Gary Lineker, Khalid Abdalla, Anita Rani and Miriam Margolyes have joined over 500 film, TV and media workers in condemning censorship and racism after the BBC pulled a documentary about children’s lives in Gaza, reports the Middle East Monitor.
The media professionals, including nine BBC staff, sent a letter to the broadcaster’s Director-General Tim Davie, Chair of the Board Samir Shah, Chief Content Officer Charlotte Moore, and head of news and current affairs Deborah Turness today. The letter condemned a “racist” and “dehumanising” campaign targeting the film ‘Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone’, which the BBC removed from its iPlayer streaming service after pressure from supporters of Israel. The BBC’s board is set to discuss the documentary tomorrow.
“Beneath this political football are children who are in the most dire circumstances of their young lives. This is what must remain at the heart of this discussion,” the letter read. “As programme-makers, we are extremely alarmed by the intervention of partisan political actors on this issue, and what this means for the future of broadcasting in this country.”
The letter said the documentary offers an “all-too-rare perspective on the lived experiences of Palestinian children” and “deserves recognition” rather than censorship.
“The UK film and TV industry will no longer be intimidated by those whose sole mission it is to censor the voices of the many who are defending the rights of children, the marginalised and those in desperate need. All stories have the right to be told and journalistic scrutiny should not be at the whim of those who deem certain lives unequal,” said letter signatory Nada Issa, an award-winning producer/director and journalist who is part Palestinian and Lebanese.
The BBC has said the documentary would not be available on iPlayer while additional “due diligence” checks take place.
The letter urged the BBC to reject efforts to have the film permanently removed or “subjected to undue disavowals”, saying that surrendering to efforts to stop its return to iPlayer would indicate “racialised smears against Palestinians outweigh journalistic ethics and public interest”.
As per the MEM report, the signatories also warned against intrusive scrutiny of Abdullah Al-Yazouri, a 14-year-old child who narrated ‘Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone’. His father, Dr Ayman Al-Yazouri, served as Gaza’s deputy agriculture minister – a civil service role concerned with food production.
“Almost half of Gaza’s population are children. What they have experienced over the past 17 months is something no child deserves to ever go through,” said Liam O’Hare, an award-winning documentary producer/director who signed the letter. “As journalists and filmmakers we have a duty to help tell their story and that’s what this film did so brilliantly. The BBC cannot allow a politicised campaign to succeed in silencing the children of Gaza.”
