Gaza explosion: BBC News silent, BBC Arabic promotes knee-jerk speculation

How BBC Arabic reported half a story from Gaza.

On October 27th Hamas’ commander of internal security, Tawfiq Abu Naim, was injured in an explosion.

“The head of Hamas’s security apparatus in the Gaza Strip, Tawfiq Abu Naim, was wounded in an explosion on Friday in what Hamas officials called an “assassination attempt.”

Abu Naim, who Israel freed in the Gilad Shalit prisoner swap in 2011, has been in charge of Hamas’s security forces in Gaza since December 2015.

“General Tawfiq Abu Naim survived an assassination attempt Friday afternoon, after his car was blown up in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the middle of Gaza City,” Hamas Interior Ministry in Gaza Spokesman Iyad Bozm said in a statement, adding that the security chief suffered moderate wounds, but was doing well and receiving treatment at the al-Shifa Hospital in the Strip.”

While Hamas’ statement on the incident did not identify any suspects, some of the terror group’s officials immediately blamed Israel – without of course providing any evidence. Other Hamas officials however pointed a finger at local Salafists.

“Hamas officials in Gaza believe the Islamic State jihadist group is behind the attempted assassination of their security chief on Friday, reports Saturday in Hebrew-language media said. […]

Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh had initially blamed Israel for the attack, but top Gaza officials say that a preliminary investigation of the incident points to Islamic State, according to Channel 2.”

Amos Harel at Ha’aretz explained the background:

“Abu Naim heads the Hamas security forces in Gaza, and […] he hasn’t helped plan terrorism against Israel. One of his functions has been to lead the fight against people suspected of collaborating with Israel. But most of his efforts in recent years have focused on the war against the Salafi groups that openly rebelled against Hamas rule, clash with its security forces and sometimes still fire rockets at Israel, especially in defiant moves to ratchet up tensions between Hamas and Israel.

Hamas suppressed these organizations violently while secretly assisting another Salafi group, Walayat Sinai, the Islamic State branch in Sinai, which is fighting Egypt. But Cairo’s pressure in recent months has forced Hamas to distance itself from the Sinai group and limit its assistance to it, which included secret hospitalizations in Gaza of fighters wounded in clashes with the Egyptians. At the same time, the battle grew more heated against extremist groups in Gaza.

These are good reasons for the Salafists to hit Abu Naim: the harsher steps against them (including dozens of arrests), Hamas’ drawing closer to Egypt, and the reconciliation agreement between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. Abu Naim’s forces are responsible for policing the border between Gaza and Egypt at Rafah — operations that keep the Salafi forces apart on the two sides of the border. […]

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who visited Abu Naim in the hospital, accused Israel of the assassination attempt. But a few hours later, it was reported from Gaza that a suspect affiliated with a Salafi group had been arrested.”

So how has the BBC reported that story? While those getting their news from the corporation’s English language services have seen no coverage of the incident whatsoever, visitors to the BBC’s Arabic language website did find one short report on the story.  

However, that article – which is headlined “Hamas accuses Israel of being behind the attempted assassination of its security chief” and which again amplifies the same completely unsupported knee-jerk speculation in its opening paragraph – makes no mention whatsoever of the fact that other Hamas officials suspect that the attack was perpetrated by Salafists.

So much for the BBC’s commitment to “accurate and impartial news, current affairs and factual programming of the highest editorial standards” and its director-general’s claim that the BBC World Service (of which BBC Arabic is part) is an antidote to “fake news”. 

Related Articles:

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BBC Watch secures another correction to a BBC Arabic article

A Gaza border closure not deemed newsworthy by BBC News

 

 

 

 

 

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