Jeremy Clarkson has laid into the BBC as the organisation remains embroiled over its documentary 'Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone'.
The national broadcaster has faced a torrent of criticism after it emerged one of the film's key contributors was the son of a senior Hamas official.
When watching the show as it first aired, Clarkson revealed he immediately remarked: “Something’s off here.”
The 64-year-old split from others in the media world calling for the programme's return and slammed the organisation for running it in the first place.
Calling on his three decades in broadcasting while writing in his column for The Sun, the 64-year-old revealed he quickly detected issues with the programme.
The BBC has faced criticism for featuring the son of a Hamas chief in their documentary
BBC / Apple TV
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Most of all, the doc’s “awfully clean and well fed” main character – 14-year-old Abdullah Al-Yazouri.
It was soon revealed that the boy was the son of Ayman Al-Yazouri, the deputy Agriculture minister for Hamas.
The fallout from this revelation quickly forced the BBC to apologise and pull the programme for their iPlayer service.
However, Clarkson’s observations went beyond this as he identified “telltale signs that something is not real”.
Clarkson immediate felt "something was off" about the programme
Getty
The former Top Gear presenter called into question “handily discarded teddy bears” and children “pretending” to carry stretchers.
He even rubbished the claims Al-Yazouri was an agriculture minister, arguing that Gaza had no farmland to manage.
Instead, Clarkson implied he may have a more sinister role – not unlike “CIA types” in Moscow masquerading as cultural attaches.
Regarding the BBC’s decision the run the programme and promote it so heavily, the 64-year-old was damning.
Clarkson argued that there were two equally embarrassing explanations for the documentary.
Firstly, that the BBC has been “duped” into accidentally producing Hamas “propaganda”.
Clarkson fumed at the BBC for either being 'duped' or 'biased'
Getty
Alternatively, he suggested the organisation may have aired the show because it was “blinded by ‘river to the sea’ pro-Palestine bias”.
In their apology, the BBC said they had “identified serious flaws in the making of this programme.”
The broadcaster added: "Some of these were made by the production company and some by the BBC; all of them are unacceptable.
"BBC News takes full responsibility for these and the impact that these have had on the corporation's reputation. We apologise for this...
“While the intent of the documentary was aligned with our purpose - to tell the story of what is happening around the world, even in the most difficult and dangerous places - the processes and execution of this programme fell short of our expectations.
“Although the programme was made by an independent production company, who were commissioned to deliver a fully compliant documentary, the BBC has ultimate editorial responsibility for this programme as broadcast."
