The BBC’s governing body has rejected complaints about a BBC News interview in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris in which the presenter said Palestinians “suffer hugely at Jewish hands as well”.
The live interview conducted by the BBC’s Tim Willcox with an Israeli-born Jewish woman was accused of being antisemitic and offensive after she was asked: “Many critics though of Israel’s policy would suggest that the Palestinians suffer hugely at Jewish hands as well.”
Critics included historian Simon Schama who described the interview as “appalling”.
Appalling of @BBCTimWillcox to imply any and all JEWS (not Israelis) responsible for treatment of Palestinians by hectoring lady in Paris
— Simon Schama (@simon_schama) January 11, 2015
Then he had gall to patronise her at the end - "you see people see it from all sides"That Palestinian plight justifies anti-semitic murder?
— Simon Schama (@simon_schama) January 11, 2015
Willcox was part of the BBC News channel’s coverage of the rally against terrorism in Paris on 11 January last year in the wake of the attacks on the satirical magazine’s offices and a kosher supermarket.
Willcox later apologised on Twitter, saying: “Really sorry for any offence caused by a poorly phrased question in a live interview in Paris yesterday – it was entirely unintentional.”
Really sorry for any offence caused by a poorly phrased question in a live interview in Paris yesterday - it was entirely unintentional
— Tim Willcox (@BBCTimWillcox) January 12, 2015
The BBC Trust, in its ruling published on Thursday, described Willcox’s question as “clumsy” but rejected the complaints that it breached the BBC’s editorial guidelines.
It said it was not the presenter’s opinion but had been “clearly attributed to critics of Israel” and was “factually based”.
The interviewee had not made a formal complaint, it said, and there was “no evidence from the broadcast interview that she was surprised, upset, bewildered or offended by the exchange”.
The trust said: “The presenter’s error had been in the clumsy wording, for which he had apologised, and not in the inclusion of the content.”
It said his Twitter apology, later issued via the BBC press office, was “adequate and appropriate”, adding: “The presenter had accepted that this phrasing was poor, and had said it was entirely unintentional and had made an unequivocal apology.”
A BBC spokesman said: “BBC News reports widely and extensively across TV, radio and online, on many different aspects of this ongoing and complex conflict.
“Our role is to explain what is happening and why and we endeavour to reflect a range of voices, amid deeply held views. We are committed to continuing to report and analyse sometimes fast moving events in an accurate, fair and balanced way.”
