Revealed: Obscene posts of BBC Arabic contributor who blamed UK Jews for Manchester attack
Dr Makram Khoury-Machool, who has appeared on BBC Arabic on at least a dozen occasions over the last two years, has not hidden his views on Hamas, Israel or Jews
A contributor to BBC Arabic who used an appearance on the channel to blame the UK Jewish community for the terror attack committed against it has been found to have praised Hamas and made antisemitic statements about Jews.
Dr Makram Khoury-Machool, a Palestinian academic based in the UK, said in an appearance on BBC Arabic’s ‘The World This Evening’ show: “The Jewish community and the British government cannot treat such an incident in Britain as though it fell from the sky, and suddenly the perpetrator carried out the attack and assaulted a Jewish synagogue.”
As reported by the Daily Mail, Khoury-Machool, the founding director of the Cambridge Centre for Palestine Studies – which is not affiliated to Cambridge University – went on to claim: “When we listen to the Jewish leadership, they either support the Israeli occupation, and most of them do – it is not possible for a British Jewish leader to endorse Netanyahu’s crimes and not expect there to be reactions on the British street.”
Now the CAMERA media watchdog has revealed that Khoury-Machool, who has appeared on BBC Arabic more than a dozen times since 7 October 2023, praised what he described as “Palestinian […] courage, relentless heroism and sacrifice in their road for liberation” on the day itself, as Hamas fighters murdered 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages. Three days later, well before any Israeli troops entered Gaza, he would state: “The Israeli Jewish brain because of a few thousands [sic] Palestinian resistance fighters in Gaza…decided to inflict a Holocaust on 2.3m Palestinians. Is this your “Jewish” morality?”
The academic’s statements have not been limited to the period post-7 October. In May 2021, as Hamas fired hundreds of rockets into Israel, Khoury-Machool wrote in Arabic: “Your lies about the superiority of the “Jewish mind” have been exposed – only to evaporate in the heat of a rocket!”
In 2022, Ra’ad Fathi Khazem, a 28-year-old Palestinian from Jenin, carried out a mass shooting in Tel Aviv, murdering three people and injuring six. Hours later he was killed in a gunfight with Israeli police in nearby Jaffa.
Khoury-Machool’s response was to post a picture of Khazem lying dead in which he described the “Symbolism in choosing to be martyred off the coast of Jaffa and its old town: between St. Peter’s Church and its grand mosque, and its port, a witness to the expulsion of its people in the Nakba.”
In August 2023 his response to the Conservative government’s cabinet reshuffle was to note in Arabic that “The appointment of the Zionist Jew (par excellence) Grant Shaps [sic] as Defence Minister in Britain this morning is an additional indicator of Zionism steering the helm of power in London.”
After Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza who planned the 7 October mass terror attack, was killed last year, Khoury Machool’s response was similarly to say that Sinwar was a “martyr” and that he had “achieved right of return to Jaffa… and resides in the Abu Kabir Palestinian neighbourhood (the Forensic Medicine Centre building), one of the historic eastern districts of Jaffa.”
Another post claimed: “Netanyahu couldn’t capture Sinwar like Saddam, nor did he succeed in expelling him as Sharon did with Arafat in Beirut 1982. Instead, he saw a fierce fighting leader defending his nation with pride until his last breath and drop of blood, setting an example for future generations to follow.”
The tweet also appeared to feature a picture of the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, dressed as a Chassidic Jew.
Danny Cohen, former director of BBC Television and Controller of BBC One, said: “BBC Arabic has become a platform for those who celebrate the murder of Jews. It is shocking that this man has appeared regularly on a BBC service. The BBC’s senior management in London has utterly failed to get a grip on BBC Arabic and ensure that it does not provide media opportunities for those who seek the death of Jews. That a BBC service continues to platform racists is sickening.”
A CAMERA spokesperson said: “As usual, the Manchester attack gave the BBC’s Arabic editors another excuse to bring in dubious contributors and “experts” — this time to ensure audiences were shielded from uncomfortable truths about antisemitic extremism and violence.
“The Thursday appearance of Dr. Khoury-Machool centred on whether UK Jewish leaders bear responsibility for their own communities being targeted, also exposed BBC Arabic’s double standards.
“Thus, when a Palestinian child was brutally murdered in the US in October 2023, no BBC reporter questioned Palestinian-American leaders about the connection between their support for Hamas terrorism and the boy’s killing… Instead, while rightly emphasizing the heinousness of the murder, BBC Arabic also repeatedly pushed the false claim that the murderer was Jewish—an error it was then forced to correct twice.”
A BBC spokesperson issued Jewish News the same comment given to the Mail last week: “Following the horrific synagogue attack, ‘The World This Evening’’s presenter moderated a live discussion between three guests, giving them equal opportunity to express their views and challenge each other’s points, which they did. All guests categorically condemned the attack.”
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