Footage from a BBC interview with a Palestinian educator has sparked criticism online, after the interviewee compared terror committed by Hamas terrorists to the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.
The interview, which occurred on October 7, with Refaat Alareer has sparked new accusations of BBC anti-Israel bias.
Alareer said in the interview that, “[a]n attack by Palestinian resistance is legitimate and moral. This is exactly like the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. This is the Gaza Ghetto uprising against 100 years of European and Zionist colonialism and occupation…”
A Palestinian “educator” has just told @BBCNews that today’s scenes were “legitimate and moral” and “exactly like the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising”. pic.twitter.com/kb0VDptZF2
— Georgia Leigha Gilholy (@llggeorgia) October 7, 2023
Only on the BBC you’ll have a Palestinian commentator invited to speak on a day when hundreds of Hamas terrorists murdered Israeli women and children and kidnapped dozens, claiming Israel is to be blamed. Vile. pic.twitter.com/qbkT8DHSYR
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) October 7, 2023
X users have also connected Alareer to an X account that has posted antisemitic statements like “are more Jews evil? Of course they are…”
Update, the @BBCNews guest in question is Refaat Alareer. He is a writer who-among other things-has accused "most Jews of being evil". @BBCNews do you vet your guests at all? How do you think this person is helping to advocate for the human rights of Palestinians? pic.twitter.com/PKQN5sxFVs
— Georgia Leigha Gilholy (@llggeorgia) October 7, 2023
Camera, an organization that helps to fight anti-Israel bias, published an expose on one of Alareer’s lectures at the University of Gaza in 2021. Alareer claimed that Israel has used the Holocaust as a manipulative tool to “destroy Palestinians.”
The Warsaw Ghetto uprising
The Warsaw Ghetto uprising was an event prized in the Jewish mind as a moment of rebellion against Nazi forces. In April 1943, the Warsaw Ghetto was going to be exterminated, but the Jewish captives refused to walk silently to their deaths. Rather, they began attacking the German forces with firearms, Molotov cocktails and hand grenades.
However, unlike what Israel is currently experiencing from Hamas, the Jewish insurgents did not attack, kidnap and torture civilians. Nor did they murder the defenseless elderly in the streets whom were simply waiting for the bus.
A further difference between the occupants of the Warsaw Ghetto and the Hamas terrorists is that the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto were facing mass genocide – while the residents of Gaza are not. The current population of Gaza, according to the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency is 2,098,389 – which the Agency reported is a growth of 1.99%.
The BBC’s history of biased reporting
The BBC has been repeatedly accused of publishing biased media in favour of anti-Israel or antisemitic parties.
In July 2023, the BBC apologized after anchor Anjana Gadgil said that “Israeli forces are happy to kill children,” The Jerusalem Post published at the time.
In a similar incident, only three weeks ago on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks on New York, BBC Arabic shared an article claiming that Jews were the original suicide bombers.