The BBC has pulled its documentary about children in Gaza from iPlayer after mounting pressure over a featured child being the son of a Palestinian minister, in a move some commentators have slammed as "cowardly".
Most criticism has focused on the fact, first reported by researcher David Collier, that the documentary's 13-year-old narrator Abdullah Alyazouri is the son of a minister in Gaza's Hamas-run government.
Middle East Eye found on Thursday that Dr Ayman Alyazouri, Gaza's deputy agriculture minister, appears to be a technocrat with a scientific background who previously worked for the United Arab Emirates government and studied at British universities.
This had not been reported elsewhere in the media.
Earlier this week a group of 45 prominent Jewish journalists and members of the media, including former BBC governor Ruth Deech, piled on pressure by sending a letter to the broadcaster demanding the film be removed from the iPlayer
But others have defended the film itself.
Chris Doyle, the director of CAABU (Council for Arab-British Understanding), told Middle East Eye:: "This documentary humanised Palestinian children in Gaza in a way that gave valuable insights into what life is like in this horrific warzone day in, day out.”
Prominent film-maker and journalist Richard Sanders, who produced multiple documentaries on Gaza for Al Jazeera during Israel's war on the enclave, said on Thursday that the row was a "huge test" for the BBC.
Responding to the news that the film was pulled from iPlayer on Friday, he slammed the BBC's move as a "cowardly decision".
#bbc #media #documentary #palestine #palestina #freepalestine #freegaza #uk #greatbritain #children #child #war #genocide #npo #rte #stopnetanyahu
