The BBC has been accused of “shocking bias” in a row over Nick Robinson’s interview with Lord Cameron.
The presenter sparked a backlash after referring to Israeli attacks in Gaza as “murders” as he grilled the Foreign Secretary on BBC Radio 4’s flagship Today programme this morning.
He has since insisted he was not expressing his own view or that of the corporation.
Robinson questioned Lord Cameron on Britain’s position after Iran’s attack on Israel over the weekend and said he wanted to end the interview with a “question of morality”.
He said: “You will know, I think you’ve talked about, the fact that the West has been perceived to lose the argument, with even many of its own people, ever since the war of terror began.
“Isn’t the real risk of where we are now, that Western governments appear to back Israel the moment that Israel is under attack, but when Israel attacks and murders tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians, we say the words but we do almost nothing?”
The former prime minister said he did not think the statement was right “at all” and that Iran was the “truly malign actor in the region”.
Conservative MP Theresa Villiers called on the BBC to launch an “immediate investigation”.
She told The Sun: “Even by the BBC’s standards this is shocking bias. I can’t believe that this kind of question is asked on one of the nation’s most influential and highly regarded news programmes. Israel does not target civilians.
“The country is defending itself from a brutal terror attack and making strenuous efforts not to harm civilians.
“The BBC should launch an immediate investigation into this latest example of an anti-Israel statement by one of its presenters.”
Tory MP Greg Smith added: “Outrageous bias from the BBC.
“Israel is the nation being attacked – the actual victims – seeking to defend themselves from further attacks by terrorists who have the stated aim of destroying Israel and killing Jews.”
Downing Street said Rishi Sunak would not use “murder” to describe events in Gaza and that people should be “careful with their words”.
Robinson later addressed the pushback in a post on social media platform X.
He said: “There’s been some controversy about words I used when I was interviewing the Foreign Secretary David-Cameron on BBC Radio 4 Today about Israel this morning.
“My final question was about the perceived ‘morality’ of the government’s position – in particular the ‘risk’ that their position could ‘appear’ to look like active support for Israel when it is under attack but nothing other than words ‘when Israel attacks or murders tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians’.
“I should have been clearer that I was not expressing my own view, let alone that of the BBC when I used the words ‘murders’.
“In this 15-minute long interview I asked the Foreign Secretary why ministers had supported Israel militarily; why they didn’t go further and support Israel in confronting Iran; why they weren’t tougher in confronting Israel over Gaza and ended with that question about the perceived ‘morality’ and the ‘risk’ of how the government’s position ‘appears’.
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