The BBC’s Nick Robinson has been slammed after he fell short of branding Hamas as terrorists. Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme Mr Robinson took part in a discussion about Israel’s military operations in southern Gaza.
But he didn’t use the term, instead calling them “a group” that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called terrorists. It came after the Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron pleaded with the BBC to change its policy so that it used the phrase when talking about Hamas.
Talking to Jo Floto, the BBC’s Middle East bureau editor, Mr Robinson asked: “Is there a sense that Benjamin Netanyahu is walking a political tightrope, proceeding with military action against what he says are the remaining targets of the group he calls terrorists, Hamas?”.
On the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme Lord Cameron condemned Hamas for releasing a video showing Nadav Popplewell, a British-Israel hostage. Hamas say Mr Popplewell died in Gaza after being wounded in an Israeli strike.
Lord Cameron said: “Maybe it’s a moment, actually, for the BBC to ask itself again, shall we describe these people as terrorists? They are terrorists.”
Tory MP Sir Michael Fabricant asked why Mr Robinson hadn’t called Hamas terrorists. Taking to social media platform X earlier today, Monday, May 5, he wrote: “Why does @bbcnickrobinson say on @BBCr4today ‘Hamas, a terrorist organisation as israel would say’ when Hamas is a terrorist organisation and is proscribed as such by the United Kingdom and EU?”
But the BBC won’t be changing its policy, reports the Telegraph.
A BBC spokesman told the publication: “No one consuming BBC News can be left unaware of the horrific nature of Hamas’s acts.
“We’ve made our long-standing position on this matter very clear. We use the word ‘terrorist’ when it is attributed to others, such as the UK Government.”
Express.co.uk has approached the BBC for comment. John Simpson, the BBC’s world affairs editor, previously said: “We don’t take sides. We don’t use loaded words like ‘evil’ or ‘cowardly’. We don’t talk about ‘terrorists’.”
In November last year a BBC newsreader hinted why the organisation doesn’t refer to Hamas as terrorists.
Presenter Kirsty Young has suggested that the BBC has made the decision because it isn’t able to upset the Gaza authority because it wants access to the area.
