BBC Arabic article links “fanatical Jews” of ancient Israel to 9/11 terrorists while playing down Islamism
A BBC Arabic article has linked “fanatical Jews” to the 9/11 terrorists while appearing to play down Islamism.
The Arabic-language article on the Corporation’s website purports to recount the “story of suicide attackers throughout history”, claiming that the tactic originated with a Jewish group fighting the Roman occupation of ancient Israel, and tracing the history through the Middle Ages, Japanese Kamikaze pilots and into the current era of Islamist terrorism and 9/11.
The article reads: “It is believed that the first suicide attacks…were by a group of Jewish fanatics who spread fear…during the Roman occupation.”
It goes on to suggest that, since the end of WWII, suicide attacks were “almost” non-existent until Israel’s incursion into southern Lebanon in 1982, for which no context is provided.
While ancient Jews are described as “fanatics”, the word “terrorist” appears nowhere in relation to modern Islamist and Arab terror organisations. Indeed, other than the ancient Jews who targeted the Roman military, no other faction is censured in the article at all, even though some limited their attacks to combatants while others specifically target civilians.
The history is also dubious, with the mass Jewish suicide at Masada somehow presented as an example of the use of suicide attacks.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Of all the suicide attackers over the past two millennia, the only ones described by BBC Arabic as ‘fanatics’ are the Jewish assassins of ancient Judea who attacked the occupying Roman military. All others appear to escape any form of censure, including the modern Islamist terror groups. Moreover, this latest incarnation of Middle Eastern suicide attack is still blamed on the Jews, with the article alleging that the suicide strategy was only adopted because of Israel’s incursion into Lebanon.”
According to the JC, BBC Arabic has issued more than 130 corrections following complaints of bias and inaccuracy in reports about Israel and Jewish affairs since the beginning of 2021 — an average of more than one every week.
A spokesperson for BBC Arabic said that it “offers independent and impartial news and information. As with all content produced by the BBC, their output is subject to the BBC’s rigorous Editorial Guidelines. We reject any notion that there are wider issues with the service’s 24-hour, multi-platform output.”
Campaign Against Antisemitism monitors traditional media and regularly holds outlets to account. If members of the public are concerned about reportage in the media, they should contact us at [email protected].
