The attacks launched at Israel from the Gaza strip on the 7 October 2023, were a real shock to the entire world. Within days the Israeli Defence Force began to bombard the Gaza strip, one of the most densely populated areas in the entire world. It is an area which contains many refugee camps in which there have now been three generations who have lived since their ancestors were evicted from their homes in 1948, following the creation of the state of Israel. With insufficient food production to feed the large population of the area it is also dependent on food aid provided by the United Nations and other relief organisations.

In the United Kingdom we generally understand that we live in a country in which we enjoy freedom of speech and have media which are not subject to political censorship. I was surprised that two programmes I follow regularly, Have I Got News For You and the News Quiz on Radio 4, openly acknowledged that they would not be permitted to make any comments immediately following the initial attacks from Gaza. The way in which the BBC covered the increasing slaughter in which the IDF were engaged also seemed to be extremely limited.

The approach of the BBC, on the surface at least, seems to be that it is taking an impartial view of a conflict between two comparable states in what is referred to as a war. In contrast, when covering the war between Ukraine and Russia, there is no attempt at impartiality. The BBC takes a clear stance on this war. Russia has launched an illegal, full scale invasion of Ukraine and the BBC is doing its utmost to provide extensive coverage of this war in an attempt to display its support for Ukraine as it tries to defend its very right to exist.

Is this really a war between two comparable nations?

For what it's worth, I believe that the BBC is correct to try and support Ukraine as it attempts to fight for its very existence against an invading force that seemed to have far greater superiority in terms of its size and weaponry and which was engaging in an invasion against another sovereign state. But the ongoing conflict between Israel and Gaza seems to be of a very different nature. We have the most advanced military power in the region waging war against a collection of refugee camps that it has blockaded for many years, leaving an area which has little in the way of food or resources. It is an invading force which has managed to prevent the indigenous people of the region to have a chance to establish their own nation state and which continues to do everything in its power to prevent them from doing so.

Many people around the world see what is going on in Gaza and the West Bank as an act of genocide. There is little doubt that it is an act of ethnic cleaning as Israel attempts to remove all non Jews from a land it believes it has a right to take from them. Is impartiality an appropriate stance to take when faced with the daily atrocities committed by the State of Israel? More than this, there are grounds to believe that due to the presence of figures in key positions within the BBC with previous links to Jewish media organisations, the BBC is displaying a pro-Israeli bias. Over 400 media figures sent a letter in July 2025 highlighting this which was extremely critical of what seemed to be a fear on the part of the BBC of saying anything that might be seen as critical of the Israeli government.

The damage being done to Britain

When you see a densely populated area being reduced to rubble with tens of thousands of people having been slaughtered through missile attacks and bombardments by soldiers and tanks, it seem insensitive in the extreme to talk of damage being done to Britain by what is occurring. But the way in which the British government is seeking to prevent the public from knowing what is really happening is not without its costs. With large numbers of younger people no longer feeling able to trust the mainstream media this will have an adverse impact on our democracy.

A broader impact on Britain applies throughout much of the world. In much of what is known as the Global South, many people are also able to see the blatant hypocrisy of a country which tries to garner support for its stance on Ukraine which has been subject to an invasion by Russia but which says nothing on the ethnic cleansing of Palestine of its entire population through the invasion of Israel.

The recent comment by the Israeli Prime Minister, claiming Britain to have turned into an Islamic Republic, is an attempt to deflect attention from the horror of what Israel is doing and instead to try and foment ethnic tensions within the United Kingdom. It is also aimed at playing upon comments made by leading US politicians in an attempt to play upon potential tensions between the United States and Britain. This, from a Prime Minister who is seen as leading a country described by the various political party groups who are "friends of Israel" as being one of our strongest allies.