The BBC has pulled its documentary about children in Gaza from iPlayer after mounting pressure over a featured child being the son of a Palestinian minister, in a move some commentators have slammed as “cowardly”.
Outrage over Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone reached its highest point on Wednesday and Thursday, with the Israeli ambassador in London complaining to Britain’s public broadcaster, and culture secretary Lisa Nandy saying she will “be discussing” the issue with the BBC.
Most criticism has focused on the fact, first reported by researcher David Collier, that the documentary’s 13-year-old narrator Abdullah Alyazouri is the son of a minister in Gaza’s Hamas-run government.
Middle East Eye found on Thursday that Dr Ayman Alyazouri, Gaza’s deputy agriculture minister, appears to be a technocrat with a scientific background who previously worked for the United Arab Emirates government and studied at British universities.
Earlier this week a group of 45 prominent Jewish journalists and members of the media, including former BBC governor Ruth Deech, piled on pressure by sending a letter to the broadcaster demanding the film be removed from the iPlayer.
Nobody is responsible for his father actions
This boy was not randomly selected, nor is he independent from his father.
It doesn’t matter he is still a kid that can do nothing about the actions of his father, his father is not even in the armed faction of hamas. What’s protrayed in the movie is a fact.
You just don’t want the world to see that palestinians are still humans trying to find joy during this genocide and have dreams.
The child is playing a role in a propaganda film.
Who do you think controls who can film what and where in Gaza? Hamas of course.
This doesn’t mean everything in the film is a lie, but you shouldn’t take it at face value.
This conflict has a decades oiled propaganda machine on both sides.
Everything in the documentary correspond to human rights organizations reports. Do you want the documentary to act like Gaza isn’t almost completely demolish or do you think all the destruction shown and injured people are just acting?