Lord Grade claimed that the BBC ‘directly misled’ viewers in a report about the recent wave of stabbing attacks on Israelis

The BBC is facing a new row over its coverage of Israel, after former chairman Michael Grade accused the broadcaster of an ‘inexcusable’ bias.

Lord Grade claimed that the BBC ‘directly misled’ viewers in a report about the recent wave of stabbing attacks on Israelis, by failing to show militant Palestinian groups praising the attacks.

Over the last two months, seven Israelis have been killed and dozens have been wounded in a shooting, a stoning and a series of stabbings.

At least 40 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire, including several identified by Israel as attackers.

But in a letter to BBC director of news James Harding, Lord Grade accused the BBC of drawing unfair comparisons between the Israeli victims of terrorism, and Palestinians terrorists who had been killed by Israeli forces trying to stop them.

It created an ‘equivalence between Israeli victims of terrorism and Palestinians who have been killed by Israeli security forces in the act of carrying out terror attacks,’ he said.

Lord Grade also argued that the controversial report ‘directly misled’ viewers by telling them there was ‘no sign of involvement by militant groups’ in the latest attacks – then confusing them with footage of militants’ banners hanging outside the house of a known terrorist.

‘[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 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.

‘Palestinian Islamic Jihad 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.

He also savaged the BBC for failing to ‘fulfil its obligations to viewers’ by focusing too heavily on one side of the emotional story.

Over the last two months, seven Israelis have been killed and dozens have been wounded in a shooting, a stoning and a series of stabbings

The three-minute report featured an interview with the ‘grief stricken’ father of the 19-year old murderer, who was killed after he stabbed two Israelis.

However, it did not show the emotional toll the recent wave of violence has had on the other side of the political divide.

‘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,’ Lord Grade said.

He said that the BBC’s failure to address ‘the wider context’ was limiting viewers’ ‘awareness and understanding of what is an undoubtedly complex issue’.

However, it did not show the emotional toll the recent wave of violence has had on the other side of the political divide

A BBC spokesman said: ‘We are committed to reporting all aspects of a very complex conflict in a fair and balanced way, reflecting a range of voices. We believe our impartiality is best measured by considering the full spectrum of the BBC’s reporting, rather than an individual story.

‘We will be sending Lord Grade a full response to his letter.’