Tala Halawa
Tala Halawa is a Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah and a former BBC News reporter.[1] She was dismissed from the organization after a series of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic comments.[2]
Career[edit]
Tala Halawa began her work at BBC News and BBC Monitoring as a digital journalist and Palestinian affairs specialist in 2017.[2][3] She published several reports about the Israel-Palestine conflicts during her times in BBC.[4]
Controversy[edit]
In May 2021, Tala Halawa was found that she had posted anti-Israel and anti-Semitic tweets in the midst of the 2014 Gaza war. In one tweet from July 2014, Halawa wrote: "#Israel is more #Nazi than #Hitler! Oh, #HitlerWasRight #IDF go to hell. #PrayForGaza." and in another tweet, shared by pro-Israel media HonestReporting, Halawa wrote: "Zionists can't get enough of our blood."[5][6] As Halawa was reporting on the 2021 Israeli-Palestinian Crisis, doubts about her credibility as a neutral and objective reporter were raised. The BBC then launched an investigation into her social media activity. A BBC spokesperson stated that these tweets were "very seriously”.[3] In June 2021, the BBC announced that Halawa no longer worked for the BBC without providing further details.[7][8][6]
Halawa later issued a statement on twitter, acknowledging that the post was “ignorant and offensive,” but was written by a “young Palestinian woman tweeting in the heat of the moment as I witnessed horrific, undeserved deaths met with international media silence and used a popular hashtag at the time without thinking.” She added that the tweet does not reflect her views and offered a “heartfelt apology for posting without thinking.” However, she went on to insist that her post was not grounds for dismissal and blame her dismissal on "external pro-Israel interest groups," and "pro-Israel censorship campaigns, and said that she had been dismissed due to the desire to "eliminate Palestinians from public life." Halawa also indicated that she was an easy target “both as a Palestinian and as a woman of color.” [9]
Her statement, blaming her dismissal on "pro-Israel groups," has been seen by many as a deflection and excuse, rather than an apology. Media analyst Emanuel Miller responded to Halawa that she downplayed her own antisemitism and portraying herself as the victim instead.[10]
References[edit]
- ↑ "https://twitter.com/halawatala". Twitter. Retrieved 2021-12-02. External link in
|title=(help) - ↑ 2.0 2.1 Zitser, Joshua. "Palestinian BBC journalist who tweeted that 'Hitler was right' is being investigated by the broadcaster". Business Insider. Retrieved 2021-12-02.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "BBC investigating journalist who tweeted 'Hitler was right'". The Independent. 2021-05-24. Retrieved 2021-12-02.
"The public broadcaster said it was looking into tweets posted by Palestinian affairs specialist Tala Halawa before she began working for the corporation." "A BBC spokesperson said: These tweets predate the individual’s employment with the BBC, but we are nevertheless taking this very seriously and are investigating.”
Unknown parameter|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "What Bella Hadid's stance says about Israel-Gaza". BBC News. Retrieved 2021-12-02.
- ↑ "https://twitter.com/honestreporting/status/1396370685782597633". Twitter. Retrieved 2021-12-02. External link in
|title=(help) - ↑ 6.0 6.1 "BBC reporter fired for "#HitlerWasRight" tweet says she's victim of "bad-faith intimidation"". Newsweek. 2021-07-14. Retrieved 2021-12-02.
- ↑ "BBC writer who tweeted 'Hitler was right' is no longer with broadcaster". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. Retrieved 2021-07-05.
- ↑ Liphshiz, Cnaan. "BBC writer who tweeted 'Hitler was right' no longer works at broadcaster". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 2021-07-05.
- ↑ staff, T. O. I. "BBC journalist fired for 'Hitler was right' tweet blames 'pro-Israel mob'". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 2021-12-02.
- ↑ "Ex-BBC reporter: I was dismissed because of 'pro-Israel censorship'". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. Retrieved 2021-12-02.
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