BBC quoted Palestinian prisoner Sara Al Suwaisa saying: “Only Hamas cared” amid descriptions of her ordeal in Israeli prison. (Screengrab via BBC News)
The BBC addressed allegations from Respond Crisis Translation Monday, which claimed the broadcaster incorrectly translated an interview with a released Palestinian prisoner, suggesting she praised Hamas.
In the disputed BBC clip, posted during a live blog feed of its coverage of the hostage exchange between Hamas and Israel, a subtitled translation quoted released Palestinian prisoner Sara Al Suwaisa saying: “Only Hamas cared” amid descriptions of her ordeal in Israeli prison.
Respond Crisis Translation took to X with a comprehensive translation of the interview clip, asserting that the original interview did not mention Hamas at all.
In the thread the language advocacy group called the BBC’s version a “dangerous” and “egregious mistranslation” and a “racist fabrication that fans the flames of war.”
“Mistranslations such as these – intentional or not – are exacerbating the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza,” the group said.
Soon after, the BBC removed the clip from the feed “due to an error in the editing process.” Backlash followed, with concerns that the original clip didn’t include any of the quoted references.
Hamad Bin Khalifa University Associate Professor Marc Owen Jones pointed out in an accompanying thread that in an extended version of Al Suwaisa’s interview footage available on Al Jazeera in full that she did say that she was “proud” of Hamas and “loved them.”
Jones continued: “the BBC appear to have taken the sentiment and some of the words from the Al Jazeera video and inserted [it] into their video.”
Responding to Respond Crisis Translation’s X thread, the BBC again admitted an editing error led to inaccurate subtitles in the initial clip. A revised version, they assert, includes the woman’s reference to Hamas.
The new translation includes Al Suwaisa’s description of the harsh conditions: “The Israelis came to us at 10 o’clock and informed us there was a deal for exchange. We were isolated for a month.They fired tear gas at us. We felt we were humiliated. We had to keep head scarves on all day long. None of us could recognise the other. Some [of] us were tortured and weren’t dealt with as POWs and nobody could help anyone else. They locked us in and in dark rooms. We suffered from cold in winter. They sprayed pepper at us and left us suffering in the wards.
Al Suwaisa concluded: “Nobody felt our sufferings. Only Hamas felt our sufferings. We thank them a lot and love each other a lot.”
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