BBC at war with itself: Gaza coverage tears the newsroom apart

According to British media reports, tensions within the BBC have intensified following accusations by British journalist Owen Jones, who claimed that Raffi Berg, the head of BBC’s Middle East online division, has shown pro-Israel bias in the network’s reporting.

In response, Berg has filed a defamation lawsuit against Jones.

Court documents filed at the UK High Court show that Berg is suing Jones over an article titled “The BBC’s Internal War Over Gaza”, published in December last year on the Drop Site platform. The piece, based on testimonies from 13 anonymous BBC employees, accused Berg of “playing a central role in institutional bias and editorial manipulation in favor of Israel.”

The report alleged that Berg routinely rewrote headlines and texts to reflect the Israeli military’s perspective, often at the expense of Palestinian narratives.

Berg — who has worked with the BBC since 2001 and served as Middle East editor for 12 years — has completely denied the accusations, saying they damage his professional reputation as an independent journalist and editor.

Berg’s lawyer argued that the claims have seriously harmed his career, leading to a wave of hate messages and death threats. The BBC has since increased security measures for Berg, while UK police have opened an investigation into the threats.

Berg is seeking financial damages, a court order prohibiting the re-publication of the article, and the removal of the piece from all websites.

Owen Jones, however, has rejected Berg’s accusations, vowing to defend the accuracy and integrity of his reporting in court if necessary.

The article that sparked the controversy described a “staff rebellion” inside the BBC over what employees called editorial imbalance in Gaza coverage, with internal concerns about bias being “repeatedly ignored or suppressed.”

It also alleged that inconvenient facts about Israel’s actions were deliberately removed from reports.

Following publication, an online petition calling for Berg’s suspension from the BBC gained traction, while protests were held outside BBC offices in January.

A separate investigation by MintPress News confirmed deep divisions within the BBC over coverage of conflicts in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen, citing multiple employees who claimed that Berg steered coverage in favor of Israeli narratives.

The report also revealed that Berg had collaborated with Israel’s Mossad and the CIA, noting his 2020 co-authored book “Spies of the Red Sea” with former Mossad official Danny Limor — a work that portrays Mossad as “the world’s greatest intelligence agency.”

The book also mentions that Berg once worked for the U.S. State Department’s Foreign Broadcast Information Service, which he himself described as “a front for the CIA.”

The internal BBC conflict comes amid wider criticism of the outlet’s political coverage. Recently, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt accused the BBC of distorting Donald Trump’s statements, calling the broadcaster “a propaganda machine full of lies.”