BBC chair Samir Shah told lawmakers Tuesday that the scandal over a documentary it broadcast about the Gaza Strip was a “dagger to the heart” of the British broadcaster’s impartiality.

The documentary about children’s lives in Gaza was found to have been narrated by the 13-year-old son of a deputy minister in the Palestinian enclave’s Hamas government.

The new remarks came as it was revealed that the same teenager had also featured a year earlier in another UK network’s reporting about the Strip amid the war between Israel and Hamas that began on October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian terror group led an invasion of southern Israel in which 1,200 people were killed, mostly civilians, and 251 hostages taken to Gaza.

Hamas, which is sworn to Israel’s destruction and overtly and systematically targeted civilians during its onslaught, is designated a terrorist organization by Britain, the United States and the European Union.

The BBC already said last week there had been “serious flaws” in “Gaza: How To Survive A War Zone,” made by an independent production company, and removed it from its online platform days after it was first broadcast on television.

Shah and BBC director general Tim Davie spoke at a meeting of the UK parliament’s Culture, Media & Sport Committee, calling for a “proper independent review” of the broadcaster’s coverage of conflicts in the Middle East.

“What has been revealed is a dagger to the heart of the BBC’s claim to be impartial and trustworthy, which is why I and the board are determined to answer the questions being asked,” Shah said. “We will get to the bottom of this and take appropriate actions.”

He said a “proper independent review” is needed and admitted “we have had loads of complaints about our coverage.”

“I have a worry that it wasn’t so much the processes that were at fault........

© The Times of Israel