BBC Denies ‘Nonsense’ It Pulled Reporter from Gaza over Hamas Piece
BBC reporter Jeremy Bowen wrote a piece weeks ago with the overarching premise being that in Gaza, “I saw no evidence during my week in Gaza of Israel’s accusation that Hamas uses Palestinians as human shields.” This is in contrast to assertions of such being made by Israel in how Hamas is fighting this war.
Days later, Bowen was no longer reporting from Gaza. His Twitter feed went mostly silent, and some people believed that this was a deliberate move on the BBC’s part to silence him.
This picture’s been making the rounds on Twitter over the past few days.
BBC removed Jeremy Bowen from #Gaza for saying he had not seen any evidence of #Hamas using civilians as humanshields pic.twitter.com/ynoKwQtbXG
— Raajje News (@raajjenews) August 3, 2014
The BBC’s Trending blog deemed this naught more than a “conspiracy theory,” and a BBC spokesperson said in a statement, “Claims that Jeremy Bowen has been removed from Gaza under Israeli pressure are nonsense. After reporting from Syria, Iraq, Israel and Gaza he is on holiday but will be returning to the Middle East very soon.”
And Bowen himself corroborated that version of events in response to a Twitter question.
@RAFx103 because I'm on holiday
— Jeremy Bowen (@BowenBBC) August 1, 2014
But George Galloway, a current member of the British Parliament, isn’t buying it.
If Bowen tells me man to man he left Gaza on holiday in the middle of the war I will believe it. Until then I will not.
— George Galloway (@georgegalloway) August 6, 2014
[h/t THR]
[image via screengrab]
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