Complaint against Andrew Marr’s ‘Palestinian kids being killed’ remark is upheld

BBC current affairs presenter Andrew Marr has received a slap on the wrist from the national broadcaster after a complaint about his coverage of Israeli action in Gaza was partly upheld.

The complaint related to his comments on BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show, broadcast on 8 April, when he said: “The Middle East is aflame again, there’s lots of Palestinian kids being killed further south as well by the Israeli forces.”

The Beeb’s editorial guidelines say claims such as that should be “well sourced” and “based on sound evidence,” but Jewish journalist Jonathan Sacerdoti, the former head of Campaign Against Anti-Semitism, took issue with Marr’s suggestion.

Sacerdoti also complained that Marr’s remarks linked the killing of Palestinians with a chemical weapons attack on civilians in Syria, another topic discussed on the show.

In response, the BBC’s complaints department said that although there had been five deaths of “younger” Palestinians, this did not constitute “lots of children” that Marr had referred to, so partially upheld the complaint.

Speaking to the Mail on Sunday, Sacerdoti said Marr’s claim was “completely incorrect and made up”.