Foreign secretary’s call comes after group releases video of British-Israeli hostage it says died after being wounded in Israeli airstrike
David Cameron has urged the BBC to describe Hamas as a terrorist organisation, reviving an accusation that the corporation shies away from a valid description of the Islamist group that is holding Israeli hostages.
The UK foreign secretary told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg that the organisation should reconsider its guidelines in light of a video released by Hamas showing the British-Israeli hostage Nadav Popplewell, who the group said had died in Gaza.
Hamas released a statement on Saturday saying the 51-year-old had died after being wounded in an Israeli airstrike a month ago. The video showed him with a black eye.
Continuing the tradition of British conservative prime ministers labelling things “terrorism” when the poor get uppity.
How’s Thatcher looking these days for insisting that Mandela was a terrorist?
Hamas are every bit as much a terrorist organisation as Isis, the IRA, FARC, Red Army faction, Al Qaeda or UDF have been.
None of which are called terrorists by the BBC.
The BBC has a long standing policy against calling people/organizations terrorists.
Their position in this case says nothing about how they view Hamas. The position of those complaining about it says a lot about how they view the role news organizations.
Meh, if you commit acts of terrorism, you are a terrorist. We have nouns for a reason.
“Terrorist” always seems to rely more on your political affiliation than it does your actions. I have always hated the word.
Its only purpose is to make people angry
Hamas is comparable to the IRA but not the rest.
The big difference is that organisations like ISIS try to take over other countries whereas Hamas is resisting colonists of their own country.
Hamas is a terrorist organization
You spelled Israel wrong.
Both can be true. But that doesn’t mean the BBC should give up its neutral stance.
If Great Britain labels Hamas a terrorist organization, why shouldn’t the BBC then to the same?
Because the BBC is not the PR arm of the British government. It is supposed to be an independent and impartial entity.
It’s the official stance of the country from their own government, by extension the british people. Are you saying that’s not what the BBC represents?
No. They’re saying the BBC is not the government’s mouthpiece. It is an impartial public broadcaster. The same BBC that has reported on both IRA bombings and Sinn Féin elections. If you understand that last sentence you may realise why the BBC speaks as it does.
BBC is regulated by the government in the form of Ofcom according to:
Wikipedia first lines summarizes the 7th of October quite well:
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims.
Hamas still haven’t released the civilian hostages. Hamas hides among civilians. The list goes on and on.
The only sad part is that the Palestinian people once voted for a terrorist organisation to represent them.
People can call Hamas for “Freedom Fighters” all they want but it doesn’t erase the fact:
Hamas is a terrorist organisation.
And there’s the problem. Why should Hamas be called a terrorist and not the Israel government?
This is why news organisations avoid the word. It clearly picks a side.
Why Hamas should be called a terrorist organisation?
Because they have been committing acts of terrorism.
Whether other organisations has committed or has not commited terrorist acts is irrelevant in this context and does in no way cancel out the horrible things Hamas has been doing.
