Having commissioned this film, the BBC declined to air it. It said in a statement:
We have come to the conclusion that broadcasting this material risked creating a perception of partiality that would not meet the high standards that the public rightly expect of the BBC. Impartiality is a core principle of BBC News.
Nevertheless, rival Channel4 picked it up and aired it last night. Having watched it, it is clear to me why the BBC passed on it.
I’ll start with a positive. In many instances it acknowledges that the doctors and medics featured have past social media posts hostile to Israel, or are linked to Hamas in some way, including family ties. The producers concede that many of the participants praised the October 7th massacres of Israeli civilians by Hamas. However, this is done a little like those audio-footnotes “terms and conditions apply” in TV adverts. It is an afterthought included in a way so as not to colour the main content or to colour the narrative but in order to ward off criticism later.
Similarly, the fact that much of the supposed ‘facts and figures’ presented was provided by various departments of the Hamas-run government is left to on-screen text before the closing credits to reveal. But at least there is some acknowledgement of this.
I have to say though, after the third or forth voiceover telling us that Doctor So-and-so praised the October 7th attacks, I really stopped caring about what happened to them or sympathising with their complaints and grievances. They were monstrous people living in a monstrous society and frankly, they got what was coming to them. Ironically, the family photos and flashback montages of their lives before the war show a society with modern facilities and prosperity. It only – unintentionally – underlines jut how unnecessary the October 7th attacks were. This is a society which sabotaged itself and destroyed its own future thought its own blind hatred and blood lust. Indeed, the Israelis throughout are referred to as ‘Yahudi’ – “The Jews”.
The film has several failings.
Firstly, it simply repeats Hamas talking points as fact without any evidence. Several supposed medics allege that they were tortured but look perfectly healthy. They allege being subject to all sorts of horrible abuses but rattle these off as if they had seen them in a movie rather than experienced them personally. There are no signs of emotion when they claim to have been tortured in this way or that. They certainly show no physical scars of what they claim. This isn’t stoicism on display, it is seems to be just made up for the sake of a narrative.
In contrast, Israeli explanations are simply dismissed out of hand in the voiceover, despite there being apparent evidence on-screen. They don’t even bother to address credible IDF claims that Hamas operatives dress as paramedics, or use ambulances to transfer personnel and weapons, or that terror-tunnels are located underneath hospitals – using them deliberately as human shields – or that Hamas launches rockets from parking lots and roofs of medical centers. They don’t have a single spokesperson for the Hamas government or military on-screen to answer these allegations or to explain the evidence for them.
I wasn’t always convinced some of the people claimed to be medical staff actually were. Certainly no evidence of their credentials was offered. I don’t think the producers thought it was necessary. Hamas obviously has, and does, pass off it casualties as non-combatants (such as paramedics) who all – implausibly – seem fit young men of fighting age. The one thing conspicuously absent from this film are the Hamas combat casualties. There must the thousands. Where are they being treated? Who is treating them? They are invisible, and unmentioned by the filmmakers.
Let us not forget that Hamas is the government of Gaza. It has been for almost twenty years. No one becomes a health ministry spokesperson or hospital administrator without being endorsed by Hamas and most likely a senior party member.
One of the most disturbing an perplexing scenes shown was of a malnourished child. Here is a screen grab:
I can’t understand how the child got into this state. Of course we’re supposed to believe it is the ‘cruel and unhuman’ Israeli aid blockade. But the nagging question is: how was this child allowed to starve when the doctor is so well fed and healthy and the women in the background could – I don’t mean to fat-shame – stand to lose more than a few pounds? A single child does not get into this state surrounded by chubby adults – unless it is allowed to. I can only suppose that this child has some sort of medical condition unrelated to nutrition. Alternative theories are too horrible to contemplate. But it clearly is not an aid blockade. Perhaps the subtitle speaks volumes: “Tell me what you want, we will get it for you.”
Then there is the issue of supposed Israeli “whistle-blowers”. These are never shown. We only see a silhouette with a voiceover by an actor. Frankly these people could be anyone. They may as well be scripted actors, because no credentials are established. They say their identities have been obscured for their own protection. Ironically, it is Hamas that ‘kneecaps‘ dissenters and whistle-blowers, not Israel. Israel is full of vocal contrarians and they are protected by law.
In short, what we see between the lines – unintended by the producers of this propaganda film – is a society that enjoyed first-world medical facilities overseen by doctors and medics whose own antisemitic blood-lust saw them supporting Hamas and praising the massacre of Israelis (or ‘The Jews’ if you ask them ) on October the 7th, and then reaping what they sowed. Their wives, from what we see of them, seem just as ideologically committed to this death cult. If there is a tragedy here, it is that they have doomed their children to be caught up in this hell. But – as the saying goes – that is war, and it is clear that is what many of these ‘doctors’ chose.
