he late Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel laureate and tireless campaigner against South African apartheid, once observed: “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” 

For decades, the BBC’s editorial policy in reporting on Israel and Palestine has consistently chosen the side of the oppressor – and all too often, not even by adopting the impartiality the corporation claims as the bedrock of its journalism.

Instead, the British state broadcaster regularly chooses language and terminology whose effect is to deceive its audience. And it compounds such journalistic malpractice by omitting vital pieces of context when that extra information would present Israel in a bad light.

Al-Aqsa raid: How BBC coverage is enabling Israeli violence | Middle East Eye