The broadcaster’s internal review of Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone, which aired on BBC Two on Wednesday 19 February, found that the programme’s child narrator is the son of Ayman Alyazouri, Hamas’s deputy minister of agriculture.
Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader, has demanded an independent inquiry into allegations of “potential collusion” with the terrorist group and “the possibility of payment” to Hamas officials.
Children in Jabalia, Gaza, featured in ‘Life and Death in Gaza’. Another child featured was the son of Hamas’s deputy minister of agriculture (Photo: BBC)
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: “We’re aware of a BBC documentary about Gaza and we have received a number of reports raising concerns.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy met BBC chairman Dr Samir Shah on Friday after saying that she wanted assurances “that no stone will be left unturned” during a review into the documentary.
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Read MoreThey added: “Some of these were made by the production company and some by the BBC; all of them are unacceptable.
“Nothing is more important than the trust that our audiences have in our journalism. This incident has damaged that trust.
“Although the programme was made by an independent production company, who were commissioned to deliver a fully compliant documentary, the BBC has ultimate editorial responsibility for this programme as broadcast.”
Palestinians and Hamas fighters attend a funeral ceremony for 40 militants and civilians killed during the war with Israel (Photo: BASHAR TALEB / AFP)Insiders believe the film had a budget of around £400,000 but following the trail of money will prove difficult.
After the discovery about Abdullah Al-Yazouri, who speaks about life in the territory amid the war between Israel and Hamas, the BBC added a disclaimer to the programme, and later removed it from its online catch-up service saying it had no plans to broadcast the programme again.
The BBC also faced criticism in pulling the documentary, with Gary Lineker, Anita Rani, Riz Ahmed and Miriam Margolyes among more than 500 media figures who had condemned the action.
In an open letter addressed to the BBC’s director-general Tim Davie, chairman Dr Shah and outgoing chief content officer Charlotte Moore, hundreds of TV and film professionals and journalists called the decision to remove the documentary “politically motivated censorship.”
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