Barrister slams BBC refusal to label Hamas as terrorists

THE BBC has taken sides by refusing to call Hamas terrorists in its coverage of the attacks on Israel, a leading barrister has said.

Jeremy Brier is one of four top lawyers who have written to Ofcom to complain about the BBC’s refusal to describe Hamas as terrorists.

He was reacting to an Ofcom statement that said it was up to individual broadcasters to decide what vocabulary they use as long as they are impartial.

Mr Brier told GB News: “Well, let’s see about that because the critical thing in that letter, or that statement, was provided they meet the impartiality guidelines that they have to meet.

“The letter that I wrote, along with Lord Pannick and Lord Grabiner, and Lord Wolfson and Lord Polack…in that letter, you have this responsibility to be impartial.

“When you choose to use the less accurate word, the sanitised word, the watered-down word, that’s not impartial.

“That’s actually stepping into the debate and taking sides.”

In a discussion with Patrick Christys, he continued: “I’m not particularly interested in apologies. I’m interested in accurate reporting going forward.

“I want the British public to understand but Israel is facing a terrorist organisation and a terrorist threat much like ISIS. I don’t really want to enter into the politics any further than that.

“I want to simply make sure that the British public understand what’s really going on.”

On a call by a former Hamas leader for a day of protests on Friday, Mr Brier added: “I really hope the police are listening. They’ve been warned. We need the police.

“We need them to act. We don’t need them standing there taking selfies, discussing the matter, thinking about things – we need them to act to protect our children.”