BBC Retracts Biased Headline on Yerushalayim Terror Attack

The BBC apologized Sunday for a biased headline about Friday’s terror attack in Yerushalayim, following a strong protest from the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

The attack, in which Border Police Staff Sgt. Hadas Malka, Hy”d, 23, was stabbed to death, was headlined, “Three Palestinians Killed After Deadly Stabbing in Jerusalem.”

“We accept that our original headline did not appropriately reflect the nature of the events and subsequently changed it,” the BBC said in a statement. “Whilst there was no intention to mislead our audiences, we regret any offense caused.”

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu personally instructed Foreign Ministry Director General Yuval Rotem to register a strong protest with the BBC, which the Israeli embassy in London then did.

The BBC headline was subsequently revised to “Israeli policewoman stabbed to death in Jerusalem.”

However, Rotem tweeted that the retraction was insufficient — presumably because it did not identify the assailants as terrorists — and warned its viewers to “beware.”

U.S. President Donald Trump’s son Donald Jr. also expressed his outrage.

“You mean after they stabbed a female Israeli police officer to death… right? This is as close to being misleading as possible,” he tweeted.

“Need a new term for this nonsense. Sort of the opposite of victim blaming. How about Culprit Coddling? Maybe Criminal Cozying? Thoughts???” he added.

The BBC has frequently been criticized for anti-Israel bias in its Mideast coverage. Last year, the head of Israel’s Government Press Office issued a warning to the broadcaster after a similarly offensive headline about a terror incident in which two Israelis were murdered.

That headline read “Palestinian Shot Dead After Jerusalem Attack Kills Two.” The BBC later changed its headline to “Jerusalem: Palestinian Kills Two Israelis in Old City.”