BBC Silent as Journalists Urged to ‘Wear Keffiyeh to Work’ for Palestinian ‘Solidarity’ Day

“Wear something red, green, black, or a Palestinian keffiyeh to visibly show solidarity.”

That’s the work attire directive from the Trades Union Congress (TUC), the UK’s largest umbrella group representing 48 trade unions and over 5.5 million workers, for the so-called “day of action” on November 28.

Among the unions endorsing this call — described by a BBC journalist as a “shocking attack on Jews” — is the National Union of Journalists (NUJ). This is the same NUJ that claims to be the “voice for journalism and journalists in the UK and Ireland” and represents tens of thousands of journalists, including many senior BBC staff.

Tomorrow, the UK’s National Union of Journalists is encouraging its members to “wear something red, green, black or a Palestinian keffiyeh to visibly show solidarity” with Palestinians.

So much for objective reporting on Israel from British journalists.https://t.co/0Q1mYThgxw pic.twitter.com/p6aFittRgO

— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) November 27, 2024

In its statement, the NUJ announced it was participating in the action, citing “records [that] show at least 135 Palestinian journalists have been killed since October 7, 2023.” The union further accused the Israeli government of “attacks and killings of journalists.”

The statement’s glaring omission of the events of October 7, 2023, is both striking and deliberate. That was the day that Hamas launched a murderous rampage into Israel, killing approximately 1,000 civilians, including journalists.

Yet the NUJ’s narrative erases the context of the massacre that ignited the current conflict in Gaza, and fails to acknowledge the Israeli journalists killed by Hamas terrorists.

This selective reporting raises another critical question: how many of the “135 Palestinian journalists” cited by the NUJ were directly involved in Hamas’ atrocities on October 7?

And how many of these people were propagandists working for Hamas-backed outlets such as Al-Aqsa TV or the pro-terror mouthpiece Al Jazeera, rather than legitimate journalists?

The NUJ’s decision to back this so-called “solidarity” campaign also blatantly violates its own code of conduct, specifically relating to material “likely to lead to hatred or discrimination on the grounds of a person’s age, gender, race, colour, creed, legal status, disability, marital status, or sexual orientation.”

Apparently, these rules don’t extend to protecting Jews or Israelis.

Even more troubling is the NUJ’s membership roster, which includes hundreds of BBC journalists. These individuals are now being encouraged to display open support for Palestinians — a move that flagrantly violates the BBC’s impartiality guidelines.

One BBC journalist, speaking anonymously to The Times, described the NUJ’s actions as “hypocritical and antisemitic” and a “shocking attack on Jews.” The employee noted that the move would prompt them to reconsider their membership in the union.

“BBC journalists, who pride themselves on impartiality and who fought to keep their NUJ free of politics, are being encouraged to break the BBC’s editorial guidelines by supporting a political cause,” they said. “Where is the day of action to support the journalists being killed by their own governments across the Middle East, including by Hamas?”

Another BBC staffer shared their unease, saying they were “dreading the thought of walking past anyone protesting at work.”

True to form, the BBC has refused to condemn the NUJ’s attempt to politicize its newsroom. Instead, it has opted for the spineless silence that it has become infamous for.

By saying nothing, the BBC is effectively abandoning its pretense of impartiality, allowing its Jewish employees to feel intimidated, and continuing its descent into becoming a battleground for political ideologies.

Funded by the wallets of British taxpayers, the BBC carries a great responsibility. It is not financed exclusively by pro-Palestinian activists or left-wing ideologues, but by everyone in the UK: Men and women, white and black, Christians, Jews, Muslims, and everyone else.

Polling consistently reflects this diversity of opinion, showing the British public does not overwhelmingly back the Palestinian cause; in fact, the opposite is often true.

The BBC faced its most intense criticism yet when it was found to have breached its own guidelines in reporting on the Israel-Hamas conflict more than 1,500 times since the war began.

That scandal, which emerged in September, should have been the wake-up call the BBC desperately needed.

Instead, the organization seems intent on signing its own death warrant. If the BBC continues alienating the very people who pay for its existence, it will not survive.

Meanwhile, the NUJ’s blatant pro-Palestinian advocacy calls into question how its members can possibly reconcile the need for professional, objective journalism with the actions of their trade union.

The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.

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