If you are following Israel's war with Hamas on social media, you'll no doubt see many frustrated posts about BBC bias against Israel and its actions.

It's true they've been responsible for some howlers, such as accusing the Israel Defence Force (IDF) of targeting Arab speakers and medics or claiming that al-Shifa hospital had been "flattened".

But it's probably not so obvious how much BBC journalists are actually waging a serious propaganda war. That is to say, that even in seemingly ordinary news articles, we find language and representations that are not simply biased, but are actually carefully crafted to present Israel as the oppressors, and Hamas as merely freedom fighters.

Take a recent story about British school-kids taking time from their lessons to go on pro-Palestinian demonstrations. The main issues of concern here should be what the teachers and parents might think, whether the police believe some laws have been broken, whether the government is worried that these actions could become more generalised, and so on.

Some of those issues did indeed make it into the article. But here is the context that the BBC helpfully provides us with, to understand the youngsters' actions:

Hamas gunmen launched an unprecedented assault on Israel from the Gaza Strip on 7 October, killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 200 hostages. Israel responded with air strikes on Gaza and has launched a ground offensive. More than 12,000 people have been killed, including more than 4,500 children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

This is incredible, so let's pick it apart.

Plucky Gunmen

First, we're told that it was Hamas gunmen who entered Southern Israel on October 7th, to carry out an assault during which they killed 1,200 people.

Note how each part of this simple sentence assists the other; if Hamas are 'gunmen' then the reader can assume that the people they 'killed' were shot--not tortured or raped before they were murdered. And if they are gunmen who shot people, then the reader will also likely assume that the people that were shot were soldiers. After all, Hamas carried out an 'assault', which sounds all very military, and certainly not a pogrom or massacre at a musical festival or in people's homes.

With just this simple sentence Hamas is turned from a proscribed terrorist organisation, committed to killing Jews and establishing a caliphate, to something more like the Magnificent 7.

This would be bad enough in its cravenness (they call themselves journalists!), but what comes next is what makes this true propaganda.

Because in the second paragraph we hear that Israel responded to these 'gunmen' with airstrikes. And during these airstrikes, 12,000 people were killed, "including 4,500 children".

And how do we know these facts? Because the Gazan health ministry told us.

But can we trust them? Well of course, because the BBC helpfully already told us that although this ministry is Hamas-run, Hamas is but an organisation of plucky gunmen.

Excusing Terrorism

Presented like this, who wouldn't skip school and march? Who wouldn't demand that their MP support a ceasefire? If October 7th was simply a gunfight, then the kids in Queens who rioted and demanded that their teacher was sacked for attending a vigil in support of Israel would have right on their side. We could at least understand their actions.

But October 7th was not a gunfight.

It was an anti-Semitic pogrom, designed to frighten Jews across the globe, and to invoke a swift response from Israel.

And the BBC is playing a very dangerous game by desensitising people to this.