Top Lawyers File Ofcom Complaint Against BBC for Not Calling Hamas Terrorists

Undated photo of the BBC's logo. (Ian West/PA)

Four top British lawyers have made a complaint to Ofcom over the BBC’s refusal to call Hamas members terrorists.

Writing to the communications regulator on Wednesday, the Jewish lawyers said the BBC has “fallen well below the standards expressed in its Editorial Values” in its reporting of the Israel-Hamas war.

Hamas, a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK, launched unprovoked attacks on Israel on Saturday, prompting Israel to declare war.

According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), as of Thursday morning, more than 1,200 Israelis had been killed, with over 3,000 injured, and more than 95 families were notified that their family members have been taken hostage.

The IDF previously said most of the casualties were civilians.

It also said 5,000 missiles had been fired from the Gaza Stripe, hitting 2,687 targets.

The BBC has been calling Hamas members “militants” instead of “terrorists” because of its style guide which requires journalists to only use the word “terrorist” when it can be attributed to a source.

The approach has came under fire from ministers and the Jewish Community after an i24 News reporter said families had been gunned down with babies decapitated in a town near Gaza.

The claims have since been corroborated by IDF spokesman LTC (res.) Jonathan Conricus and by eyewitnesses who spoke to The Epoch Times. 

Israeli rescue workers work to remove dead bodies from near a destroyed police station that was the site of a battle following a mass-infiltration by Hamas terrorists from the Gaza Strip, in Sderot, southern Israel, on Oct. 11, 2023. (Violeta Santos Moura/Reuters)

Defence Minister Grant Shapps said on Wednesday that the BBC should “get the moral compass out.” But the public broadcaster defended its use of language, saying the it was up to its audiences to make their own judgement.

Writing on the BBC website on Wednesday, the corporation’s world affairs editor John Simpson said, “Terrorism is a loaded word, which people use about an outfit they disapprove of morally. It’s simply not the BBC’s job to tell people who to support and who to condemn—who are the good guys and who are the bad guys.

“We regularly point out that the British and other governments have condemned Hamas as a terrorist organisation, but that’s their business. We also run interviews with guests and quote contributors who describe Hamas as terrorists,” he added.

Israel's Iron Dome air defence system intercepts rockets launched from Gaza on Oct. 11, 2023. (Mahmud Hams/AFP via Getty Images)

Four top lawyers, Jeremy Brier, KC; Lord Wolfson, KC; Lord Pannick, KC; and Lord Grabiner, KC; as well as Lord Polak, honorary president and former director of the Conservative Friends of Israel, wrote to Ofcom, saying the BBC has taken sides by not calling Hamas a terrorist group.

In the letter, which the Lords shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, they said, “On [Oct. 7,] 2023, Hamas launched a large invasion of the State of Israel which resulted variously in the slaughter, rape, and abduction of over a thousand Israeli citizens.

“There is nothing controversial about that. It is a fact,” the letter reads.

The lords said that the BBC “has fallen well below the standard expressed in its Editorial Values,” which stated its “impartial” and noted that its editorial standards “do not require absolute neutrality on every issue or detachment from fundamental democratic principles.”

They argued that the categorisation of the organisation is “a matter of law,” and that the BBC has breached impartiality precisely because its refusal to describe Hamas as a terrorist organisation.

Citing the example of convicted murderers, they said it’s “entirely impartial and obviously right to refer to someone as a ’murderer' after their conviction by a court.”

“It does not involve the taking of sides because it is a purely factual definition, reflecting the true position of guilt established in a court of law,” they said.

As Hamas is prescribed by the UK government as a terrorist organisation, the lords said under The Terrorism Act 2000, it means it’s “the legal position in this country.”

“That is not a matter of debate or discussion. It is a matter of legal fact,” they stated, arguing it’s not impartial to use “a significantly ‘watered-down’ descriptor which is less legally precise.”

In the letter, the lords also referred to the BBC’s coverage of the Manchester bombings, with the headline reading “Terror attack survivors condemn compensation body,” and its referral of Al Qaeda and the IRA as terrorist groups in its “bitesize” guide fore GCSE students, saying, “If the BBC is only declining to use the word ’terrorist' in the context of Israel then this is further evidence of partiality (by specifically discriminating in this case only).”

In a statement emailed to The Epoch Times, a spokesperson for Ofcom said, “There is a clear process in place for complaints about the BBC set out in the BBC Charter and Agreement approved by Parliament. Complaints are routed through the ‘BBC First’ framework, the BBC’s internal process. If complainants are not satisfied with the BBC’s final response then they can refer the complaint to Ofcom for assessment.”

For the same reason, Ofcom has declined to reveal how many complaints it has received regarding the matter at this time.