BBC to face questioning following outrage over 'Hamas propaganda film'

By Steph Spyro, Deputy Political Editor

Abdullah Al-Yazouri, the documentary’s 14-year-old narrator, is the son of a Hamas minister. (Image: Amjad Al Fayoumi/BBC/Getty)

Senior MPs will grill BBC bosses on BBC bosses on a controversial documentary accused of offering a propaganda tool for Hamas.

Caroline Dinenage, the Tory chairwoman of the Commons Culture, media and Sport committee, said the issue will be raised when the broadcaster next appears before MPs.

She said: “It’s something that we will be raising when the BBC next appears in front of us, and it’s likely to come up when I meet with the committee on Tuesday.

“It is something that will be of huge concern. You just want to feel that the BBC is impartial and is doing their due diligence.”

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The broadcaster apologised and removed Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone from its iPlayer service when it emerged the son of a Hamas minister featured prominently in the film.

Abdullah Al-Yazouri, the documentary’s 14-year-old narrator and central figure, is the son of Ayman Alyazouri, the deputy minister of agriculture in the Hamas-run Government. Viewers were not made aware of the connection.

The hour-long programme aired on February 17 at 9pm on BBC Two and was also available on BBC iPlayer. However, it is now "not currently available" when accessed on the demand service.

The BBC confirmed the documentary was removed while "further due diligence" is conducted by the corporation.

It comes as Jewish protesters plan to stage a demonstration outside the BBC for “whitewashing terrorism with pro-Hamas propaganda”.

The Campaign Against Antisemitism [CAA] is set to besiege Broadcasting House, in London, accusing the national broadcaster of taking a pro-Palestinian stance in its coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy is set to meet BBC bosses, including director-general Tim Davie and chairman Samir Shah, in the wake of the outrage.

The BBC apologised for “omitting detail” about the narrator and his relationship with a Hamas leader. It said: “The film remains a powerful child’s eye view of the devastating consequences of the war in Gaza, which we believe is an invaluable testament to their experiences, and we must meet our commitment to transparency.”

It added: “There have been continuing questions raised about the programme and in the light of these, we are conducting further due diligence with the production company. The programme will not be available on iPlayer while this is taking place.”