On Monday 17 February, the BBC got what it deserved over its coverage of Israel’s genocide in Gaza – as Palestine Action doused its HQ in blood-red paint for a second time.
BBC hit by Palestine Action again
In a bold act of direct action, Palestine Action activists targeted BBC’s headquarters in Portland Place, London:
They covered the building in blood-red paint and broke windows in protest against the BBC’s ongoing complicity in the genocide of Palestinians through its entrenched pro-Israel bias:
The offices of the BBC have been covered in blood-red paint to symbolise the corporation’s responsibility for the blood spilled in Gaza and the BBC’s role in whitewashing Israeli atrocities through its partial and biased coverage.
For years, the BBC has consistently minimised Israel’s violence against Palestinians while amplifying the narratives of the oppressors, perpetuating a deadly cycle of misinformation and false equivalency.
The BBC stands accused of ‘manufacturing consent’ for Israel’s genocide, including by BBC staff themselves:
Today’s actions mark the second time Palestine Action has targeted the BBC since the onset of Israel’s genocidal response to the Al Aqsa Flood operation, a return necessary due to the BBC’s deeply-entrenched complicity in enabling Israeli apartheid and genocide is a deeply entrenched issue:
The BBC’s repeated failure to provide a platform for Palestinian voices, or to accurately represent the scale of Israel’s violence has played a critical part in shaping public perception, allowing the continued suffering and displacement of Palestinians to go largely unchallenged in the media.
“The BBC’s biased reporting isn’t a simple case of poor journalism – it’s a matter of life and death. By downplaying Israeli war crimes, the BBC is complicit in the genocide unfolding in Gaza,” said a spokesperson for Palestine Action:
This isn’t just about the news – it’s about the role of the media in shaping global complicity. The BBC has blood on its hands, and today’s action is part of a wider campaign to hold them accountable. We will not stand by as the BBC sanitizes genocide.
Years of complicity
This protest is driven by years of outrage over the BBC’s refusal to cover the Palestinian struggle with the same urgency and accuracy it affords Israeli military actions.
The corporation’s editorial choices, whether intentional or the result of institutional bias, have aligned it with the Israeli state’s narrative of justification for its violent policies. Today, the BBC’s premises have been marked with a visual reminder of that which is well-known in Palestine: that their blood marks the BBC’s reporting.
Palestine Action will continue to hold British institutions responsible for the roles they play in genocide, and demands the BBC start reporting the truth about Palestine.
Featured image and additional images via Martin Pope
