Proof BBC Panorama misled about antisemitism

Proof BBC Panorama fundamentally misled viewers about antisemitism

Al Jazeera Labour Files, Part 2: The Crisis

Transcription of video

Al Jazeera: In 2016, Labour party member Helen Marks was interviewed by Party officials as part of investigation into her local Constituency Labour Party.

Helen: We’d been accused of antisemitism by a member of the CLP who was also a councillor [Nick Small]. I felt it was a totally outrageous accusation. What he was doing was he conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism. My father lost all his family during the holocaust. His parents were rounded up and killed either in the Warsaw ghetto or taken to a concentration camp.

AJ: Rica Bird attends the interview as a witness, what is called a silent friend. Both women are Jewish. Three years later, Panorama, the BBC's longest running current affairs programme, broadcast a damning film. [Clips from BBC Panorama and Labour Party email].

AJ: A description of Marks' and Bird's disciplinary interview features in the documentary. The interview is conducted by Ben Westerman, a Party official who is Jewish. [BBC Panorama clip with Ben Westerman]

AJ: Rica Bird speaks to Westerman at the end of the interview.

Rica: When he says, "Where are you from? Are you from Israel?" That's an absolute lie. I didn’t say that.

AJ: With Westerman's permission the two women record the interview.

Rica: The full recording shows what actually did happen.

Recording of Rica: I’m just curious because I haven't been in the Labour Party very long and I’ve certainly never been to anything like this informal interview before. So I’m just curious about, like, what branch are you in?

Recording of Westerman: I don’t think that's relevant

Recording of Rica: Oh OK.

Recording of Westerman: I hope that’s OK. I’m sorry I don’t think where I’m from is at all relevant to this investigation.

Rica: I did ask Westerman, 'What branch are you from?'. Meaning what branch of the Labour Party, because it was a Labour Party internal investigation. The word Israel never came into the exchange between me and Westerman.

Helen: At the time I could hardly believe it but I actually feel very angry about it now, because it is so trivialising of what is a really important issue.