BBC’s defence of news chief over Hamas comments branded ‘sick joke’

The BBC’s decision to stand by its head of news, Deborah Turness, after she appeared to downplay the UK’s full proscription of Hamas, has been described as a “sick joke”.

Footage has emerged of Turness on a BBC staff call about the controversial Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone documentary, in which she attempts to distinguish between the political and military wings of Hamas. The documentary was pulled after it was revealed that its child narrator, Abdullah, was the son of a senior Hamas official.

In the widely circulated clip, Turness says: “I think it’s really important that we are clear that Abdullah’s father was the deputy agriculture minister and therefore was a member of the Hamas-run government, which is different to being part of the military wing of Hamas. And I think that externally it’s often simplified – ‘he was in Hamas’ – and I think it’s an important point of detail that we need to continually remind people of.”

Her comments directly contradict UK law.

While the military wing of Hamas – the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades – was banned in 2001, the Home Office proscribed the entirety of Hamas in 2021, citing an “artificial” distinction between its wings. The BBC itself reported that change at the time.

Jewish organisations have condemned Turness’s remarks, with one calling for her resignation.

The Jewish Leadership Council said: “In a week when the BBC has found itself to be on the wrong side of its own editorial guidance, this is yet another failure. There is no distinction between the military and political wings of Hamas in both law and practice. The BBC must take action and Deborah Turness should resign.”

The Board of Deputies added: “We are extremely concerned that within days of the BBC’s damning report into their flawed documentary Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, the CEO of news, Deborah Turness, appears to be obfuscating and minimising the BBC’s failings. Hamas is a proscribed terrorist organisation, and this so-called distinction between political and military wings has been categorically dismissed as artificial by the British government. Her remarks suggest that the BBC has not learned even basic lessons from their recent mistakes. Errors of this kind must come with accountability.”

David Collier, the investigative journalist who exposed the Hamas connection in the film, told Jewish News: “I think the whole thing is some type of sick joke. The Gaza documentary and its fallout have exposed just how lost the BBC has become. And if those at the top of the BBC do not understand that Hamas in its entirety is a proscribed terrorist organisation, then perhaps it goes some way to explaining why the BBC’s reporting from Gaza has at times appeared to be waving the Hamas flag.”

Alex Hearn, co-director of Labour Against Antisemitism, said: “A large part of BBC News output is about the Gaza conflict. But the BBC News chief doesn’t seem to know Hamas are a proscribed terrorist group in their entirety, and appears to be wrongly advising staff. This is basic stuff. It doesn’t fill me with confidence.”

This is Deborah Turness, the CEO of BBC News, on a staff call about the Gaza documentary which broke impartiality rules.
Incredibly, she doesn’t seem to know that BOTH the armed wing and the political wing are deemed terrorist organisations by our government. pic.twitter.com/jGuup6x0if

— Nicole Lampert (@nicolelampert) July 16, 2025

Turness’s remarks surfaced days after the publication of an internal BBC review into the Warzone film, which found only one breach of editorial guidelines, largely blaming the production company rather than the Corporation itself.

A BBC spokesperson said: “The BBC constantly makes clear on our programmes and platforms that Hamas are a proscribed terrorist organisation by the UK Government and others. We are also clear that we need to describe to our audiences the complexities of life in Gaza, including within the structure of Hamas, which has run the civilian functions of Gaza.

“Deborah Turness was answering a question about how we described the father of the narrator in our Warzone film. She did not imply that Hamas are not a single terrorist organisation. As we have said, there was an editorial breach in this film, and we are sorry. We will not show the film again in its current form and we should not have used this child as the narrator.”