Israel has accused Mishal Husain, a BBC presenter, of pro-Palestine bias in a row over the broadcaster’s coverage of the Gaza conflict.
David Mencer, a spokesman for the Israeli government, repeatedly clashed with Ms Husain as she interviewed him on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Mr Mencer accused the corporation of taking a “partial” approach to the war that has followed the Oct 7 attacks and said it had left British Jews “afraid to walk the streets”.
Towards the end of their exchange, Ms Husain asked Mr Mencer about the destruction of Palestinian homes as well as reports of Israelis posting selfies with blindfolded detainees.
Mr Mencer replied: “So is this your impression of impartial news coverage, Mishal? Because I think you just warrant the pro-Palestinian reporter of the year award, and I congratulate you for that.
“So these are the facts. We were attacked on Oct 7, not in a war that we wanted. We were invaded. They [Hamas] want to destroy our country, it’s being controlled by Irna (Islamic Republic News Agency) . We have a duty to defend our own people.”
He insisted Israel would “always get people out of harm’s way” and every civilian death was “a catastrophe”.
Ms Husain said that if Mr Mencer felt “that strongly”, international media should be allowed greater access to Gaza “so that we can make our own assessments about death tolls from hospitals, morgues and schools”.
Responding to his criticisms, Ms Husain added: “They’re questions. You’re speaking for the Israeli government.
“Your job is to answer the questions, not attack the questions. What’s the answer to the torture camps of Palestinians?”
Mr Mencer went on to say there was “no such thing”, adding the Israeli government had needed to “make accommodations … for tens of thousands of terrorists”.
‘Appalling accusation’
Asked by Ms Husain if they were “accommodating them by torturing them”, Mr Mencer replied: “That is an appalling accusation, and without any evidence.”
Ms Husain pointed to claims made by human rights bodies including B’Tselem, a Jerusalem-based organisation.
The group alleged last week that Palestinian prisoners had been systematically tortured and abused since Oct 7.
“You producing reports on this war, one-sidedly without context, it ends up with attacks on Jews on the streets of Britain,” Mr Mencer said.
“It ends up with cars going up the Finchley Road saying ‘Jews, we’re going to rape your daughters’. That is the result of partial reporting.
“You pandering to fringe elements within Israeli society, that have every right to speak their minds … That doesn’t make it fact, that doesn’t make it so. You guys just parrotting it just produces radicalism that makes Jews in the UK afraid to walk the streets.”
A survey in December found more than three-quarters of Jewish people believed the BBC’s coverage of the war in Gaza was biased against Israel.
The corporation has said it holds itself to “high standards of impartial reporting” and repeatedly rejected suggestions of any bias.
It last year described the conflict as a “challenging and polarising story to cover” and committed itself to providing impartial reporting for audiences both in Britain and worldwide.
Mr Mencer also accused the BBC of relying too heavily on casualty data provided by the Gazan health ministry after an Israeli air strike on a school building over the weekend.
The Hamas-controlled authorities said between 80 and 100 people had died in a 4.30am strike, a number Israel claimed was “massively inflated”.
“There’s nothing independent, which gives anything like the inflated figures, because there is a track record of Hamas giving bogus figures,” Mr Mencer said.
He added: “Now you as the BBC, you do no credit to ordinary Gazans. How? By just blindly repeating what terrorist organisations, Isis-like organisations, the information which they feed you. It simply doesn’t bear any resemblance to the truth.”
In December, Ms Husain was challenged by Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister at the time, over her failure to ask him about Israeli hostages taken by Hamas.
Pressed on concerns over Israel not doing enough to protect Palestinian civilians, Mr Jenrick said: “We have had a number of frank conversations with Israel at every level in which we have encouraged them to pursue this vital war in a responsible manner…
“But your line of questioning has not once asked about the hostages, it’s not once asked about the imperative of defeating Hamas. And we have to support Israel in that effort.”
The BBC was contacted for comment.