Anger as BBC says Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, killed in ‘Israeli’ airstrike on his home in Iran, was ‘moderate and pragmatic’ man

While Ismail Haniyeh was described by the BBC yesterday as “moderate and pragmatic”, the bloodthirsty Hamas terror leader was anything but that.

As his terrorists crossed the border on October 7 to rape and slaughter 1,200 Israelis, he watched gleefully on television from his luxury apartment in Doha.

Later, referring to the brutality, he told his followers: “The blood of the women, the children and the elderly – we are the ones who need this blood, so it awakens in us the revolutionary spirit.”

Born in a refugee camp in Gaza when it was under Egyptian control in 1963, Haniyeh became a founding member of Hamas, rising through the ranks and being imprisoned by Israel for three years in 1989 before being exiled to Lebanon.

He returned to Gaza and when Israel withdrew in 2005, he headed the Hamas office in the Strip. He eventually became head of the political bureau in 2017 and moved to Qatar.

However, Israel considered him one of the key players in the October 7 attack and has persecuted his family throughout the war.

When his sons were killed in April last year, he showed little emotion. “May God have mercy on them,” he said.

Since the US would not allow the Israelis to attack while he was on Qatari soil, as the country is an ally, they finally seized their chance when he visited Tehran.

He was seen in Iran on Monday chanting “Death to Israel, death to America.” Less than 12 hours later, he was dead.

A BBC article on Wednesday said: ‘Despite his tough rhetoric, he was generally seen by analysts as moderate and pragmatic compared to the more hard-liners in Gaza.’

Yesterday, a presenter on BBC Radio Four’s Today Programme said: ‘Ismail Haniyeh oversaw talks on a new ceasefire and the release of hostages.

‘Despite his harsh rhetoric, he was generally seen by analysts as moderate and pragmatic, compared to the more hardliners in Gaza.’

Last night, critics criticised the BBC for its report on Ismail Haniyeh, which was repeated several times and published online on Wednesday.

Dave Rich, author of Everyday Hate: How Antisemitism Is Built Into Our World & How You Can Change It, said: If Ismail Haniyeh was ‘moderate and pragmatic,’ as all the media claims, then that means his open hatred of Jews and repeated calls for the violent destruction of Israel are a ‘moderate and pragmatic’ position to take.

‘And what does that say about the status of Jews today?’

Mike Tapp, a former soldier and Labour MP, told The Sun: ‘Ismail Haniyeh was a committed anti-Semite and the leader of a banned, genocidal terrorist group that on October 7 carried out the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.

“To describe such a person as ‘moderate and pragmatic’ is grotesque and an outright disgrace.”

Greg Smith, the Conservative Party’s shadow minister for economy and trade, added: “It is utterly outrageous that the BBC would dare to call a leader of the Hamas terror group a moderate.

‘In what reality can the leader of an organization responsible for so much death, sexual violence and hatred be called moderate?

‘Hamas wants to wipe Israel off the face of the earth and kill Jews just because they are Jewish. Yet the BBC thinks they are being ‘pragmatic’.’

Earlier this year, former Attorney General Sir Michael Ellis said the BBC was “institutionally anti-Semitic” and that tensions in the community had risen over its “biased” reporting on the Gaza conflict.

He also said the broadcaster’s impartiality had been discredited because of its coverage of Israel and Hamas.

Opening a debate in Westminster Hall on the issue, he warned that the broadcaster’s reporting had “fuelled the appalling rise in antisemitism” and “damaged diplomatic efforts to end the violence”.

The incident he referred to – an explosion at Al-Ahli Arab hospital – was initially reported by the BBC as caused by an Israeli airstrike.

The company later admitted it was wrong after mounting evidence pointed to a failed missile launch by the terrorist group Islamic Jihad.

However, the dispute led to a conflict with Israel and there were indications it may have led US President Joe Biden to cancel his Middle East peace summit at the time.

“The BBC has been at the centre of increasing controversy in recent years and it is the organisation’s reporting on the war between Israel and Hamas that has led to the organisation completely failing the British public,” said Sir Michael, who is Jewish.

‘A careful review of the BBC’s output shows that the broadcaster has clearly failed to meet its obligation of impartiality. In doing so, BBC News, through its broadcast and online content, has actively stoked tensions within the UK community, fuelled the appalling rise in antisemitism and, in one particularly shocking case, damaged diplomatic efforts to end the violence.’

A BBC spokesman said at the time: ‘We do not agree with this view. We reject it completely and it is not supported by the facts.’

Mail Online has asked the BBC for comment.