UK Government’s adviser on anti-Jewish hatred says that Tim Davie, Director General of the BBC, has repeatedly declined offers for antisemitism training. “Heads should roll”.
Tim Davie, Director General of the BBC, has repeatedly declined offers for antisemitism training, according to the UK Government’s adviser on anti-Jewish hatred.
Lord Mann, an independent adviser to Prime Minister Keir Starmer on antisemitism, disclosed that he had approached senior BBC figures on three occasions since 2019, offering training to tackle growing concerns about anti-Jewish bias within the corporation, The Telegraph reported on Saturday.
However, he revealed that Davie and other top executives rejected his offers despite mounting allegations of antisemitism at the broadcaster.
In a scathing rebuke, Lord Mann accused the BBC of failing to take the issue seriously, pointing to what he described as “arrogance at the top.” He demanded accountability for those responsible for approving a controversial documentary that has fueled accusations of anti-Israel bias. The documentary, “Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone”, purported to show the experiences of children in Gaza during the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. However, revelations that its narrator was the child of a Hamas official sparked a wave of criticism.
The BBC has acknowledged that there were “serious flaws” in the program. Starmer later said he is “concerned” by the documentary.
Lord Mann did not mince words, calling for dismissals at the highest levels of the BBC.
“Heads should roll. And the heads that roll shouldn’t just be the little heads,” he stated, as quoted by The Telegraph. “You know that’s always the danger with organizations the size of the BBC. Oh hey, there’s something wrong, let’s get rid of a few of the people at the bottom. No, let’s get rid of some at the top, would be my view.
“Someone at the top should carry the can. It’s not acceptable and I’ve been in there several times, I’ve offered them training, they’ve never accepted it. I think there’s often an arrogance there.”
Lord Mann added, “Tim Davie and others who I’ve met, they’ve had those offers. And I challenge and question why they have not accepted it. More fool them. They haven’t done. They should have done.”
He warned that if senior figures refused to take responsibility, he would push for a full public inquiry.
“If heads don’t roll, there will be [an inquiry],” he said. “They won’t be allowed to sweep it under the rug, by me and others. I will not be ignoring this. I will not be sweeping it under the carpet.”
He also pointed to what he described as a “generational problem” at the BBC, where ignorance of antisemitism has taken root.
“They have got an ignorance. They have got, I think, particularly, a generational problem of people who really don’t understand it,” he said. “I think it’s got a generation who haven’t been challenged with that and haven’t been educated.”
The BBC has long been criticized for its blatant anti-Israel bias. This criticism has increased since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and the war in Gaza which followed.
In November of 2023, the corporation published an apology after falsely claiming that IDF troops were targeting medical teams in battles in and around the Shifa Hospital in Gaza.
Before that, the BBC falsely accused Israel of being responsible for an explosion at a hospital in Gaza, which the IDF proved was caused by an Islamic Jihad rocket. The network later acknowledged that “it was false to speculate” on the explosion. In September, a report found that the BBC violated its own editorial guidelines more than 1,500 times during the first four months of the war between Israel and Hamas, and noted “deeply worrying pattern of bias” against the Jewish state during that period.
Earlier this month, the British corporation issued an apology after using footage of the Israeli city of Tiberias – located well within Israel’s internationally recognized borders – while discussing “settlements” in the Golan Heights.
