The BBC has refused to give in to pressure after it came under criticism for not calling Hamas a terrorist group.
The public broadcaster called Hamas members militants in its reports on the Israel-Hamas War that broke out during the weekend after the latter launched unprovoked missile attacks from the Gaza Stripe and seized Israeli towns.
Ministers, including Defence Secretary Grant Shapps and Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer, as well as Jewish leaders, have slammed the corporation, with Mr. Shapps saying it’s time for it to “get the moral compass out.”
The BBC has defended its use of language, saying the approach has been in use “for decades.”
The IDF have also said they have “neutralised” hundreds of terrorists.
Shapps: Time for the BBC to Get The Moral Compass Out
Speaking to LBC, on Wednesday, the defence secretary said he believes the idea that Israel and Hamas are equal is “verging on disgraceful.”“What Hamas has done as a proscribed terrorist organisation—meaning that they are illegal in Britain, it’s illegal to support them—is to have gone out and slaughtered innocent people, babies, festival goers, pensioners. Not freedom fighters, they are not militants. They are pure and simple terrorists,” Mr. Shapps said.
“And it’s remarkable this morning to go to the BBC website and still see them talking about gunmen and militants and not calling them terrorists. I don’t know what’s going on there. But I think that it’s time to get the moral compass out,” he said.
Mr. Shapps also told ITV News that Hamas is “very different from the Israeli State,” which would “try everything they can to avoid harm to civilians.”
BBC: Audiences Can Judge
A BBC spokesperson said, “We always take our use of language very seriously.”The spokesperson said the word “terrorist” has been “used many times during its coverage with attributions such as the UK government.
“This is an approach that has been used for decades, and is in line with that of other broadcasters,” the spokesperson said.
“The BBC is an editorially independent broadcaster whose job is to explain precisely what is happening ‘on the ground’ so our audiences can make their own judgement.”
The BBC’s world affairs editor, John Simpson, said using “terrorist” would make the report partial.
Critics: ‘Militant’ Not Accurate
However, Jon Sopel, the BBC’s former North America editor, said Militant is “not the right word“ for those who were ”decapitating babies.”He argued that the guidelines are “no longer fit for purpose, and sadly have the effect of sanitising.”
Also citing the reported murder, rape, and beheadings, Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said while media guidelines that restrict the use of “terrorist” may be “borne out of well-intentioned aspirations to appear accurate and impartial,” there is a point “at which the failure to use the term ’terrorist', is itself a failure of accuracy and impartiality.”
“Did decent, moral people seek to justify the actions of 9/11, 7/7, or the Manchester Arena bombing?”
The rabbi argues that it should be “painfully obvious that there is no moral equivalence between those whose motive is to deliberately target innocent civilians in cold blood and those whose motive is to remove the threat of such murderers.”
“The fact that this discussion is necessary at all is a clear sign that we are losing our moral compass and of the warped nature of the depths to which discourse on Israel has sunk,” he said.
He urged broadcasters and others to be “unequivocal” when describing Hamas.
“This is not ’resistance‘ or ’struggle’. It is terrorism. To purposefully avoid that word is to wilfully mislead,” he asserted.
