A former BBC World employee has suggested that antisemitism statistics are used as cover for Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Emre Azizlerli responded to publication of statistics by the Community Security Trust last week on X posting:”Constant victimhood with recrod breaking antisemtism surveys every six months for Jewish supremacist Zionist monsters who are committing an action genocide right.”
Referencing the CST’s antisemtism incidents report for the UK, he added:”Does anyone buy into this?”.
The CST’s report revealed antisemitic incidents were at their second highest level ever in the UK.
The Guardian columnist Owen Jones hailed Azizlerli’s posts as he launched renewed online attacks on pro-Israel BBC journalists.
Owen Jones in his 25-minute video response to a screening of footage of the 7 October attacks
Jones targeted Gidi Kleiman, BBC News’ senior producer in Israel, accusing him of sharing content from “extreme accounts” such as those of former Israel spokesperson Eylon Levy and Aviva Klompas.
Among posts Jones claimed showed Kleiman’s bias was one paying tribute to victims of the October 7th Hamas attacks and another using a photograph of baby Kfir Bibas, an article about hostage mother Rachel Goldberg-Polin, and a post about the Idan children – Michael, Amalia, and Avigail – who saw their parents murdered by Hamas.
Kleiman previously worked for the BBC in Washington DC and included a clarification on his X platform that posts reflect his own views.
BBC colleague Jon Donnison was among those to defend Kleiman as a “superb journalist” who is “smart, thoughtful, and fair.”
Gidi Kleinman
In an online entry while he still worked with the BBC Azizlerli wrote:”Originally from Istanbul, Turkey, I have been living in the UK since 1997 when I moved to London to work for the BBC World Service’s Turkish Section and settled in this country for good.
“I have a degree in French literature, which took me to study in France and the USA during my university years. After a brief spell in teaching and working in arts organisations, I have found myself doing journalism and so far happily stuck with it. ”
He criticed the BBC’s Donnison for praising Kleiman, posting on X:”Jon Donnison is being dishonest here and hand on heart every BBC journalist would agree with me in private.
“A Palestinian or Arab producer at the BBC wouldn’t DARE post such partisan stuff from pro-Hamas accounts, unless they wanted to end their career.
”
