The BBC’s Arabic channel has been accused of allowing ‘false’ and ‘hateful’ statements by pro-Palestinian contributors to go unchallenged while repeatedly challenging pro-Israel speakers.

Media observers have claimed that the channel’s presenters are far more likely to interrupt and challenge contributors who support Israel than those who criticise it.

BBC Arabic, which is run by the BBC World Service, has been criticised repeatedly for the way it reports the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

The latest row comes after Lisa Nandy, the Culture Secretary, said she would be holding urgent discussions with the BBC over concerns that it aired a documentary featuring Hamas propaganda.

On Friday, the BBC pulled the hour-long film from iPlayer. following a row over its use of the son of a Hamas minister as the narrator and central protagonist alongside two other children with family links to the terror group, without disclosing their connection to viewers.

Ms Nandy said she would be talking to the broadcaster to emphasise the importance of “getting it right” in its coverage of the conflict in Gaza.

The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (Camera) found that in a sample of nine cases on BBC Arabic, four statements by pro-Palestinian speakers which it described as hateful or false went unchallenged.