week by Israeli police in a vehicle marked as media.
“Journalists must be able to report on the conflict in Israel-Gaza freely,” the British broadcaster said.
MSNBC takes Muslim journalists ‘out of the anchor’s chair’
Last week, American broadcaster MSNBC quietly took three prominent Muslim journalists, including Mehdi Hassan, “out of the anchor’s chair” in the aftermath of the current war between Palestinians and Israel.
NBC claimed that the changes are ”coincidental” and denied that the hosts – three of the most high-profile Muslim on-air personalities on the network – are being sidelined, saying that the three Muslim journalists continue to appear on air to report and provide analysis.
The apparent dismissals came after the editorial board of the New York Post published a scathing attack on MSNBC for its “shameful” coverage of the Palestinian operation, accusing the news organization of having “run interference for Hamas.”
Hamas launched Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against Israel on October 7, in response to the regime’s violations at Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East al-Quds and growing settler violence.
The surprise raid shook the usurping entity’s security establishment, leaving about 1,300 Israelis dead.
In response, Israel launched deadly strikes on the Gaza Strip. More than 3,000 Palestinians, many of whom children and women, have been killed and over 12,500 others injured in the coastal territory, according to Palestinian official news agency Wafa.
The military campaign has seen the Israel regime leveling entire districts and using banned white phosphorous munitions against densely populated neighborhoods.
