BBC compares Israel to Nazis again, after trying to dismiss our ongoing complaint about Orla Guerin’s coverage that did the same thing

The BBC has compared the policies of Israel’s Government to that of the Nazis yet again, even as it tries to dismiss Campaign Against Antisemitism’s ongoing complaint about controversial journalist Orla Guerin’s Holocaust Memorial Day coverage, which did the same thing.

On this occasion, the comparison features in a travel article on the BBC website about life in Bethlehem. The article contains numerous inaccuracies, but most offensively implies an equation between the condition of the residents of Bethlehem – which the author attributes to Israeli policy – and that of the Jews suffering under the Nazis.

The article discusses a “cultural renaissance” in the city, which it describes as both “counterintuitive” but also “surprisingly commonplace where people feel their human rights are under intense restrictions”. Within the same paragraph, three other historic examples are provided, including the most notorious Nazi death camp: “Even amid the infamous Nazi horror of Auschwitz, prisoners passed around poetry and composed music, risking torture if they were caught.” The article goes on in the next paragraph to quote the author of a book titled One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps.

The BBC’s obsession with comparing Israeli policy to that of the Nazis, in breach of the International Definition of Antisemitism, was also recently exhibited by Orla Guerin.

Campaign Against Antisemitism is in the process of escalating its complaint about that coverage with the BBC, and will submit the complaint to Ofcom if necessary.