Lord Grade, the former BBC Chairman, has accused the corporation of “inexcusable” bias in its coverage of the recent wave of stabbing attacks on Israelis.

In a letter to James Harding, the BBC Director of News, Lord Grade criticised a report by the BBC correspondent Orla Guerin, which he claimed “directly misled” viewers by failing to acknowledge the involvement of militant Palestinian groups.

Seven Israelis have been killed and dozens wounded in the stabbings and wider unrest. At least 40 Palestinians, including several of the attackers, have been killed during weeks of spiralling violence.

Lord Grade argued that the BBC had failed to “fulfil its obligation to viewers” by not showing Palestinian Authority officials praising the attacks, during Guerin’s report on 18 October.

The Israeli–Palestinian conflict intensifies Show all 10 1 /10 The Israeli–Palestinian conflict intensifies The Israeli–Palestinian conflict intensifies Medics evacuate a wounded man from the scene of an attack in Jerusalem. A Palestinian rammed a vehicle into a bus stop then got out and started stabbing people before he was shot dead AP The Israeli–Palestinian conflict intensifies Israeli ZAKA emergency response members carry the body of an Israeli at the scene of a shooting attack in Jerusalem. A pair of Palestinian men boarded a bus in Jerusalem and began shooting and stabbing passengers, while another assailant rammed a car into a bus station before stabbing bystanders, in near-simultaneous attacks that escalated a month long wave of violence AP The Israeli–Palestinian conflict intensifies Youths attend the funeral of Ahmad Sharake who was shot during clashes with Israeli forces in Jelazun refugee camp, near Ramallah, West Bank. Tensions in the area continue to run high following a series of stabbing attacks that have occurred around Israel in clashes between Palestinian youths and Israeli security forces Getty Images The Israeli–Palestinian conflict intensifies Palestinians throw molotov cocktail during clashes with Israeli troops near Ramallah, West Bank. Recent days have seen a series of stabbing attacks in Israel and the West Bank that have wounded several Israelis AP The Israeli–Palestinian conflict intensifies Women cry during the funeral of Palestinian teenager Ahmad Sharaka, 13, who was shot dead by Israeli forces during clashes at a checkpoint near Ramallah, at the family house in the Palestinian West Bank refugee camp of Jalazoun, Ramallah AP The Israeli–Palestinian conflict intensifies A wounded Palestinian boy and his father hold hands at a hospital after their house was brought down by an Israeli air strike in Gaza Reuters The Israeli–Palestinian conflict intensifies Palestinians look on after a protester is shot by Israelis soldiers during clashes at the Howara checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus EPA The Israeli–Palestinian conflict intensifies A lawyer wearing his official robes kicks a tear gas canister back toward Israeli soldiers during a demonstration by scores of Palestinian lawyers called for by the Palestinian Bar Association in solidarity with protesters at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, near Ramallah, West Bank AP The Israeli–Palestinian conflict intensifies Undercover Israeli soldiers detain a Palestinian in Ramallah Reuters The Israeli–Palestinian conflict intensifies Palestinian youth burn tyres during clashes with Israeli soldiers close to the Jewish settlement of Bet El, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, after Israel barred Palestinians from Jerusalem's Old City as tensions mounted following attacks that killed two Israelis and wounded a child

The veteran broadcasting executive said the report had implied “equivalence between Israeli victims of terrorism and Palestinians who have been killed by Israeli security forces in the act of carrying out terror attacks”.

Lord Grade wrote: “An emotional interview is conducted with the father of a dead Palestinian youth who had been killed committing a fatal terror attack. However, the report failed to show the emotional distress caused to Israelis by any of these recent attacks. This is inexcusable.

“Additionally, it was improper of the correspondent to claim that ‘there’s no sign of involvement by militant groups’, before immediately showing footage of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) banners at the home of a 19-year-old terrorist who carried out a deadly knife attack at Lion’s Gate in Jerusalem on October 3.

“PIJ is a well-known Palestinian terror organisation and it has since claimed responsibility for the attack and been praised by Hamas, another internationally proscribed terror organisation. This directly misleads viewers”.

Lord Grade said the coverage had failed to show stone-throwing Palestinians and failed to give viewers “the wider context, thereby limiting their awareness and understanding of what is an undoubtedly complex issue”. Lord Grade also criticised a headline on the BBC News website earlier in October.

The BBC said it was examining Lord Grade’s letter, which was published in the Jewish Chronicle, and would respond in due course.

The award-winning Guerin, now based in Cairo, has previously faced criticism over her reporting of Israel. The Israeli government accused her of “deep-seated bias against Israel” in 2004.

Last week the BBC apologised for a Radio 4 report which claimed that Israeli authorities only detained Palestinian terror suspects without trial. “The script shouldn’t have referred to administrative detention only being used against Palestinian militant suspects. We are sorry for this,” the BBC told a complainant in an email.