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The BBC launched an internal review after being exposed to tweets by Hatem Rawagh, a Gaza-based cameraman who shared posts on his social media platforms praising the Hamas massacre of Oct. 7. He was part of the team that filmed the Documentary "Gaza: How to Survive in a War Zone," which has caused outrage.
The film features as one of its main protagonists, Abdullah al-Yazouri, but failed to mention that he was the son of a senior member of the terror group who served as a minister in the Hamas government. The BBC later apologized.
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Scene from controvecial BBC documentary 'Gaza: How to Survive in a War Zone'
(Photo: Screenshot)
Rawagh in one post compared the Hamas massacre to the Egyptian defeat in the 1973 Yom Kippur war. "If you missed October 6 in Egypt, October 7 is happening in Palestine," he wrote. He also posted a clip filmed by the Hamas military wing, showing an attack on the Erez border crossing with Israel and wrote "return to view this clip a million times."
In another post, Rawagh showed celebrations in the Omari mosque in Gaza after a ramming attack in Tel Aviv killed an Italian tourist and injured seven other people. "The celebratory atmosphere in the Omari Mosque in Gaza when the news of the operation in Tel Aviv arrives," he wrote.
The BBC announced it would temporarily remove the documentary from its digital platforms and said it would be conducting further due diligence with the production company.
"The film remains a powerful child's eye view of the devastating consequences of the war in Gaza which we believe is an invaluable testament to their experiences, and we must meet our commitment to transparency," the British public broadcaster said in a statement.
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Kemi Badenoch, leader of the UK's Conservative Party, has demanded an investigation into whether Hamas received payments from the nation’s public broadcasting channel BBC during the production of the documentary
Findings of the internal review are to be presented to the BBC management in the coming days and a final decision on whether the documentary would be available for broadcast will be made after the review is finalized.