Jewish broadcaster resigns from BBC over ‘inexcusable’ anti-Semitism

A Jewish BBC broadcaster has resigned after the corporation’s coverage of an anti-Semitic attack wrongly accused the victims of making offensive Muslim slurs. 

Rabbi YY Rubinstein, a contributor to BBC programmes including Good Morning Sunday and the Thought For The Day, quit via a letter.

He released it on Facebook, addresses to a member of staff, only known as Gabby.

The letter said: ‘The current crisis over anti-Semitism at the Corporation and its attempts to turn the victims of the recent anti-Semitic attack on Jewish children in London and claim that the victims were actually the perpetrators, was and is inexcusable. The obfuscation, denial that followed, was and is utterly damning.

‘The Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles actually includes the BBC in its annual global anti-Semitism, ‘Top Ten’.

‘This does not in any way reflect on your own production company whose own record in this regard is exemplary. It also does not apply to many of the individuals I have worked with at the BBC over three decades.

The men were seen shouting abuse and gesturing at the bus after the teenagers got on board  

‘They were among some of the most courteous, kind and talented people I ever met or worked with. The same applies to you and your colleagues.

‘I simply don’t see how I or in fact any Jew who has any pride in that name can be associated with the Corporation anymore.’

It comes less than a week after it was reported Jewish leaders will confront BBC chief Tim Davie to demand a public apology.

The proposed action comes after an investigation revealed a ‘colossal error’ in its reporting of an anti-Semitic attack on Oxford Street.

Earlier this month, a video emerged of a group of men hurling abuse and spitting at a group of Jewish teenagers sitting inside a bus, before banging on the windows as it pulled away.

The incident was treated as a hate crime by police and was condemned by the Prime Minister and by the Mayor of London.

Footage showed the group of Jewish teenagers dancing as they celebrated Hanukkah moments before the attack

The incident on Oxford Street earlier this month was treated as a hate crime by police and was condemned by the Prime Minister and by the Mayor of London

But in its original report, BBC News said ‘racial slurs about Muslims could be heard inside the bus’, a claim criticised by the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism.

And the board has now commissioned its own independent report by forensic audio experts and a linguist which concluded there were no anti-Muslim insults.

It found the phrase thought to be a slur was actually a Hebrew phrase, ‘Tikrah lemishu,ze dachuf’ meaning: ‘Call someone, it is urgent.’

Writing in the Jewish Chronicle, Board of Deputies President Marie van der Zyl described the BBC’s ‘misreporting’ as ‘a colossal error’, which ‘has added insult to injury in accusing victims of antisemitism of being guilty of bigotry themselves’.

She continued: ‘What takes this from an egregious failure to something far more sinister is the BBC’s behaviour when confronted with its mistake. Instead of admitting it was wrong, it has doubled and tripled down.’

Ms Van der Zyl demanded the corporation to publicly apologise, and said the Board of Deputies would be holding a meeting with Director General Tim Davie this month, which will include ‘a full and frank discussion of this issue’.

She said the corporation’s behaviour ‘raises serious questions about deep-seated biases within the BBC towards Israelis, and indeed towards Jews in general’.

The BBC is standing by its report of the incident, and a spokesman said: ‘Antisemitism is abhorrent. We strive to serve the Jewish community, and all communities across our country, fairly.

‘Our story was a factual report that overwhelmingly focused on the individuals the police want to identify; those who directed abuse at the bus.

‘There was a brief reference to a slur, captured in a video recording, that appeared to come from the bus. We consulted a number of Hebrew speakers in determining that the slur was spoken in English.

‘The brief reference to this was included so the fullest account of the incident was reported.’  

It came as the BBC was ranked third – behind Iran and the Palestinian terror group Hamas – in a ‘Global Antisemitism’ list compiled by the Simon Wiesenthal Center in the US.

Rabbi Marvin Hier, the head of the centre, said the BBC was ‘guilty of several incidences of antisemitism during the past year’.

He told the Mail on Sunday: ‘People might assume we would put neo-Nazi groups on our list but the BBC is there because when a globally recognised organisation allows antisemitism to creep into its reporting, it makes it all the more insidious and dangerous.

‘People around the world trust the BBC and rely on it for truthful reporting of world events.’

Rabbi Hier said the decision to include the BBC on the annual list had come ‘after months of intense debate and discussion’.

He singled out the broadcaster’s reporting of the attack on a bus carrying Jewish teenagers by a group of men who chanted anti-Israel slogans.