BBC ‘censors’ interview with Herzog

An interview with Israeli President Isaac Herzog was trimmed significantly by the BBC, with the network ultimately choosing to air six out of the total 28 minutes.

The reason for this decision is unclear, although it could be because of the harsh criticism leveled by Israel against the British outlet for refusing to consider Hamas a terrorist organization, choosing to call its perpetrators “militants.”

The “censored” parts included a reference to this criticism, with the interviewer saying, “I don’t want to discuss the objectivity of the BBC,” as well as an emotional response by Herzog to the calls for restraint in the wake of the Hamas terrorist massacre that saw some 1400 Israeli residents murdered on Oct. 7 and several hundred kidnapped. “This is eight times bigger than 9/11—what else do you want us to do?”

Naor Ihia, his spokesperson, said on X/Twitter: “Something about the way the BBC conducted the interview made me think I should have my own recording of what the president says before someone tries to censor or distort it. ... So here are the things the BBC didn’t want the world to hear.”

Here is a clip from the footage that the BBC chose not to show:

The BBC recently announced it would stop describing Hamas as a “militant” group and instead refer to the rulers of the Gaza Strip as “a terrorist organization proscribed by the U.K. government.”

According to reports, the decision was made during a meeting between members of Britain’s Board of Jewish Deputies and BBC director-general Tim Davie.

Last month, Herzog told visiting British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak that there should be a public outcry against the BBC’s refusal to call Hamas a terrorist organization.

“I know that in modern democracies, like ours and yours, you can’t interfere per se, but since the BBC has a certain linkage and is known as British all over the world, there has to be an outcry for it to be corrected, and that Hamas will be defined as a terrorist organization there as well,” Herzog said. “What else do they need to see to understand that this is an atrocious terror organization?”

The BBC is “urgently investigating” six reporters and a freelancer following complaints of anti-Israel posts by them on social media.

The posts included “statements justifying the killing of Israeli civilians by Hamas,” referring to the Oct. 7 massacre as a “morning of hope,” mocking relatives of an Israeli grandmother kidnapped by Hamas and saying that “Israel’s prestige is crying in the corner,” according to the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA).

The BBC apologized after a guest on one of its news programs compared Hamas terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians to Jews rising up against the Nazis in the Warsaw Ghetto in the spring of 1943.

Citing BBC’s “biased coverage” of the war against Hamas, staff at the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya banned a film crew from entering the hospital in October.

Originally published by Israel Hayom.