UK Opposition Leader Kemi Badenoch has called for an investigation into whether license fee funds were transferred to Hamas during the production of a controversial BBC documentary on Gaza, Daily Mail reported Friday.
In a letter to BBC Director General Tim Davie, Badenoch raised concerns about the BBC2 documentary "Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone," which featured narration by the son of a Hamas official, Daily Mail reported. "It is now clear to me that you should commission a full independent inquiry to consider this and wider allegations of systemic BBC bias against Israel," Badenoch wrote in the letter.
The BBC was forced to apologize after revelations that the documentary's child narrator Abdullah was the son of Ayman Alyazouri, who serves as deputy minister of Hamas's agriculture ministry, Daily Mail reported. While the BBC initially defended the program, documents revealed the corporation maintained regular involvement in its production.
"How could any program from there be commissioned without comprehensive work by the BBC to ensure that presenters or participants were – as far as possible – not linked to that appalling regime?" Badenoch asked in her letter to Davie, according to the Daily Mail.
The BBC removed the documentary from its iPlayer service following demands from 45 prominent Jewish figures in television, film and media. The corporation acknowledged the "family connections of the film's narrator" and announced plans to add text identifying Abdullah as the son of a Hamas government official before any re-transmission.
Badenoch said it was "profoundly troubling" that the BBC called the movie an 'invaluable testament' to the war and noted that "surely it should have been immediately apparent that the program was fundamentally flawed." She stressed that "an investigation must consider allegations of potential collusion with Hamas, and the possibility of payment to Hamas officials.'
Badenoch warned that Conservative Party support for the BBC's license fee funding model, which continues through 2027, could be at risk without "serious action" addressing these concerns. The BBC is understood to be conducting "further due diligence" on the documentary's production process, Daily Mail reported.
Caroline Dinenage, who chairs the culture commiottee, indicated MPs will question BBC leadership about the documentary, according to Daily Mail. A BBC board meeting this week is expected to address the controversy.
The controversy emerges amid broader scrutiny of the BBC's coverage of the conflict, with Badenoch citing concerns about what she termed "systemic and institutional bias against Israel" in the corporation's reporting.
