BBC is in 'a terrible mess', says Streeting - as TV bosses apologise for for 'serious flaws' in Gaza documentary

28 February 2025, 09:02

'BBC is in a mess' over Gaza documentary, Streeting says

A Cabinet minister has hit out at the BBC for airing a controversial documentary on Gaza, after the corporation itself apologised.

Wes Streeting told LBC's Nick Ferrari at Breakfast that the government "expects to see action and improvement and accountability" from the broadcaster, which is primarily funded from the pockets of UK households.

It emerged last week that the teenage narrator of Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone is the son of a Hamas official.

Mr Streeting's comments came as the journalist who initially uncovered flaws with the film told LBC that he simply uncovered the details on social media.

The BBC itself said that some mistakes were made by the production company who made the film and others were made by the corporation's own staff - but all were "unacceptable".

The documentary will not be broadcast again in its current form or return to iPlayer.

Read more: 'How is the BBC now a mouthpiece for Hamas?', Israel hits out amid Gaza TV show controversy

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Mr Streeting, the health minister, told Nick: "The BBC has got itself into a terrible, terrible mess here and they need to look at their editorial standards and how they are upheld.

"Lisa Nandy, the Culture Secretary, has made it very clear she expects to see action and improvement and accountability here.

"So the BBC is now undertaking that work and we look forward to hearing the results."

It emerged last week that Gaza film's child narrator was the son of Ayman Alyazouri, who has worked as Hamas' deputy minister of agriculture.

The BBC said on Thursday that the production company knew the boy’s father was a member of the Hamas government but did not tell them.

The company also paid the boy's mother via his sister's bank account.

David Collier, an investigative journalist with a focus on Israel and anti-Semitism who first raised concerns, asked why the BBC had not been unable to uncover these problems when it had taken him just hours to find them.

He told Nick that his long-held scepticism of the BBC's Israel coverage prompted him to investigate the Gaza film.

"When I saw the documentary was coming out I said… 'I need to have a look at what they’ve done here,'" Mr Collier said.

"It took me about three hours to realise there was something seriously wrong, and about five to uncover the Hamas links."

He said that "obviously creates the question - if I can do it from my home in north London with just Facebook, where were the BBC?"

Keir Starmer also said the documentary was "concerning" on Thursday. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said she had discussed the documentary with BBC director-general Tim Davie, and had expressed her "deep concern".

Meanwhile the Campaign against Anti-Semitism held a protest outside BBC headquarters on Tuesday.

The BBC said on Thursday that it took "full responsibility" for the failures, as it apologised for the film.

"Nothing is more important than the trust that our audiences have in our journalism," they added.

"This incident has damaged that trust. While the intent of the documentary was aligned with our purpose - to tell the story of what is happening around the world, even in the most difficult and dangerous places - the processes and execution of this programme fell short of our expectations.

"Although the programme was made by an independent production company, who were commissioned to deliver a fully compliant documentary, the BBC has ultimate editorial responsibility for this programme as broadcast."

The BBC director-general has asked for an independent review into the making of the documentary to be expedited.

"Peter Johnston, the director of editorial complaints and reviews, is independent of BBC News and reports directly to the director-general," the spokesperson said.

"He will consider all of the complaints and issues that have been raised.

"He will determine whether any editorial guidelines have been broken; rapidly address the complaints that have been made; and enable the BBC to determine whether any disciplinary action is warranted in relation to shortcomings in the making of this programme.

"This will include issues around the use of language, translation and continuity that have also been raised with the BBC.

"We have no plans to broadcast the programme again in its current form or return it to iPlayer, and will make a further assessment once the work of Peter Johnston is complete."

In a separate statement, the BBC's board said mistakes made in producing the documentary were "significant and damaging to the BBC".

Meanwhile Israeli military spokesman David Mencer told LBC the BBC has serious questions to answer for airing the programme after it emerged one of the cameramen celebrated the October 7 terror attacks and that it featured the grandson of a senior Hamas figure.

He told Tom Swarbrick: "How is it possible [for] the BBC [to] pick children with Hamas ties? For heavens sake, the son of a Hamas minister, a Hamas founder.

"Did the BBC tell the viewers it was going to happen or did they conveniently leave it out? Why did the BBC use cameramen with alleged Hamas links?

'How is it possible that the BBC now are effectively a mouthpiece for a terrorist organisation which your own government considers as terrorists?"

Tom Swarbrick speaks to David Mencer | Watch again

Mr Mencer has claimed that setting this programme aside, the BBC is still "constantly trying to divert the narrative to a narrative that is favourable to Hamas".

Currently, no BBC journalists, and indeed no foreign journalists, are allowed into Gaza.

When asked why Israel won't allow reporters in, Mr Mencer said: "The reality is, Hamas control almost everything which comes out of Gaza."

He added that Israel's priority is getting the remaining hostages out of Gaza rather than letting BBC journalists in, saying Hamas are a "genocidal organisation that are against free press".

Instead, the BBC decided to feature "important stories we think should be told – those of the experiences of children in Gaza" for the film, the organisation said in a statement.

Demonstrators protested the programme outside the BBC offices on Tuesday night, saying it was "a betrayal of licence fee payers”.

The BBC initially kept the documentary online with an added disclaimer before removing it from iPlayer while conducting further ‘due diligence’.

It is co-directed by Jamie Roberts, an Emmy-award-winning filmmaker, and Yousef Hammash, a Bafta-award-winning Palestinian journalist.

It was filmed by two cameramen which Mr Rawagh hired as an “additional camera.”Mr Rawagh’s tweets were uncovered by the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (Camera).

Gideon Falter, Chief Executive of the Campaign Against Antisemitism, told LBC News earlier: “There are children in Gaza who've appeared on a film.

"One of them is the son of a high ranking Hamas official. And how on earth can the BBC possibly already be sure that no money has gone over there?

"It just doesn't make sense, you know, why on earth would somebody pay £400,000 for this thing? "And what are we supposed to believe, that none of the people who appeared in the film are actually being paid for it? It just, it just sort of beggars belief.”