BBC faces backlash as journalist accused of anti-Israel bias covers Iran war

GB News can reveal Ms Nabil has reported as the BBC's Arabic bilingual correspondent at least seven times since March 1.

The Committee for Accuracy in the Middle East Reporting and Analysis (Camera) is now putting pressure on the BBC to take action.

The campaign group, which has sought to highlight anti-Israel bias since the 1982 Lebanon War, pointed out Ms Nabil previously liked posts describing October 7 as "a morning of hope". Hamas, the group behind October 7 attacks, was designated a terror organisation in the UK on November 26, 2021.

Other posts Ms Nabil liked accused Israel of being an "occupation state" and justified the death of Israeli civilians as "legitimate resistance".

"The continued employment of BBC staff members who have publicly endorsed or trivialised terrorism should not be tolerated, least of all when they are assigned to cover conflicts involving Israel, the United States, and their allies," a Camera spokesman told GB News.

"Sally Nabil, who repeatedly 'liked' hateful posts which fail to distinguish civilians from combatants, is wholly unfit for her current role, whether she is reporting on the Iran war, the aftermath of Israeli strikes in Lebanon, a past US-Israel summit in Washington, DC, or—perhaps most outrageously—on Gaza Strip 'journalists' whose extreme social media records resemble her own."

Ms Nabil also released a video in August 2025 about the "everyday suffering" of Wesam Abu Zeid.

Abu Zeid works for state-owned, Arabic-speaking media outlets, operating in both France and Algeria.

Mr Abu Zeid previously posted in July 2017: "Don't forget and be certain. More than 1,500 million Muslims will pursue you until the Day of Judgment.

"Do not forget that the Crusaders occupied Jerusalem for 90 years and were gone. The Jews have occupied it for 67 years and will be gone [all the same]."

Another post, published in November 2014, added: "May Allah bless these men who avenge our Jerusalem; they deserve all our love, respect, appreciation, and salute, and that we would pray for mercy for this operation's two perpetrators after their martyrdom.

"They create things out of nothing, and with their [pure] white weapons, they made the extremists' day a black one."

It is not known whether Ms Nabil was aware of Mr Abu Zeid's posts at the time of releasing her video.

There is no suggestion that Ms Nabil herself posted content supporting terrorism rather than "liking" posts made by others.

GB News approached Ms Nabil for comment on her social media activity and did not receive a response.

A BBC spokesman also rejected calls for Ms Nabil to no longer provide coverage on the Iran war and appeared to suggest that following an investigation, no further action had been deemed necessary.

"Sally Nabil is a correspondent for the BBC and so will continue to appear on air to report on news events," a spokesman told GB News.

"We have previously made it clear that we take allegations of breaches of our social media guidance very seriously and we took urgent action to investigate.

"We do not comment on individual staff matters; however, if we find breaches, we take the appropriate action."

The BBC has been marred by allegations of bias since the October 7 attack in 2023.

The BBC’s Arabic news channel "minimised Israeli suffering" in the war against Gaza in order to "paint Israel as the aggressor", a leaked internal report said.

Claims against Israel were said to have been "raced to air" without appropriate checks, while BBC Arabic allegedly gave more time to statements from Hamas.

The memo also stated the channel had "a desire always to believe the worst about Israel", while giving "unjustifiable weight" to Hamas' claims about the death toll in Gaza.

According to The Telegraph, the memo includes an example of one man who described Israelis as less than human, who appeared 522 times in the same period.

Responding to reports of the memo at the time, a BBC spokesman said: "While we don’t comment on leaked documents, when the BBC receives feedback, it takes it seriously and considers it carefully.

"With regard to BBC News Arabic, where mistakes have been made or errors have occurred, we have acknowledged them at the time and taken action.

"We have also previously acknowledged that certain contributors should not have been used and have improved our processes to avoid a repeat of this."

GB News has contacted Mr Abu Zeid for comment.