The BBC is facing calls to suspend two journalists who shared anti-Israel messages or ‘liked’ videos celebrating the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks on social media.
Last night Nicola Richards, Tory MP for West Bromwich East and Conservative Friends of Israel official, called on the Corporation to suspend the BBC’s Arab journalists while it investigates.
Soha Ibrahim and Marie-Jose Al Azzi were credited with reporting on a BBC story alleging that Israeli soldiers beat and humiliated Palestinian medics during a hospital raid in Gaza last month.
Last week’s BBC report led to international condemnation of Israel, with Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron calling for ‘answers from the Israelis’.
Marie-Jose Al Azzi (left) described Israel as a “terrorist apartheid state” in a 2018 post that has since been deleted, and Soha Ibrahim (right) “liked” an October 7 post calling “the first of Israel’s martyrs” was celebrated. the operation’
In a statement, the BBC said: ‘We do not comment on individual personnel matters, but if we identify breaches we will take appropriate action’ (File image)
On the day of the Hamas attacks on October 7, Ms Ibrahim ‘liked’ videos of people in Lebanon and Tunisia dancing and waving Palestinian flags, and Egyptian football fans chanting ‘we sacrifice our souls, our blood for Palestine’.
London-based Ms Ibrahim, who worked for the BBC for 12 years, also ‘found’ a post on October 7 celebrating ‘the first of the operation’s martyrs’, it was revealed in The Mail yesterday.
Meanwhile, Ms Al Azzi, who has worked at the BBC since 2019 and is based in Lebanon, described Israel as a “terrorist apartheid state” in a 2018 post that has since been deleted, according to anti-Semitism researchers.
Ms Richards told the Mail: ‘The BBC has a responsibility not just in Britain but around the world. People rely on them for unbiased news.”
Anti-Semitism czar John Mann said: ‘Any journalist who likes something that is overtly racist is clearly not credible. I am sure they will want to investigate these allegations thoroughly.”
In a statement, the BBC said: ‘We do not comment on individual personnel matters, but if we identify breaches we will take appropriate action.’