Very serious issues of balance and impartiality raised

The Sbarro massacre was a Palestinian terrorist attack on a pizzeria in downtown Jerusalem on 9 August 2001 in which 15 civilians were killed, including 7 children and a pregnant woman, and 130 wounded. The mastermind of the attack, Ahlam Tamimi, was convicted by an Israeli military tribunal and received multiple life sentences, but was released as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange with Hamas in 2011, when Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was swapped in exchange for 1,027 Palestinian and Arab-Israeli prisoners. Tamimi now hosts a television show in Jordan, and is something of a celebrity there.

An October episode of the BBC Arabic Trending programme featured an uncritical interview with Tamimi which, unsurprisingly, didn't go down too well with the relatives of those she'd helped to slaughter. From the Jewish Chronicle:

Arnold Roth, whose daughter Malki was one of 15 civilians killed in the blast inside Jerusalem's Sbarro restaurant, had met with BBC executives last month to discuss the fallout from the October 8 broadcast of an episode of the BBC Arabic Trending programme.

The show included an interview from Jordan with Ahlam Tamimi, ringleader of the 2001 bombing, who used the opportunity to launch an appeal to be reunited with her husband Nizar, also a convicted terrorist who was deported by the Jordanian authorities to Qatar.

The families of Tamimi's victims were among those to complain to the BBC about the report – and a review by the corporation found the interview was in breach of editorial guidelines.

The JC understands that a meeting between Mr Roth and executives from BBC World Service and BBC Arabic took place last month after the Israeli criticised the apology aired over the interview as “empty, cruel and pointless”.

During the November 9 meeting with Jamie Angus, head of BBC World Service, and BBC Arabic head Samir Farah, Mr Roth raised concern that interview with Tamimi went beyond a lapse [in] editorial guidelines and was in fact at odds with the bedrock of journalistic and ethical values.

Mr Roth also stressed that he was a supporter of much the BBC does.

But he suggested the Tamimi interview  – which was promoted on social media under the hashtag ‘Ahalm Tamimi, your voice is loud and clear’ – airbrushed out her victims in the terror attack, failed to mention her insistence that the bomb was placed in a restaurant frequented by religious Jews, and described her crimes as allegations.

Lord Michael Grade, former chairman of the BBC, had been amongst those to criticise the interview saying  there were “very serious issues of balance and impartiality raised” by the broadcast and the corporation, and possibly Ofcom, should investigate.

The BBC considers the matter closed after it issued the apology. I'm not sure a similar light-weight apology on behalf of, say, a sympathetic interview with a convicted IRA bomber would be quite so easily dismissed.