Uh oh. The BBC has come under fire once again after listeners took umbrage with Radio 4’s news reporting this morning. News came today that the political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in an Israeli attack after a strike hit a building in Iran – just hours after Israel claimed to have killed a senior Hezbollah militant in Lebanon. Iran has vowed to get revenge for Haniyeh’s death as fears about escalation in the Middle East grow, while US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has insisted: ‘This is something we were not aware of or involved in’.
Yet despite Haniyeh’s longstanding involvement and senior position in the Hamas terror group, the BBC’s Today programme chose to report that:
Ismail Haniyeh had been overseeing talks on a new ceasefire and hostage release deal. Despite his tough rhetoric he was generally seen by analysts as moderate and pragmatic compared to the more hardline Gaza-based leaders.
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