BBC accused of using Hamas official's son in documentary about ‘ordinary Palestinians'

Telegraph

18-02-2025

The BBC has been accused of focusing a documentary about ordinary Palestinians on the son of a Hamas government minister without disclosing the connection.
The documentary, Gaza: How To Survive a War Zone, was broadcast on Monday evening as an account of the conflict through the eyes of three children whose lives have been devastated by Israel's military campaign against Hamas.
The hour-long film was narrated by a 14-year-old English -speaking boy named Abdullah, who is listed in the film's credits under his full name, Abdullah Al-Yazouri.
It has since been claimed that Abdullah's father Ayman Alyazouri is a senior figure who currently holds the position of deputy minister of agriculture in the Hamas-run government.
Critics have said the BBC has allowed itself to be used as a propaganda platform for Hamas by giving airtime to the child of one of its senior figures.
The child's alleged family background was not revealed to viewers and it is not clear if the film crew were aware of the Hamas links.
The campaign group Labour Against Antisemitism has lodged a formal complaint to the BBC about the broadcast, claiming that the team failed to properly vet the documentary's subjects.
Alex Hearn, from Labour Against Antisemitism, said: 'This documentary appears to have been a failure of due diligence by the BBC, with Hamas propaganda promoted as reliable fact at the taxpayers' expense.
'There needs to be an urgent investigation into how this happened once again.
'Misinformation is the story of the Israel-Hamas conflict, and this is not an isolated case. There has been a failure of news platforms to adequately scrutinise sources and a willingness to regurgitate Hamas disinformation repeatedly.'
The BBC has defended the hour-long film, stating it had full editorial control over the content and that the children's parents had no editorial input.
When asked by The Telegraph about Abdullah's alleged links to Hamas, the corporation did not provide comment.
Questions about the film were first raised by David Collier, an investigative journalist.
Abdullah, who attended the British school in Gaza before the war, has previously appeared in a Channel 4 news item, broadcast in November 2023, speaking about devastation wrought by Israeli bombing.
In the Channel 4 piece Abdullah was accompanied during his tour of the ruins near his home by a man presented to viewers as his father.
However, the man accompanying Abdullah is understood to be his uncle, Khalil Abu Shamala, who in a Facebook post from 2022 appears to refer Abdullah as 'my nephew'.
Mr Shamala is understood to be the former director of an non-governmental organisation called Al Dameer, which campaigns on behalf of Palestinian fighters jailed by Israel.
Al Dameer is accused of links to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a designated terrorist organisation by the US, the EU, Canada, and Israel.
Mr Alyazouri's own social media timelines appears to contain a number of references to his son Abdullah or 'Aboud'.
In one post, from January last year, Mr Alyazouri wrote: 'Aboud… May God protect him' next a photograph of a young boy who appears to be Abdullah.
Mr Alyazouri previously appeared to praise two Hamas 'martyrs' who were said to have been involved in the murder of four Israelis in 2023.
Status and influence
Questions have been raised over whether considering their status and influence, Abdullah's family should have been well known to the production team behind the documentary, particularly the two local Palestinian cameramen who filmed the three children.
Writing on X, Mr Collier said: 'The two photographers followed these children around for months. They absolutely knew who he was. Did either of the producers?
'How did the BBC let a son of a Hamas minister walk around looking for sympathy and demonising Israel for an hour in a BBC documentary?'
The row comes only a few days after Danny Cohen, the former director of BBC Television, warned that the broadcaster risks becoming a mouthpiece for Hamas.
Mr Cohen told The Telegraph that the latest revelations confirmed his fears.
He said: 'This appears to be another appalling example of journalistic failure and anti-Israel bias. The BBC appears to have given an hour of prime-time coverage to the son of a senior member of the Hamas terrorist group.
'Questions must be asked as to whether the BBC carried out the most basic journalistic checks.'
Mr Cohen added: 'Licence fee payers across the UK are being repeatedly conned into paying for Hamas PR. There can be no doubt now that the BBC has a very serious problem with the quality of its journalism and anti-Israel bias.'
How To Survive A War Zone was produced for BBC2 by Jamie Roberts, whose previous work includes ' Ukraine: Enemy in the Woods ', and 'This Is Gaza' which followed filmmaker Yousef Hammash, a Palestinian currently living in the UK.
The film – which was nine months in the making – also looks at the plight of Zakaria, 11, and 10-year-old Renad.
Zakaria volunteers at the al-Aqsa hospital, transporting the dead and wounded and cleaning ambulances, while Renad is shown cooking with her sister while bombing continues nearby.
At one point Zakaria is asked: 'Do you like Hamas?'. He replies: 'No, because they started the war… They caused all this misery.'
In the documentary's opening scene Abdullah, whose surname in the film's credits is spelled in a different style by the BBC to that of his father, is filmed walking through the ruins of a district devastated by bombing, as he asks: 'Have you ever wondered what you'd do if your world is destroyed? Most important, could you stay alive? After all this, you could say we're experts.'
A BBC spokesman said: 'Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, a documentary showing the conflict through the eyes of three children in Gaza, was produced in line with BBC editorial guidelines and the BBC had full editorial control.
'The film told the children's own stories, showing viewers their direct experiences of living through a war, and the children's parents did not have any editorial input.
'As the BBC has previously explained, the film was edited and directed from London, as independent international journalists are not allowed into Gaza. The film gives audiences a rare glimpse of Gaza during the war, as well as an insight into the children's lives. It hears the voices of other Gazan civilians, several of whom voice anti-Hamas sentiments.'