BBC plunged into new bias row after journalists behind damning report accusing Israeli soldiers of beating and humiliating medics ‘like’ videos celebrating Hamas terror attacks

BBC journalists behind a damning report which accused Israeli soldiers of beating and humiliating medics at a Gaza hospital have ‘liked’ videos celebrating Hamas terror attacks and anti-Israel posts online.

The story last week led to worldwide condemnation of Israel, and was called ‘very disturbing’ by Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron who called for ‘answers’.

Now The Mail on Sunday can reveal concerns about the views of two BBC Arabic reporters, Soha Ibrahim and Marie-Jose Al Azzi, who were credited with working on the story.

Earlier this month Ms Ibrahim liked a video on X of Palestine Action activists slashing an oil painting of former British prime minister Arthur Balfour, who helped pave the way for the creation of Israel. On the day of the Hamas attacks on October 7, she ‘liked’ videos of people in Lebanon and Tunisia chanting, dancing and waving Palestinian flags in the street in apparent celebration.

London-based Ms Ibrahim, who has worked for the BBC for 12 years, also liked another post on X on October 7 which celebrated ‘the first of the martyrs of the operation’. The tweet featured a picture of an Egyptian man who was killed after shooting dead three Israeli soldiers last June.

Soha Ibrahim liked a video on X of Palestine Action activists slashing an oil painting of former British prime minister Arthur Balfour

Ms Ibrahim also liked a video of Egyptian football fans chanting ‘we sacrifice our souls, our blood for Palestine’ following the attacks.

Meanwhile Ms Al Azzi, who has worked at the BBC since 2019 and is based in Lebanon, described Israel as a ‘terrorist apartheid state’ in a post from 2018 that has since been deleted, according to anti-Semitism researchers.

Last week’s BBC report also credited a freelance photo journalist Muath Al Khatib, based in Jerusalem, who works part-time for WAFA, the Palestinian state news agency. 

He previously made an anti-Jewish post on Facebook while on holiday in Thailand in 2016. ‘I’m fleeing from the city to the Far East, and I find more Jews than locals on the island on Ko Pha Ngan,’ he wrote.

Jewish Tory MP Andrew Percy called the BBC ‘institutionally Israel-phobic’, saying: ‘The fact they are using reporters who appear to be openly hostile to Israel and potentially openly hostile to Jews, again demonstrates the issues the BBC has here on reporting this conflict fairly.’

He appeared to take a swipe at Lord Cameron’s quick intervention, saying the revelations are a ‘timely reminder to all ministers and politicians to be very careful about commenting on reports before it’s clear what the facts are and who is behind them’.

Critics last night said the posts plunged the BBC into a fresh impartiality row. It has faced fury over its initial failure to label Hamas as terrorists following October 7, and its misreporting of a Hamas strike on a Gaza hospital, which a BBC journalist falsely claimed was an Israeli missile.

Marie-Jose Al Azzi, who has worked for the BBC since 2019, branded Israel a ‘terrorist apartheid state’ in a now deleted post from 2018

Last October the corporation said it was investigating six BBC Arabic staff over allegations the journalists had justified the killing of Israeli civilians by Hamas on their social media accounts. Four of those staff appear to have returned to reporting duties, a BBC insider told the Mail.

The accounts were first uncovered by anti-Semitism researcher David Collier and investigated by the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis, a media monitoring group.

The BBC report quoted three Palestinian doctors who said they were beaten, doused with cold water and made to kneel for hours by Israeli troops following a military raid on the Nasser hospital last month. The IDF denied the claims.

Last night a BBC spokesman said it takes ‘allegations of breaches of our social media guidance very seriously’. The Mail approached Mr Al Khatib for comment, but he referred our reporter to the BBC press office.