Britain’s state-funded broadcaster BBC has launched an investigation into six reporters and a freelance contributor working for its Arabic service over what they claim was exhibiting anti-Israel bias and cheering attacks by the Palestinian militant group Hamas. The probe is related to the social media activities of the journalists, namely liking and reposting pro-Palestinian content and criticism of Israel. The online conduct of BBC employees is covered by BBC’s so-called partiality’ rules.

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Impartiality? A former BBC editor doesn’t buy it: “I worked for the BBC’s English-language outlets as an editor and senior editor for 35 years. Since the early 1990s, there has been growing intolerance of criticism of editorial management decisions, even in internal forums which internal BBC propaganda claims are meant for staff to speak freely.

This applies across the board on all matters. But certainly, with regard to Israel and Zionism, any questioning of BBC’s impartiality would attract accusations of anti-Semitism and would certainly spell the end of one’s career, no matter how privately and confidentially such criticism is conveyed. former senior editor for the BBC, says the 35-year veteran of the BBC.

According to British media reports, the ‘offensive’ posts, all of which have been taken down, included descriptions of Hamas as freedom fighters and the group’s surprise attack on Israel as a ’morning of hope’ for Palestine. While the staff reporters have not been formally suspended, only put off-air, the corporation has already parted ways with the freelance contributor, who had only been working with the outfit since early October.

With a straight face, the BBC spokesperson said: ‘We are urgently investigating this matter. We take allegations of breaches of our editorial and social media guidelines with the utmost seriousness, and if and when we find breaches, we will act, including taking disciplinary action.

The BBC has also faced online backlash over using very specific language to describe victims of the ongoing escalation between Israel and Hamas, referring to Israeli victims as ’killed,’ and Palestinian – as those who ’died’ in massive retaliatory air strikes. Another major British broadcaster, SkyNews, has been caught using the same wording to describe the matter amid the escalation. You can share this story on social media: