BBC staff have written to Tim Davie accusing the corporation of anti-Palestinian racism and of “performing PR for the Israeli government and military”.

They have called for the removal of Sir Robbie Gibb as a BBC board member because they alleged he has “close ties” to the Jewish Chronicle.

An open letter to the director-general signed by 107 BBC journalists – as well as celebrities including Charles Dance, Mike Leigh, Juliet Stevenson and Miriam Margolyes – claims that the corporation is “an organisation that is crippled by the fear of being perceived as critical of the Israeli government”.