The BBC Trust ruled that it was acceptable and accurate to use the words “Jew” and “Israeli” interchangeably in coverage of the Middle East.

The editorial standards committee in 2013 ruled against a complaint over the mistranslation of the word Yahud, Arabic for Jew, to Israeli, arguing it was not a breach of its guidelines.

The phrase was mistranslated most recently in the BBC’s controversial Gaza documentary, which has prompted claims that the corporation whitewashed anti-Semitism.

On Tuesday, The Telegraph revealed the words Yahud or Yahudy – Arabic for “Jew” or “Jews” – were changed to “Israel” or “Israeli forces” at least five times.

The film also omitted references to Jihad in its subtitles translating praise for Yahya Sinwar, the late former leader of Hamas, for “Jihad against the Jews” to fighting “Israeli forces”.

The BBC is also under pressure to reveal whether any taxpayers’ money was paid to Hamas during the making of the film Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone.

More than a decade ago, the BBC Trust’s editorial standards committee, which handled complaints, ruled that wrong translations of the word were an appropriate exercise of editorial judgement.

The committee was asked to investigate a complaint over a report by the correspondent Jon Donnission on Radio 4’s PM about Hebrew being taught in Hamas-run schools in Gaza.

During the report, a pupil was asked about why she considered it useful to be taught Hebrew, with her contribution voiced over by an English translation.

It was possible to hear the original Arabic and the word Yahud, but this was translated to English as Israeli.