A group of senior King’s Counsel in the UK have written to the media regulator Ofcom complaining about the use of the work “militant” to describe Hamas in the wake of the weekend’s mass terrorist attack against Israel. 

In an open letter to Ofcom the senior lawyers wrote, “on 7th October 2023, Hamas launched a large invasion of the State of Israel which resulted variously in the slaughter, rape and abduction of over a thousand Israeli citizens. That is nothing controversial about that. It is a fact.” 

“The BBC has fallen well below the standards in its Editorial Values in its reporting of that invasion and the consequences therefrom.” 

“In terms of impartiality, it is beyond doubt that the BBC has not shown impartiality in terms of the nomenclature it uses to refer to Hamas as ‘militants’. 

“Impartiality necessarily means not supporting any sides. This means providing the most unequivocal accurate and/or universally agreed descriptor in a case such as this.” 

The letter points out that Hamas has been proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the UK government, and therefore that the legal position is not a matter of debate or discussion.  

The letter goes on to state, “The question then arises: how can it be impartial (i.e. not taking sides) to describe an organisation in terms which departs from its established legal meaning and substitutes a word which refers to an organisation which is violent or aggressive but not necessarily engaged in terrorism and not necessarily proscribed? In short, by a significantly ‘watered-down’ descriptor which is less legally precise.” 

“The answer is it cannot be impartial to do so. It necessarily involves the BBC ‘stepping into the arena’ and taking sides as to describe Hamas in more sympathetic terms.” 

“Put another way: in try to be impartial, the BBC has become partial.” 

“There is a wider point. The legal descriptor is correct and reflects the indisputable reality of Hamas. To give but two examples: it is an organisation which murders (and has just murdered) many hundreds of non-combatant innocents, and it is an organisation which calls for the genocide of the Jewish people by virtue of its founding Charter.” 

“Therefore, the use of the word ‘terrorist’ is neither confusing nor imprecise. It is a very accurate statement within the natural use of the English language as to what Hamas is engaged in.” 

“If the BBC is only declining to use the word ‘terrorist’ in the context of Israel then this is further evidence of partiality (by specifically discriminating in this case only).” 

The letter concludes by noting that the leader of every major political party in the UK agreed with the use of the word ‘terrorist’ to describe Hamas. 

By contrast, in 2022 the NZ government continued its designation of Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades (the military wing of Hamas) as a terrorist organisation under NZ law but decided against broadening the designation to include the political wing of Hamas (even though it noted that there is some overlap in the miliary and political membership of the group). 

MFAT officials concluded in August 2022 that to designate Hamas as a terrorist organisation “could limit New Zealand’s ability to engage in pursuit of our national interests in the future.” 

Following the weekend’s terrorist atrocities, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins asked officials to consider whether Hamas should now be designated a terrorist organisation. If New Zealand were to do so, it would bring the country back in line with our closest security partners, the US, UK, EU, Canada and Australia all of whom have already designated Hamas as a terrorist organisation. 

A spokesperson for the New Zealand Jewish Council said, “The armed Gazans who murdered over a thousand of our fellow Jews in Israel a few days ago belonged to the part of Hamas that is designated as ‘terrorist’ by the New Zealand Government. Calling them ‘militants’ is downplaying what they are – terrorists.” 

Act Party leader David Seymour has called for Hamas to be designated a terrorist organisation in New Zealand. On the day of the atrocities, Seymour stated, “Someone in New Zealand needs to say this, and we can’t rely on our current Foreign Minister, Nanaia Mahuta. Act utterly condemns the appalling attacks by Hamas terrorists against Israel.” 

A spokesperson for National confirmed that it would follow advice from MFAT on the issue. On the day of the attacks, National Party leader Christopher Luxon said, “We condemn these Hamas attacks on Israel and the violence and suffering being inflicted on innocent civilians. There is no justification for these attack and Israel has a right to defend itself.”