BBC Accused Of Covering Up Palestinian Anti-Semitism
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
(JTA) — The BBC is being accused of covering up Palestinian anti-Semitism after it mistranslated in subtitles the word for “Jew” to “Israeli” several times in one documentary.
The film “One Day in Gaza,” about last year’s Gaza border protests against the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, aired Monday night on the BBC Two channel.
Among the quotes that were mistranslated was one in an interview with Bader Saleh, 24, who said that during the protests, “The revolutionary songs, they excite you, they encourage you to rip a Jew’s head off.”
The BBC translated his word, Yahud, as Israeli. It was one of at least five times that the word was mistranslated as Israeli, critics charge, the UK Jewish News reported.
Holocaust historian Deborah Lipstadt criticized the translation.
“Yet another blatant example of the failure to take the scourge of antisemitism seriously,” she tweeted.
The North West Friends of Israel in the UK also tweeted its criticism.
“When Palestinians use the word ‘Yahud’ they mean ‘Jew.’ It does NOT mean ‘Israeli,’” the group wrote. “Why do you mistranslate ‘Yahud’? Are you scared of showing that Palestinians want to kill JEWS?!”
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
