The Jewish community is organizing a major march against antiSemitism in London on Sunday November 26th. However, Jews working at the BBC will not be able to take part in what is likely to be Britain’s largest demonstration against antiSemitism since 1936.
Company employees who asked for permission to attend the demonstration against antiSemitism in London were subject to the company’s impartiality rules, which state that the newsroom “shall not participate in public demonstrations or meetings on controversial issues.”
One of the BBC employees explained that many Jewish colleagues had asked for permission to take part in the march and had been told they were not allowed to take part.
The incident sparked backlash and accusations that the BBC treated antiSemitism differently from other forms of racism.
The company has caused controversy and complaints since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, including because it refused to designate Hamas a terrorist organization even after the Oct. 7 massacre.
Amid the criticism, a company spokesperson issued the following statement:
“The BBC makes it clear that antiSemitism is abhorrent. We have set out guidelines, which explains that depending on what you do for the BBC, different considerations apply.” […] We did not issue any team communications regarding a specific march this weekend, but that does not mean there were no discussions among colleagues about guidance.”
Staff who wanted to take part in the march against antiSemitism were outraged, particularly as many BBC staff had taken part in proPalestinian marches in recent weeks.
Those criticizing the corporation’s position in relation to the march against antiSemitism on the 26th point out that the BBC’s own guidelines state that “resistance against racism is a fundamental democratic principle”.
The accusation is that the BBC has double standards and that “Jews don’t count” when it comes to tackling racism.
“A lot of people here have been to proPalestine marches and like to talk about it at work. People here seem to think Zionists are bad. A colleague said I was fine because I wasn’t a real Zionist. They have no idea,” said one of the Dailymail sources.
Leo Pearlman, cofounder of television production company Fulwell 73, told The Times that the company’s approach represented a “worrying distortion of reality and underlying prejudices” and that “just then the BBC cannot find a new level of incompetence to address.” “By reporting and dealing with these tragic events over the last six weeks, they appear to have decided to make a clear distinction between antiSemitism and all other isms by issuing this directive to their employees.”