BBC anchor Anjana Gadgil nuked her Twitter account after a Tuesday interview with former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett where she accused the Israeli military of being “happy to kill children” as it conducted anti-terrorism operations in Jenin.
Gadgil got straight to the child-killing accusations, “The Israeli military are calling this a 'military operation,' but we now know that young people are being killed, four of them under eighteen. Is that really what the military set out to do? To kill people between the ages of 16 and 18?”
Bennett defended his country, “Actually, all 11 people dead there are militants. The fact that there is young terrorists who decide to hold arms is their responsibility.” Bennett also informed Gadgil that “Jenin has become an epicenter of terror.”
An unconvinced Gadgil followed up, “Terrorists, but children. The Israeli forces are happy to kill children.”
Not every day you have anchor admitting she doesn’t care whether or not people are terrorists. As for Bennett, he somehow managed to stay relatively calm despite the outrageousness of Gadgil’s proclamations, “You know it’s quite remarkable that you’d say that because they’re killing us.”
Bennett then turned the tables on Gadgil and asked “If there’s a 17-year old Palestinian that’s shooting at your family, Anjana, what is he?”
Gadgil noticeably didn’t answer the question, probably because any good answer would require her to admit that she was very wrong. Instead, she decided to insist that her framing was correct because the United Nations says so, “Under your definition, you’re calling them terrorists, the U.N. are calling them children.”
An incredulous Bennett wasn’t about to let Gadgil treat the U.N. as an authoritative or unbiased source and repeated his early question about rifle-wielding 17-year olds who shoot at Israelis.
Gadgil absurdly claimed “We’re not talking about that” and repeated her useless U.N. talking point as Bennett shot back, “that’s exactly what we’re talking about.”
After the interview, Gadgil was harshly criticized by several groups, including the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism which argued her statement about Israel happily kills children is “redolent of the medieval blood libel.” In response to all the criticism, Gadgil deleted her Twitter account and the BBC offered up a half-apology in response, "While this was a legitimate subject to examine in the interview, we apologise that the language used in this line of questioning was not phrased well and was inappropriate." However, it also insisted that they had covered Jenin in an "impartial and robust way."
Meanwhile, back in the United States, liberals cite the BBC as one of the media outlets they have the most trust in. With such outrageous segments as this, maybe we can see why because left-wing media bias transcends international borders. And as for Bennett, he has a proud history of calling out public broadcasters on anti-Israel bias.
Here is a transcript for the July 4 show:
BBC News
7/4/2023
ANJANA GADGIL: First of all, the Israeli military are calling this a 'military operation,' but we now know that young people are being killed, four of them under eighteen. Is that really what the military set out to do? To kill people between the ages of 16 and 18?”
NAFTALI BENNETT: Quite to the contrary, actually, all 11 people dead there is militants. The fact that there are young terrorists who decide to hold arms is their responsibility. Look, at the end of the day, over the past year or so, we’ve had over 50 Israelis murdered. In many cases by terrorists who were sent from Jenin Camp, armed, trained, and sent to kill Israelis in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and across Israel and Jenin has become an epicenter of terror. So we, unfortunately, had to enter the—this hornet’s nest of terror and neutralize the terror otherwise they’re going to continue killing us. So, in fact, all the Palestinians that were killed are terrorists in this case.
GADGIL: Terrorists, but children. The Israeli forces are happy to kill children.
BENNETT: You know it’s quite remarkable that you’d say that because they’re killing us. Now, if there’s a 17-year old Palestinian that’s shooting at your family, Anjana, what is he?
GADGIL: Under your definition, you’re calling them terrorists, the U.N. are calling them children.
BENNETT: No, no, I’m actually asking you, what would you call a 17-year old person with a rifle shooting at your family and murdering your own family. How would you define that person?
GADGIL: We’re not talking about that. The U.N. has defined them as children.
BENNETT: That’s exactly what we’re talking about.
