British public broadcaster under fire after one of its employees tweets horrific anti-Semitic comments.
By Yakir Benzion, United With Israel
The BBC is once again in the spotlight for its anti-Israel bias, this time being forced Monday to investigate one of its own reporters after an Israeli media watchdog group discovered a background of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel tweets.
Jerusalem-based Honest Reporting published a string of social media postings by BBC reporter Tala Halawa, including her support for Hitler’s quest to commit genocide against the Jewish people.
The vile comments were first found by the anonymous British Twitter account GnasherJew, known for exposing anti-Semitism, including many incidents in Britain’s Labor Party.
“After a horrendously slanted video report titled ‘Israel-Gaza: What Bella Hadid’s Stance Says About Changing Conversations’ was posted to the BBC website, it emerged that the presenter, Tala Halawa, has made a number of clearly anti-Semitic and genocidal statements on social media,” said Honest Reporting researcher Emanuel Miller.
It was discovered that before Halawa got to the BBC, she tweeted: “Israel is more Nazi than Hitler! Oh, Hitler Was Right. IDF go to hell Pray For Gaza.”
“Tala Halawa is a ‘digital journalist’ for the BBC. Halawa directly influences and creates news content watched by many millions around the world. In what world can someone like this work for a professional news outlet?” HR tweeted.
The exposure of Halawa’s social media bias revealed that the BBC did not do a good job of vetting Halawa before they gave her a job reporting on Palestinian affairs for the international broadcaster.
Following the Honest Reporting piece, Halawa’s social media accounts were deleted, but the evidence of her anti-Israel bias and anti-Semitism are on the record.
Several years ago she shared a graphic on her Facebook page with the slogan “Relocate Israel into United States,” the same picture that got Labour Party member of parliament Naz Shah suspended from the party. Shah later admitted, “what I put out was anti-Semitic.”
Several nefarious tweets were found, including a modern variations of the classic blood-libel, with Halawa once tweeting “Zionists can’t get enough of our blood.”
Another tweet posted by Halawa ridiculed anti-Semitism as “melodrama,” and she mocked the massacre of four Jews who were axed to death during prayers by Palestinian terrorists at a synagogue in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Nof.
Despite the tweets and Facebook posts, Halawa was hired by the BBC.
According to the corporation’s own code of conduct: “Trust is the foundation of the BBC. We’re independent, impartial and honest. We’re honest and fair with the courage to say and do the right thing. We deliver on what we say and take responsibility for our actions.”
But Honest Reporting’s Miller noted that “these are not the tweets of an objective reporter. Quite simply, not only does Halawa fail to meet the BBC’s own stated requirements, she represents the polar opposite of what is expected of any professional journalist.”
“All of which begs the question: Why did the BBC not do its due diligence before hiring Halawa? How did someone with a history of openly anti-Semitic statements end up being hired by one of the world’s most recognized news outlets? Surely an organization with such extensive resources at its disposal could carry out a simple Twitter search as part of a basic background check?” Miller wrote.
A BBC spokesperson told the British Independent newspaper that: “These tweets predate the individual’s employment with the BBC, but we are nevertheless taking this very seriously and are investigating.”