The BBC has been reported by UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) to the Counter Terrorism Police for possible terrorism offences. UKLFI has also reported the co-producers of the production company Hoyo Films for possible terrorism and fraud offences.
credit: : BBC2 documentary How To Survive A War Zone
These reports were made in connection with the documentary “Gaza: How To Survive A War Zone”, which was screened on BBC on 17th February, and featured a child narrator, who was the son of a Hamas government member.
The BBC admitted in a formal statement that the production company had made payments to the family of the child narrator of the film, knowing he was the son of a member of the Hamas government.
According to the statement, the BBC asked the production company “in writing a number of times” about any potential connections the child narrator and his family might have with Hamas. UKLFI considers that this is evidence that the BBC suspected that the child might be connected to Hamas and that money paid for his narration might be used for the purposes of terrorism.
However, the production company failed to reveal to the BBC the information they knew about the child’s Hamas connections.
UKLFI has reported the BBC to the Counter-Terrorism police under Section 17 of the Terrorism Act 2000, according to which
“A person commits an offence if—
(a) he enters into or becomes concerned in an arrangement as a result of which money or other property is made available or is to be made available to another, and
(b) he knows or has reasonable cause to suspect that it will or may be used for the purposes of terrorism.”
In addition, if a person “(a) believes or suspects that another person has committed an offence under any of sections 15 to 18, and (b) bases his belief or suspicion on information which comes to his attention … in the course of a trade, profession or business, or … employment …”, they have a duty to disclose this to the police according to Section 19 of the Terrorism Act 2000. It is an offence not to disclose it. Since it appears unlikely that the BBC reported their suspicions to the police, UKLFI has also reported the BBC for this Section 19 offence.
Prior to the BBC’s statement, UKLFI had already reported the two producers from Hoyo Films to the police for various possible terrorism offences, including providing money with reasonable cause to suspect that it may be used for terrorism. UKLFI has now also reported possible breaches by them of Sections 2 and/or 3 of the Fraud Act 2006, which prohibit fraud by false representation and by failing to disclose information, respectively.
Caroline Turner, director of UKLFI commented: “It is appalling that the BBC thought it could treat anti-terrorism legislation with such disdain, and ignore its obligations to report its suspicions to the police. Not only did the BBC fail to carry out its own investigations into the family connections of the child, as it has admitted in its statement, it also apparently failed to inform the police of its suspicions, enabling the police to investigate, as it was obliged to do.
The BBC has either been duped by the Hamas propaganda machine or has co-operated with it – or both. While the BBC has been caught out on this occasion, we wonder how often this occurs. This is only the latest of a large number of apparently similar instances reported by the investigative journalist, David Collier.
We hope that if the BBC is found to have breached counter-terrorism laws, the police will treat the BBC’s executives like any other criminal and prosecute accordingly.”
Investigative journalist David Collier discovered that the 13 year old child narrating the film, “Gaza: How To Survive A War Zone”, was Abdullah Ayman Eliyazouri, a son of a member of the Hamas Government and related to one of the founders of Hamas.
He is a son of Dr. Ayman Al-Yazouri who, according to his LinkedIn account, is currently the Deputy Minister of Agriculture in the Hamas government, and had held other posts as Assistant Deputy Minister / Higher Education, Technical, & Vocational Education in Gaza’s Ministry of Education. Furthermore, the head of the Al-Yazouri family had been Ibrahim al-Yazouri, a founder of Hamas. Ayman Al Yazouri (probably Abdullah’s father) had spoken for the family at his funeral in 2021, and was presented with a special Hamas shield. In short, it appears that the narrator of the document is part of Hamas “royalty”.