Abdullah al-Yazuri
 Abdullah al-Yazuri  | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 2012 |
| Nationality | Palestinian |
Abdullah holds the BBC responsible for his fate | |
Abdullah al-Yazuri is a thirteen-year-old Palestinian boy who featured in the BBC documentary "Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone", first as a character then as the narrator.[1] Pressure from Tzipi Hotovely and the Israel lobby forced the BBC to take down the film.[2]
Background
Abdullah al-Yazuri told Middle East Eye he has faced harassment over his role narrating the film but that the BBC has not reached out to apologise.
Having survived Israel’s deadly war on Gaza, which has killed at least 48,380 Palestinians, Abdullah’s dream is to study journalism in distant Britain, where his father got his PhD.
But in recent weeks, Abdullah has found himself at the centre of a national row in Britain, triggered by his role narrating a BBC documentary on Gaza’s children, "Gaza: How To Survive a Warzone."
He said that he had hoped that the documentary could “spread the message of the suffering that children in Gaza witness”.
Instead, just four days after the documentary aired on 17 February 2025, the BBC pulled it from its streaming platform, iPlayer, after an intense campaign by pro-Israel groups and rival British media outlets.
Their criticism centred over revelations that Abdullah’s father, Ayman al-Yazuri, is a deputy minister of agriculture in Gaza’s government, which is administered by Hamas.
Harassment and abuse
The withdrawal of the documentary was coupled with torrents of online harassment and abuse targeting Abdullah and his family:
“I’ve been working for over nine months on this documentary for it to just get wiped and deleted… it was very sad to me.” Abdullah, who had spent around 60 hours obtaining footage, said.
“It was pretty disappointing and sad to see this backlash against me and my family, and this harassment," he continued, adding: “Some anonymous people, let’s say, had tried to hide the true suffering of Gaza’s children by attacking me and my family."
He told MEE that the affair has caused him serious “mental pressure” and made him fear for his safety.
Now, he says, he holds the BBC responsible for his fate.[3]
Related Document
| Title | Type | Publication date | Author(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Document:New BBC documentary ‘The Road to 7th October’ is an utter travesty | blog post | 9 March 2025 | Jonathan Cook | BBC's documentary "Israel and the Palestinians: The Road to 7th October" breathes life back into a racist western narrative – one that made the genocide in Gaza possible, and justifies Israel’s return this month to using mass starvation as a weapon of war against the Palestinian people. |
