3 days ago
BBC Radio 2 host cuts off caller over 'complicit in genocide' comments
On Thursday afternoon, BBC Radio 2 ran a segment where listeners were asked to give their tips on giving wedding speeches.
Host Tina Daheely – stepping in for Jeremy Vine – introduced a caller from Manchester, called Mary.
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Mary said: "Hi there, I'm just calling, thank you so much for putting me on.
"The BBC and the UK Government are complicit in the Palestinian genoc–"
Mary's line was promptly cut off before she could say the end of the word "genocide".
Daheely went on to say: "Oh, okay, not about wedding speeches at all. Cut that one off there because I've no idea what else they were going to say."
She added: "We are talking about wedding speeches here."
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The BBC has previously been accused of showing "a pattern of bias, double standards and silencing of Palestinian voices" in its coverage of Israel's assault on Gaza.
A report from the Centre for Media Monitoring (CfMM), published in June, found that the BBC gave Israeli deaths 33 times more coverage per fatality, despite Gaza suffering 34 times more casualties than Israel.
The broadcaster was also found to have interrupted or dismissed claims of genocide more than 100 times – while only 3% of articles analysed by the CfMM used the terms "war crimes" in relation to Israeli violence against Palestinians.
On Monday, protesters gathered outside the BBC's headquarters in Glasgow where they accused the corporation of "building consent for genocide".
The protest came in response to the news that Israel targeted and killed six journalists in Gaza, including a prominent Al Jazeera reporter who had previously been threatened by Israel.
The BBC has been contacted for comment.
