THE BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg was panned live on air for platforming Israel’s president.
Isaac Herzog was interviewed on the Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme after the US bombed three key nuclear sites in Iran on Sunday morning.
The BBC journalist also spoke with Iranian ambassador to the UK Seyed Ali Mousavi.
But the platforming of Herzog amid Israel’s genocide in Gaza was questioned by independent MP Zarah Sultana, who was a guest on the show.
Kuenssberg, after interviewing both officials, asked Sultana: “Listening to our two interviews, did it make you more fearful of what might happen next? The UN suggesting that this could be a dangerous spiral.
She then added, referring to fellow guests Piers Morgan and Tory MP Tom Tugendhat: “Or as these two are both arguing, actually, America had justification to do this in order to try to rid Iran of its nuclear weapons or its aspirations for nuclear weapons.”
Sultana responded: “The attacks on Iran are definitely an escalation, and it worries me about the UK's position, whether we will blindly follow the US into another war as we have done before.”
She then added: “But I just want to talk about Isaac Herzog if I can. This is the head of a state that is committing genocide, where over 55,000 people have been killed in Gaza – over 17,000 children.
“In fact, after the October 7 attacks, Israel Herzog himself accused all of Gaza's population of collective responsibility.”
In the days after the attack, Herzog said it was not only Hamas militants who were responsible but “an entire nation” and vowed that Israel would fight “until we break their backbone”.
The comments were cited in South Africa’s International Court of Justice case as expressing genocidal intent.
Sultana went on: “This is a man that should be at The Hague, not platformed on the BBC.”
Kuenssberg then intervened to state, referring to the ICJ case: “But that legal process has not concluded yet. There is no legal ruling that they are engaged in genocide in that way.”
Morgan then interjected: “But they are ethnic cleansing. I mean you listened to Smotrich, the finance minister last week. He's one of the senior members of that Cabinet talking brazenly and openly about cleansing Gaza of all Palestinians.
“That is ethnic cleansing, that is a war crime.”
Sultana wasn’t the only one concerned with Herzog’s appearance.
Ex-SNP MP Anne McLaughlin took issue with Kuenssberg’s questioning.
“I cannot believe what I just heard from Laura Kuenssberg. At the end of an interview with the Israeli president she FINALLY asked him to justify the 10 plus reports of Palestinians being murdered by Israeli forces as they queued for food,” she said.
“He [Herzog] said some of the 10 were unverified. So he asked again and noted witnesses but then allowed him a lengthy monologue about how it was Hamas’ fault.
"No explanation, just an assertion that the shootings were their fault. No interrogation of that, just thanked him for his time! Not watched for some time and sorry I did!”
