The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Britain confirmed on Wednesday that BBC journalists have quit the union after receiving directives from the Trades Union Congress (TUC) encouraging workers to dress in Palestinian Arab colors or wear a keffiyeh for a “Day of Action for Palestine”, the UK-based Jewish News reported.
The TUC’s call aims to advocate for a permanent ceasefire, an end to the violence in Gaza, and secure the release of all hostages. However, the recommendation to wear Palestinian Arab dress at the event, scheduled for Thursday, has prompted some NUJ members at the BBC to feel that the union has overstepped its boundaries.
A BBC staffer expressed significant concern, telling The Times, “BBC journalists, who pride themselves on impartiality and who fought to keep their NUJ free of politics, are being encouraged to break the BBC’s editorial guidelines by supporting a political cause”. The staff member further described the action as “hypocritical and antisemitic” and is reconsidering their NUJ membership.
Jewish employees at the BBC have reportedly alerted Nigel Lewis, the broadcaster’s HR director, who has raised the issue with HR leads across the BBC, according to the Jewish News. BBC Security has also been made aware of potential conflict situations that could arise from wearing Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) flag colors or headscarves.
The NUJ has since issued a message to its members acknowledging that those working in public service broadcasting have critical impartiality responsibilities and should not breach social media guidelines.
The union appears taken aback by the strong response, with Jewish chat groups speculating that potentially a dozen more members might resign.
When questioned, the TUC could not confirm whether it had previously requested workers to wear national colors during other conflicts. The organization explicitly stated it had never asked members to wear Ukrainian-colored clothing during the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The Board of Deputies issued a statement criticizing the guidelines and accusing trade unions of “playing student politics on a conflict on whose facts they appear to be plainly ignorant”, rather than focusing on workers’ protection.
“Whatever the stated intent, attempts to bring this issue into the workplace in such a fashion will undoubtedly add to the belligerent atmosphere which many Jewish staff have been facing,” it added.
The BBC has repeatedly been criticized for the blatant anti-Israel bias in its reporting and 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 wake of the criticism, BBC Chair Samir Shah said last December that he intends to review the corporation’s reporting guidelines on the Israel–Hamas war.
In August, more than 200 people from Britain’s TV and film industry called for an urgent investigation into allegations of antisemitism at the BBC.
A month later, 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.