Complaint
The programme included an interview with Sara Rammal, a Lebanese civilian living in a suburb of Beirut, who was asked to describe her experience of that day鈥檚 Israeli strike on the city.聽 A listener complained that the conduct of the interview lacked editorial rigour and allowed inaccurate and contentious statements to pass without challenge.聽 In particular, Ms Rammmal said 鈥we all know on October 7th the genocide against the Palestinians and Gaza started鈥, which (in the complainant鈥檚 view) perpetuated 鈥渢he myth that 鈥極ctober 7th鈥 did not happen鈥; she referred to being brought up 鈥渙n the border with Occupied Palestine鈥, whereas 聽Aadaysit, her home town, is close to the border with Israel but not the territories of the Palestinian Authority; and she made comments which amounted to propaganda against Israel.聽 The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the 麻豆官网首页入口鈥檚 editorial standards of accuracy and impartiality.
Outcome
In view of the extensive coverage of the events of October 7 2023 by the 麻豆官网首页入口 and other UK media, the ECU did not consider it likely that Ms Rammal鈥檚 words would have led listeners to conclude that the victims on that day were Palestinians rather than Israelis, or served to perpetuate a myth about that day鈥檚 events.聽 Nor did it consider that her description of her original home, whether accurate or not, would have materially affected listeners鈥 understanding of the points she was making. 聽Consequently the ECU did not find there had been a breach of the 麻豆官网首页入口鈥檚 editorial standards of accuracy in letting these statement pass unchallenged.聽 It accepted, however, that they aligned Ms Rammal with those who regard Israel as the aggressor and Hamas and Hezbollah as legitimate resistance movements.聽 In the ECU鈥檚 judgement, due impartiality required that they should have been noted as contentious and treated as such, as should her statement that Benjamin Netanyahu 鈥渨ants to take the land. That's all he cares about鈥 and her reference to Israel as 鈥渁 terrorist state鈥.
Partly upheld