London, Jan 26, IRNA — BBC staff Monday condemned the state-funded broadcaster for refusing to show an appeal for Gaza aid, saying the ban showed “a bias in favour of Israel at the expense of 1.5 million Palestinian civilians suffering an acute humanitarian crisis.”
The leaders of the two biggest unions representing workers at the corporation, the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph, and Theatre Union (BECTU), said last Thursday’s decision was “wrong.”
“The humanitarian crisis, in which innocent children are suffering, is likely to be prolonged as a result of the corporation’s decision,” NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear and BECTU general secretary Gerry Morrisey warned the BBC.
Their condemnation comes amid growing protests over the BBC’s refusal to screen an emergency humanitarian appeal from the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) – a group of British charities including the Red Cross, Oxfam, and Save the Children.
“Our members feel this makes the BBC appear pro-Israeli and indifferent to the plight of the victims of this conflict,” the two union leaders said in a letter to BBC director general Mark Thompson.
“Far from avoiding the compromise of the BBC’s impartiality, this move has breached those same BBC rules by showing a bias in favour of Israel at the expense of 1.5 million Palestinian civilians suffering an acute humanitarian crisis,” the letter warned.
“The Myanmar cyclone appeal was broadcast in May 2008 in spite of ‘an ongoing news story’ involving the government of Burma. Why should Israel be treated differently?” it questioned.
Dear and Morrisey said that they agreed with senior BBC journalists who criticized the ban “as a result of timidity by BBC management in the face of such pressures” from the Zionist lobby.
Thompson has remained defiant in the face of the protests, insisting that the decision risks compromising the BBC’s claimed “impartiality in the context of an ongoing news story” following Israel’s latest massacre of over 1,300 Palestinians in Gaza.
But the union leaders said that the boycott appeared “cowardly and in danger of being seen as politically motivated and biased in favour of Israel.”
They also warned that the BBC’s stance not to air the appeal for humanitarian aid “will seriously hinder the DEC in getting its message across to the British public.”
“How can airing such an appeal risk compromising the BBC’s impartiality? We believe the BBC’s decision not to show the appeal is wrong and we urge you to reconsider,” said their letter, which comes after national executives of both unions voted at the weekend to oppose the BBC’s refusal to show the appeal.
Several stars and celebrities, including such award-winning actresses as Samantha Morton, Juliet Stevenson and Julia Sawalha have threatened never again to work for the BBC unless it rescinds its decision and broadcasts the appeal.