The BBC - long respected for its supposed impartiality - has recently found itself at the centre of a scandal. Internal memos, executive resignations, and documentary controversies have all laid bare a troubling reality: the voices that shape public perception are not just misinformed - they are, in many cases, actively hostile to the Jews.

But for those who take the Bible seriously, this is not a surprise. It is a sign of the times.

Systemic Bias Against Israel

Over the past two decades, the BBC’s coverage of Israel has shifted from occasional imbalance to entrenched hostility. This was highlighted in a now-infamous internal review that catalogued repeated failures: disproportionately negative coverage of Israel, an unwillingness to describe Hamas as a terrorist organisation, and errors of fact that consistently leaned in favour of Palestinian narratives.

One notable example is the BBC’s Arabic service, where anti-Israel bias has become particularly obvious. Here, reporting has not only failed basic journalistic standards - it has often amplified unfounded claims, ignored crucial context, and stoked anti-Jewish sentiment. The Telegraph ran an article on this on November the 4th entitled “BBC’s bias ‘pushed Hamas lies around the world’”. It contained a leaked memo, written by Michael Prescott, an independent adviser to the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines and Standards Committee which laid bare BBC Arabic’s multiple failings.

The Asserson Report which we mentioned in the October 16th 2024 Bible in the News highlighted this bias. Since then a recent Ofcom investigation into a BBC documentary “Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone”  concluded that the programme was "materially misleading". It was narrated and centred on the 13-year-old son of Hamas's deputy minister of agriculture. This was not explained in the documentary but came out afterwards meaning audiences did not know that the narrator had an anti-Israel agenda. The translations within the documentary were also misleading. One example is that an interviewee had reportedly said they were “fighting and resisting Israeli forces” when in fact the direct translations was that they were in “Jihad against the Jews”. The BBC accepted the ruling in full.

Even senior editorial figures within the BBC admitted that trust in its Middle East reporting has been compromised. These are not fringe accusations; they are acknowledged failings at the heart of one of the world’s largest public broadcasters.

The Times of Israel ran an article on November 11th entitled “From tears for Arafat to ‘Death to the IDF’: How BBC’s Israel coverage has gone from bad to worse” . In it it states: “Top bosses at the BBC have quit over documentary about Trump – but longstanding allegations of anti-Israel bias have soured British Jews’ confidence in national broadcaster… “ The article then highlights some of the key issues including:

• How a BBC correspondent openly stated in a  BBC report that when she saw Yasser Arafat leaving his ruined compound she started to cry.
• After Oct 7th, the BBC doggedly refused to label Hamas fighters “terrorists,” instead adopting the more neutral term “militants".
• How it reported the Al-Ahli Hospital blast by saying: “Hundreds feared dead or injured in Israeli airstrike on hospital in Gaza, Palestinian officials say,”- this fails to make clear that “Palestinian officials” meant Hamas. 
• The “How to survive the fallout from a Gaza documentary”, which claimed to follow the lives of four young people affected by the conflict in Gaza narrated by the 13-year-old son of Hamas’s deputy minister of agriculture.
• The BBC’s highest-paid TV presenter, Gary Lineker, retweeting calls to have Israel banned from international sporting bodies
• How the corporation failed to pull the plug on a live broadcast of a set at the Glastonbury music festival in which the rap-punk duo Bob Vylan chanted, “Death, death, to the IDF.”
• How that in a 2021 antisemitic attack on Jewish students the BBC reported that anti-Muslim slurs had been heard making out that the victims had been the aggressors - it turned out the so called slur was a distressed Jewish man speaking in Hebrew, appealing for help.

The Trump Incident - A Broader Crisis of Trust

The BBC’s credibility took another hit when it was revealed that a Panorama documentary had misleadingly edited a speech by   U.S. President Donald Trump. By splicing together portions of a speech given an hour apart, the programme created the false impression that Trump incited the January 6 Capitol riot. Peaceful statements were omitted, and footage of the riot was shown immediately after the manipulated clip - a journalistic sleight of hand that provoked a furious backlash and legal threats.

This incident speaks volumes. If the BBC is willing to misrepresent one of the world’s most prominent political figures, how much more might it misrepresent issues around Israel?

The Prophetic Pattern: The Nations Gather Against Israel

But this is not just a media problem. The increasing hostility toward Israel in global opinion is a symptom of something far deeper - a fulfilment of Bible prophecy.

The Biblical prophets are clear: in the latter days, Israel would be regathered to their land, and the nations would be stirred up in opposition to her. Consider the words of Joel:

“For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel...” Joel 3:1-2

The phrase “all nations” is not insignificant. It is a description of the global scope of the opposition that will be levelled against Israel - politically, militarily, and ideologically - that will bring about this great crisis. It would seem reasonable then to realise that this includes the court of public opinion, and the instruments that shape it - such as the media.

Ezekiel 38 also paints this picture. Israel is described as “dwelling safely, all of them dwelling without walls” (v.11), when an alliance of nations descends upon the land. This alliance, headed by “Gog of the land of Magog,” includes Persia, Ethiopia, Libya, Gomer, and Togarmah - a confederacy from the Russian north, European West, Irainian east and northern Africa. Their motive is spoil; their spirit is hostility against the people; and their actions are sanctioned by the political environment that sees Israel as an obstacle to peace.

We should not be surprised that media narratives today echo that hostility.

Do Not Trust Man

What then should the Bible believer’s response be? It is not to despair, nor to retreat from the world, but to remain grounded in the Word of God.

Were told to “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.”  Psalm 146:3

The media will not give us the truth. The governments will not stand with Israel. The nations will not defend the Jews. And we are not called to look to them for justice or wisdom. Instead, we look to the Scriptures, which alone give us the divine perspective and truth. In fact the Bible is called the “scripture of truth” in Daniel 10:21. It is called the “word of God” in John 10:35. And in Titus 1:2 we read that God “cannot lie”. Here alone then is the source of truth we can trust and it gives us a divine perspective.

God is not unaware of the rising opposition against his people the Jews. In fact, He is allowing it to gather - that He might act in power when the time is right. He will send Jesus back to the earth to save his people, the Jews and reestablish his Kingdom on the earth - as he promised David in 2 Samuel 7.

“Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.” Ezekiel 38:23

Watching and Waiting

So then as Bible believers its important we must not adopt the world’s perspective. Israel are not perfect, the Jews are in need of the benefits of the New Covenant prophesied of in Jer 31. They do need to accept Jesus Christ. But we need to be aware that the bias against Israel — whether in the halls of government or the studios of the BBC — is often unmerited and a fulfilment of what God said would come. And it is a warning that the return of Christ is drawing near.

When we see headlines that twist the truth, when nations condemn Israel while excusing terrorism, when institutions like the BBC fall from their former credibility - we lift up our eyes. The time is short. Israel’s King is soon to come to put everything right.

So - let us hold fast, trust only in the Word, and be ready for the day when “out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.” as it says in Isaiah 2:3

Join us again next week for another Bible in the News.