No, BBC didn't remove editor Jeremy Bowen from Gaza over human shield comment | Fact check

Isabel C. Morales, USA TODAY
·3 min read
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The claim: BBC removed journalist Jeremy Bowen from Gaza coverage over a human shields comment

A Dec. 6 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) claims a major international news organization removed a war correspondent for a comment he made.

“BBC has removed Jeremy Bowen from Gaza, its most experienced Middle East correspondent, for saying ‘He had not seen any evidence of Hamas using civilians as human shields,’" the post says. "Israel complaint (sic) to BBC and said that this was pro-Hamas and BBC immediately pulled him out of Gaza.”

The post received more than 8,000 likes in a little over two weeks. Another version of the claim was shared more than 1,500 times on X, formerly Twitter.

More from the USA TODAY Fact-Check Team:

Our rating: False

The BBC did not remove Middle East correspondent Jeremy Bowen from Gaza and confirmed that in a message on X. Bowen has been reporting about the Israel-Hamas conflict from the Middle East.

Old false claim about Bowen, BBC recirculates

Claims that Bowen was removed from Gaza coverage have circulated online since at least 2014. The BBC responded to claims then with a blog post saying this was a baseless conspiracy theory.

The BBC said new iterations of the claim are also nonsense.

“This is complete rubbish – and was rubbish when it last circulated in 2014," the BBC said in a Nov. 17 X post. "Jeremy is currently reporting from London and will be back in the Middle East soon.”

Bowen later appeared in the West Bank in a news report aired on BBC on Dec. 3. He also appeared in reports about the conflict from the region on Dec. 8 and Dec. 11, days after the viral post was shared.

The Israel-Hamas conflict has led to the deaths of at least 68 journalists and media workers between Oct. 7 and Dec. 21, according to an analysis released by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

"Repeated communications blackouts and a lack of fuel, food and housing due to the bombardment and limited humanitarian assistance has severely stifled reporting in Gaza, where international journalists have had almost no independent access for most of the war," said the report.

The Instagram post asserts Bowen made a controversial comment about human shields, which involve placing legitimate military targets in and around residential and commercial centers. This claim appears to stem from an article Bowen wrote for The New Statesman in 2014, titled "Jeremy Bowen’s Gaza notebook: I saw no evidence of Hamas using Palestinians as human shields."

The use of human shields is a war crime, according to the International Criminal Court.

Fact check: Jerusalem deputy mayor referred to Hamas militants as 'subhuman' in X post

USA TODAY reached out to the Instagram user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: BBC didn't remove editor from Gaza war over a comment | Fact check