Prime Minister Boris Johnson has recently made clear that he intends to shake things up at the British Broadcasting Company (BBC), which has come under intense scrutiny for its systemic left-wing bias. Nowhere is the network’s lack of objectivity, and lack of truthfulness, more evident than when it comes to its reporting on the Jewish state and its conflict with the Palestinians. Using a program aired just two weeks ago to illustrate the point, Melanie Phillips writes:

The most recent example of this BBC mindset concerns a Jordanian-born Palestinian terrorist, Ahlam Tamimi. In August 2001, she handed a guitar case filled with explosives to an accomplice who detonated it in the Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem, murdering fifteen people, seven of them children, and wounding more than 130. Tamimi has repeatedly gloated over what she did. She was given sixteen life sentences, but was released in a prisoner swap after only ten years. Since then, she has lived in Jordan, where she hosts a talk show on the Hamas-affiliated al-Quds TV.

Last week, BBC Arabic TV broadcast an item which sympathetically presented the story Tamimi wanted to tell about herself. This six-minute item, titled: “Ahlam Tamimi, your voice is loud and clear,” was framed as a sentimental human-interest story which whitewashed the murderous activities by both Tamimi and her husband, [who murdered an Israeli civilian in 1993], and presented them as victims of censorship and the Americans. . . . This is hardly an isolated example.

The BBC is regarded around the world as a byword for objectivity and accuracy. That’s why its departure from those ideals is so pernicious. . . . But [its executives] are simply unable to process the fact that they view Israel, among other issues, through a profoundly distorting ideological prism. And that’s because they believe implacably that the positions they hold are unarguably objective and fair, that they do represent the middle ground, and that therefore by definition those who claim the BBC is biased are themselves extremists and can be safely disregarded.

Which is why, if whoever takes over at the top wants to restore the once-iconic BBC to elementary standards of objectivity, fairness, and decency, they will have their work cut out for them.

For some time, opponents of U.S support for Israel have been urging the White House to end the war in Gaza, or simply calling for a ceasefire. Douglas Feith and Lewis Libby consider what such a result would actually entail:

Ending the war immediately would allow Hamas to survive and retain military and governing power. Leaving it in the area containing the Sinai-Gaza smuggling routes would ensure that Hamas can rearm. This is why Hamas leaders now plead for a ceasefire. A ceasefire will provide some relief for Gazans today, but a prolonged ceasefire will preserve Hamas’s bloody oppression of Gaza and make future wars with Israel inevitable.

For most Gazans, even when there is no hot war, Hamas’s dictatorship is a nightmarish tyranny. Hamas rule features the torture and murder of regime opponents, official corruption, extremist indoctrination of children, and misery for the population in general. Hamas diverts foreign aid and other resources from proper uses; instead of improving life for the mass of the people, it uses the funds to fight against Palestinians and Israelis.

Moreover, a Hamas-affiliated website warned Gazans last month against cooperating with Israel in securing and delivering the truckloads of aid flowing into the Strip. It promised to deal with those who do with “an iron fist.” In other words, if Hamas remains in power, it will begin torturing, imprisoning, or murdering those it deems collaborators the moment the war ends. Thereafter, Hamas will begin planning its next attack on Israel:

Hamas’s goals are to overshadow the Palestinian Authority, win control of the West Bank, and establish Hamas leadership over the Palestinian revolution. Hamas’s ultimate aim is to spark a regional war to obliterate Israel and, as Hamas leaders steadfastly maintain, fulfill a Quranic vision of killing all Jews.

Hamas planned for corpses of Palestinian babies and mothers to serve as the mainspring of its October 7 war plan. Hamas calculated it could survive a war against a superior Israeli force and energize enemies of Israel around the world. The key to both aims was arranging for grievous Palestinian civilian losses. . . . That element of Hamas’s war plan is working impressively.