BBC Reporter Sorry for Saying Palestinians ‘Suffer at Jewish Hands’
BBC reporter Tim Willcox apologized after saying at the Paris unity march on television that Palestinians “suffer hugely at Jewish hands.”
Willcox, who works for BBC News and BBC World News, on Twitter Monday morning tweeted, “Really sorry for any offence cause by a poorly phrased question in a live interview in Paris yesterday – it was entirely unintentional.”
He was covering the unity march against terrorism in Paris on Sunday when he responded to a woman’s comments about the state of Jews in France, “Many critics of Israel’s policy would suggest that the Palestinians suffer hugely at Jewish hands as well.”
The Telegraph identified as a daughter of Holocaust survivors.
“You understand everything is seen from different perspectives,” Willcox told her.
Before his comments, the woman Willcox addressed at the unity march had said, “We have to not be afraid to say that the Jews are the target now.”
A BBC spokesperson told The Telegraph: “Tim Willcox has apologised for what he accepts was a poorly phrased question during an in-depth live interview with two friends, one Jewish and of Israeli birth, the other of Algerian Muslim heritage, where they discussed a wide range of issues affecting both the Muslim and Jewish communities in France.
“He had no intention of causing offence.”
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.

