BBC Host Allows Saeb Erekat to Report Misleading Claims on Palestinian Violence (VIDEO)
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by Adam Levick
BBC’s “Hardtalk” interview with Saeb Erekat. Photo: Screenshot.
Back in June, Hadar Sela reported on a “Hardtalk” interview with Saeb Erekat, in which host Zeinab Badawi failed to challenge the Palestinian chief negotiator as he recycled old statements, and reverted to talking points and anti-Israel agitprop in lieu of substantive responses.
A few days ago, Erekat again appeared on the BBC flagship program — a show hosted this time by Stephen Sackur.
To his credit, Sackur asked some genuinely provocative questions, such as, “Why are so many mostly young Palestinians intent on killing Israeli Jews?” — which, under different circumstances, may have elicited an interesting give and take. However, Erekat largely succeeded in evading Sackur’s questions.
Further, the “Hardtalk” host allowed his Palestinian guest to misrepresent the facts regarding the Palestinian death toll since the latest wave of attacks began last month. Erekat claimed (at the 18:40 mark of the video) that 74 Palestinians were killed by Israelis.
However, Sackur didn’t tell viewers that, of those 74 killed, the majority (48) were terrorists killed while involved in attacks or attempted attacks.
Of course, BBC editorial guidelines on accuracy and impartiality require such misleading or questionable claims by guests to be challenged.
Here’s the entire interview:
