BBC accused of violating own child protection guidelines in Gaza documentary

The BBC is facing mounting criticism for "failing in its duty of care" to the 13-year-old Palestinian narrator of the documentary Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone, who said he has experienced intense online harassment and abuse amid the British broadcaster's withdrawal of the film.

The documentary, which sheds light on the experiences of children in Gaza amid Israel's assault through the eyes of narrator Abdullah al-Yazuri, was abruptly removed from the BBC iPlayer after a campaign centred on al-Yazuri's relationship to a minister in the enclave's government, which is run by Hamas.

Abdullah's father Ayman al-Yazuri, who is a deputy minister of agriculture in Gaza, has been labelled by media and pundits as a "Hamas chief" while he is in fact a technocrat with a scientific rather than political background, who has previously worked for the UAE’s education ministry and studied at British universities.

Speaking exclusively to Middle East Eye this week, Abdullah explained that he and his family have been the targets of online abuse, adding that the affair has caused him serious “mental pressure” and made him fear for his safety.

“I did not agree to the risk of me being targeted in any way before the documentary was broadcast on the BBC. So [if] anything happens to me, the BBC is responsible for it," he said.

The boy also said the BBC had not reached out to him to apologise.

His interview with MEE about his experiences has sparked a debate on media ethics and the broadcaster's responsibility to protect children it works with.

"I posted about this concern shortly after BBC pulled this documentary," said Chris Doyle, chair of the Council for Arab-British Understanding, responding to Abdullah's video.

"BBC has a duty of care. The BBC used these children, aired their stories, but then ditched and dumped on them. Not one of the anti-Palestinian mob have expressed one iota of concern that I have seen."

I worked on a doc for @BBC and we went to GREAT lengths to protect the children we worked with per their policy below. Abdullah, the child in the Gaza doc, says he is facing online threats after the film was dropped — the BBC is responsible for his safety. They must rectify this. https://t.co/jHQm8BMQx3 pic.twitter.com/tb0XuNzmeY

— Ahmed Eldin | احمد الدين (@ASE) March 6, 2025

"[The BBC] has completely failed in its duty of care," Artists for Palestine UK said. "It is playing politics with the lives of children traumatised by 17 months of genocidal violence."

Several journalists and social media users have highlighted Section 9 of the BBC's editorial guidelines concerning children and young people as contributors, which states that the BBC "must take due care over the physical and emotional welfare and the dignity of under-18s who take part or are otherwise involved in our editorial content, irrespective of any consent given by them or by a parent, guardian or other person acting in loco parentis. Their welfare must take priority over any editorial requirement".

The guidelines also emphasise that "protecting children and young people online is a shared responsibility for the BBC, parents/guardians, and the under-18 concerned".

This is what the BBC Editorial guidelines say about protecting children that it works with. Abdullah, the child in the Gaza doco, says that after the film was dropped he and his family received online threats. He says, the BBC is responsible for his welfare. He’s right: https://t.co/t946KSKwv5 pic.twitter.com/PaEozxyW9u

— Sangita Myska (@SangitaMyska) March 6, 2025

MEE reached out to the BBC to ask whether it had taken the steps outlined in the section, including guidelines that dictate that if a person under 18 is suspected to be at risk in the course of their work, “the situation must be referred promptly to the divisional Working with Children Adviser or, for independent production companies, to the commissioning editor”.

Section 9 further states that "procedures, risk assessments and contingencies for the impact of participating on an individual’s emotional and mental well-being and welfare may be appropriate in some circumstances".

A spokesperson said: "The BBC takes its duty of care responsibilities very seriously, particularly when working with children, and has frameworks in place to support these obligations" and directed MEE to its public statement on the documentary.

'Put a target on a 13-year-old'

Social media users accuse the BBC of exposing Abdullah to danger, and say the broadcaster has a responsibilty to ensure his safety.

"Abdullah says he’s been targeted & the BBC hasn’t reached out. As a former @BBCNews journalist I can tell you that child safeguarding is a key part of our training. To see none of it applied here is shocking & speaks to the dehumanisation of Palestinian children over months," a user wrote on X.

.@DanFriedman81 immediately deleted his post calling to bomb a Palestinian child and his family, then blocked me. What a coward. https://t.co/9P1MmuemPa pic.twitter.com/N9uXBQqwFR

— Dan Cohen (@dancohen3000) March 5, 2025

Prominent British journalist Owen Jones described the BBC as having put "a target on the back of a 13 year old boy".

Others underlined the larger media context in which the film was removed, arguing that it appeared to be another example of media bias against Palestinians. 

"Had the situation been reversed and an Israeli boy revealed to be the child of a junior minister in Netanyahu’s government the BBC might have felt obliged to issue one of its 'corrections and clarifications' but it’s highly unlikely the film would have been withdrawn and the - extremely vulnerable - production team humiliated in such a public manner," said journalist and film-maker Richard Sanders.

Former BBC journalist Sangita Myska said the makers of the documentary "did not meet editorial standards of transparency" but this was unlikely to have made "a material difference to the overall accuracy of the film".

"The BBC has apologised for the mistake, which was the right thing to do. Yet, the BBC’s inconsistent application of editorial standards across its coverage (eg, over-scrutiny of some Palestinan sources vs under-scrutiny of some Israeli ones) means ‘public trust’ was dropping well before this controversy," she continued.

British-Israeli historian Avi Shlaim, an emeritus professor of international relations at Oxford, told MEE that the pulling of the film was “only the latest example of the public broadcaster’s regular capitulation to pressure from the pro-Israel lobby”.https://t.co/FTq3kLPiOR

— Just Jews (@JustJewsUK) March 5, 2025

Tayab Ali, the director of the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians, wrote: "It terrifies those complicit in war crimes and genocide to see Palestinian children as not only human but eloquent. They would rather erase him, label him, dismiss him, silence him - than let the world hear his voice."

"Censorship won’t hide the truth. Abdullah’s story, and the suffering of Gaza’s children, must be heard," he added.