The Least Objective, and Most Objectionable, Reporter in the History of the BBC

Ahmed Alagha is perhaps the least objective, and most objectionable, reporter in the history of the BBC. He provides a special house blend of anti-Israel animus and unapologetic antisemitism. Robert Spencer wrote about him here, and you can find out more about him here: “BBC Arabic freelance journalist describes Jews as ‘devils,’ defended Oct. 7 during massacre,” Jerusalem Post, April 5, 2025:

Ahmed Alagha, a freelance journalist repeatedly used by the BBC,  has made a number of controversial antisemitic and anti-Israel social media posts, including defending the October 7 massacre and describing Jews as “devils.”

The posts, first reported on by British newspaper The Telegraph on Saturday, included comments such as, “The Jews, they are the devils of the hypocrites” on videos featuring Israeli strikes on Gaza carried out after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks.

“And as we know, the ‘Israelis’ are not human beings to begin with, rather they are not even beasts. Perhaps they belong to a race for which no description can capture the extent of their lust and sadism,” Alagha wrote in another post. “That’s just one snapshot. What if we were to compile all their crimes across that entire dark/black history, from the moment of occupation up until now? It is the entity of filth, and the unrivalled swamp of wickedness.”

The journalist’s post on Jews and Israel pre-date the commencement of the war against Hamas. In January 2023, following a terrorist attack near a Jerusalem synagogue on Holocaust Memorial Day, Alagha wrote, “This martyr stole my heart, he alone killed eight Zionists.”

The youngest victim of the attack was 14-year-old Asher Natan.

Several of Alagha’s posts were deleted from X after he was approached by The Telegraph for comment, the British newspaper reported. The Jerusalem Post was able to view a number of other controversial X/Twitter posts despite this.

On October 7, the day terrorists invaded southern Israel in breach of an existing ceasefire and massacred 1,200 people, Alagha posted, “Remove your emotions, no matter how hideous their situation is. May God continue to strengthen the occupation, nor raise their status, nor grant them justice, nor guide their aim. They are the corrupt party in this case, my friend. No honorable blood is being shed for them, nor are they right. The truth is clear. The truth never dies. #AlAqsa_Flood”

 

وانزع عاطفتك مهما رأيت من بشاعة حالهم لا أزال الله للاحتلال شدة ولا رفع لهم شأن ولا أنصف لهم رأي ولا سدد لهم رمي .إنهم الطرف الفاسد في هذه القضية يا صديقيلا دماء تسيل لهم شريفة ولا هم أصحاب حق الحق واضح الحق لا يموت #طوفان_الاقصي

— أحمد الأغا (@alaghatv) October 7, 2023

 

He later posted, “O God, oppress the Israeli occupation and its supporters. O God, glorify Islam and Muslims.”

 

اللهُم ضيّق على الاحتلال الإسرائيلي ومن والاه ، اللهُم أعز الإسلام والمسلمين.

— أحمد الأغا (@alaghatv) October 8, 2023…

A BBC spokesman said: “International journalists, including the BBC, are not allowed access to Gaza, so we hear from a range of contributors in the region. Ahmed Alagha was a contributor. He is not a BBC member of staff or part of the BBC’s reporting team. In this instance, we were unaware of the contributor’s social media activity prior to hearing from him.

The BBC seems to think it’s enough that Alagha was not a member of the regular staff, but a freelance contributor, so that makes it all okay. But why does his being freelance matter? How does that absolve the BBC from employing him, and publishing his venomous reports? Alagha’s reports from Gaza were aired on the BBC, watched by tens of millions in the broadcaster’s worldwide audience , and trusted by them, for those reports came with the prestigious BBC imprimatur. The BBC seems to think that all of Alagha’s antisemitic activity on social media is irrelevant to his reporting. It also thinks it had no duty to have investigated Alagha’s social media accounts for insight into his views..But that is an essential task to perform before employing anyone at the BCC, whether as regular staff members or as freelance contributors. The BBC recently got into hot water for airing a “documentary” on the lives of children in Gaza — “Gaza: How To Survive A War Zone” — which was full of “serious flaws” including the fact that the 13-year-old narrator, Abdullah, was the son of a high-ranking Hamas official. The BBC apologized, dropped the documentary and announced that it had “no plans to broadcast the programme again in its current form or return it to iPlayer.”

It’s worth noting that whenever the BBC is caught making errors in its coverage of Israel and the Palestinians, those errors always benefit the Arab side.

His [Ahmed Alagha’s] views were not expressed on a BBC platform, his posts do not reflect the BBC’s view and we are absolutely clear that there is no place for antisemitism on our services.

His views may not have been expressed so nakedly on the BBC as they were in his social media posts, but his antisemitism permeates everything he wrote or spoke about Israel and Gaza for the BBC. But why should the BBC care? For decades, it has relied on such slyly venomous anti-Israel reporters as John Simpson, Jeremy Bowen, Orla Guerin, Barbara Plett Usher, and Yolande Knell. Why should relying on another such, Ahmed Alagha, cause such a stir? He fits right in.