The BBC isn’t telling the truth about Israel’s nuclear arms

The BBC is failing to properly inform the public about Israel’s possession of nuclear arms, new analysis by Declassified shows.

The British broadcaster widely reported Israel’s attacks on Iran which began on 13 June, and US airstrikes on the country that took place on 22 June.

Both Israel and the US claimed their attacks, which are widely seen as illegal, were to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapons capability.

But the irony of two nuclear armed-states attacking a non-nuclear state to prevent it acquiring such weapons appears to have been lost on the BBC.

The British broadcaster appears to barely notice that Israel is a nuclear-armed state.

We analysed the BBC’s online reporting (excluding videos) for 13-26 June, looking at all articles tagged with either Iran or Israel, and found 103 articles and a further 821 short pieces in the BBC’s live written reporting.

The possibility that Israel might possess nuclear arms is mentioned in just six of those 103 articles. In five of those six, there is a single sentence that often occurs as the last line of the article: “Israel is widely believed to have nuclear weapons, although it neither confirms nor denies this”.

Only one article, dated 18 June, contains a slightly longer consideration of Israeli nukes in its ninth and last section. This is a 96-word response to the question: “Does Israel have nuclear weapons?”, which is part of a “Your questions answered” piece that suggests BBC viewers might be interested in the issue.

Its first sentence is: “There are estimates that it has about 90 nuclear warheads. But the real answer is we do not know”.

It then repeats Israel’s position that it “neither confirmed nor denied a nuclear capability” and its final sentence says again that “there is no overt declaration by Israel” as to its possession of nuclear weapons.

Israeli weapons

While many of the BBC’s hundreds of articles about Iran quote Israeli officials on Tehran’s nuclear programme, the broadcaster is failing to consult independent sources of information about Israel’s nuclear arms.

Swedish research institute SIPRI estimates that Israel has at least 90 nuclear warheads but that the number could reach as high as 300. Israel’s army, air force and navy are all assessed to be nuclear-armed.

Various sources suggest that Israel’s submarines have been refitted to carry missiles armed with nuclear weapons. As long ago as 2012, German magazine Der Spiegel reported that “experts in Germany and Israel have confirmed that nuclear-tipped missiles have been deployed on the vessels”.

Furthermore, SIPRI’s latest assessment is that Israel is “believed to be modernizing its nuclear arsenal and appears to be upgrading its plutonium production reactor site at Dimona” in the Negev desert.

This is surely a consequential issue in light of the alleged reasons given by the US and Israel to bomb Iran. While failing to report Israel’s nuclear “modernisation” programme, BBC articles have regularly quoted Israeli officials alleging that Iran is taking steps to “weaponise” its “enriched uranium stockpile”.

Non-proliferation

Our analysis of the BBC’s shorter articles, which are contained in its live reporting, found only three mentions of Israeli nuclear arms in 821 pieces.

One of these short pieces repeats the wording in the BBC article of 18 June mentioned above.

The two others contain more information. One states “what is already widely believed to be an open secret – that Israel has nuclear weapons of its own, stretching back to the 1960s”, adding that “most estimates put Israel’s arsenal at about 90 nuclear warheads”.

It also correctly states what hundreds of other BBC articles do not cover, that Israel “is also not a signatory of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), an international agreement designed to stop the spread of nuclear weapons”.

The third short piece repeats that Israel is “widely believed” to have nuclear arms and “has not signed [the NPT] because it pursues a policy of nuclear ambiguity as a tactic against foes and does not allow inspections of its nuclear facilities, which would be required under the NPT.”

It then adds important context missed from its other reporting: “Iran, Arab countries and others have long demanded that Israel be pressured into disarming and being transparent about its nuclear programme, viewing Israel’s supposed arsenal as a source of regional tension and a threat.”

‘Military balance’

The paucity of BBC coverage of Israeli nuclear arms contrasts with the glossy maps, analysis and extensive commentary on Iran’s nuclear programme, including headlines such as “What is a centrifuge production site?” and “The range of Iran’s ballistic missiles”.

Unreported by the BBC is that Israel’s cruise missiles are believed to have a range of around 1,500 miles and can reach Iran with a warhead weighing up to 200 kilogrammes.

An “in depth” BBC analysis on 26 June noted that “Iran’s ballistic missile silos” seemed to have “escaped the destruction” launched by Israel in the recent attacks, and that “Israel will be concerned about the remaining possible 1,500 [missiles] still in the hands of the Iranian side”.

But the “in depth” article didn’t mention Israel’s nuclear or other missile capabilities or any Iranian “concerns” about them.

Top BBC journalists such as security correspondent Frank Gardner, defence correspondent Jonathan Beale and Middle East bureau chief Jo Floto, have all written articles about the conflict over Iran’s nuclear programme without mentioning Israeli nuclear weapons.

Beale’s article had a sub-heading entitled: “The BBC looks at the military balance in the latest war in the Middle East”. Even then, no mention was made of Israel’s nuclear arms in this so-called “military balance”.

One of Gardner’s articles about Israel’s attacks on Iran has the sub-heading “Talk of a nuclear arms race”, which mentioned half a dozen countries in the Middle East and globally, but conspicuously failed to mention Israel.

Tom Mills, a lecturer at Aston University and author of a book on the BBC, said: “The BBC fails to report impartially on many important areas of public policy, but foreign policy has always been the most striking.

“It’s not just that basic journalistic principles don’t seem to apply when it comes to the actions of the British state and its allies. There’s a consistent failure to put events in their proper context. So even when some independent or critical perspectives appear, the public are still left completely misinformed.”

The BBC told Declassified: “The point of contention during this conflict has been Iran’s nuclear capability, which we have examined in significant detail. Throughout our reporting we have referred to Israel’s long-discussed nuclear capabilities to give audiences context and understanding of the broader situation.”