After giving a Green Party campaigner, who stands accused of legitimizing the October 7 massacre of, "free rein" to take on a Jewish journalist during a prominent television program, the BBC faces mounting criticism, the Daily Mail reported.
Earlier this month, the Greens' conference endorsed a contentious "Zionism is racism" resolution. Ashok Kumar, who teaches at the University of London's Birkbeck, was invited onto "Politics Live" to discuss the measure.
Kumar stated that linking Zionism, which holds that Jews deserve a state in the land of their forefathers, to Judaism was "antisemitic," as he sparred on the panel with The New Statesman's Rachel Cunliffe, Lord Hannan and Baroness Chakrabarti.
At that point Cunliffe said, "I am a Jewish woman being called an antisemite by somebody who…" but Kumar cut her off before she finished, and Baroness Chakrabarti could be heard calling his remarks "appalling."
Afterward, Cunliffe said, "I don't think you would sit here and lecture somebody of any other religion or race on what counted as bigotry or racism towards them in the way that you have explicitly called me antisemitic."
On X, Kumar subsequently seemed to gloat that Alex Forsyth, the presenter, along with everyone else on the panel "looked like they were about to cry at the end."
Kumar had stirred outrage before: his post dated October 7, 2023, paired a photo taken at the Nova music festival, site of the killing of 378 Israelis, with the words "Sometimes partying on stolen land next to a concentration camp where a million people are starved has consequences."
Reacting to the episode, Labour Against Antisemitism's Alex Hearn said, "It is staggering that the BBC invited him to come on air and then gave him free rein to launch a disgusting attack against a Jewish guest and tell her she was wrong about her identity and experiences of antisemitism."
For its part, the BBC stated, "The BBC features a range of voices from across the political spectrum to talk about topical issues – their policies are scrutinized and their views appropriately challenged."
Subsequently, Kumar said he neither supports Hamas nor sanctions harming civilians, the Daily Mail reported.
Of the remark about tears, he said it was "a figure of speech describing not specifically Ms Cunliffe, but all of the other participants appearing frustrated that they had run out of arguments against my points."
