‘The kidnapped baby is torturing you?’: BBC satirized hours before real-life apology

Israel’s version of “Saturday Night Live” took another swipe at the British Broadcasting Corporation on Tuesday over its coverage of the war in Gaza, with an inordinately sympathetic spoof interview of Hamas terror chief Yahya Sinwar.

The skit from Keshet TV’s long-running satirical show “Eretz Nehederet” (“A Wonderful Country”) aired hours before the BBC, in real life, was forced to apologize for one of its presenters saying that IDF soldiers who entered Shifa Hospital in Gaza City “were targeting people including medical teams and Arab speakers,” after she mangled a report that actually said Israeli troops at the hospital were accompanied by “medical teams and Arabic-speaking soldiers.”

Kicking off the “Eretz Nehederet” clip, a BBC anchor named Rachel says, “Good evening from London. Thirty-nine days after Hamas freedom fighters peacefully attacked Israel, we have now an exclusive interview with its leader Yahya Sinwar.”

“Yes. Good evening, Rachel. Let me just correct you. There were also freedom rapists and freedom butchers,” Sinwar says.

“Of course, of course. I apologize,” concedes Rachel.

The anchor then asks the terror chief about efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, which Sinwar says he supports.

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar׳s exclusive interview on BBC pic.twitter.com/KALi1gNWlH

— ארץ נהדרת (@Eretz_Nehederet) November 14, 2023

“The situation in Gaza is terrible, Rachel. All innocent civilians are running out of town. So we are left without protection,” he laments.

“With no human shield at all. So unfair!” the anchor responds.

“And our hospitals, our schools, have all run out of rockets. How are we supposed to kill Jews like this?” Sinwar adds. “I plead to the world, we need a ceasefire. We are tired. We need a break. Don’t forget, we started earlier than the Israelis.”

“So unfair, so unfair. But I understand the Zionists refuse to put down their weapons,” Rachel says.

“Yes. Can you imagine? Can you imagine? All we want is a little time to rearm before we continue to kill them. And they won’t let us,” Sinwar exclaims.

A baby is then heard crying in the background, disrupting the interview.

A man ‘wears’ his baby as he looks at posters of the men, women and children held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, during a vigil marking 30 days since the October 7 Hamas onslaught that started the fighting, in Jerusalem, on November 5, 2023. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

Sinwar admits that it is one of the Israeli babies Hamas took hostage into Gaza.

The annoyed anchor asks if Sinwar can quiet the baby, but he says he can’t.

“At night it’s even worse, Rachel. Every time we fire a rocket he wakes up. I did not get one good night’s sleep in a month,” Sinwar complains.

“Wait, are you telling me that there is an Israeli baby that’s torturing you by sleep deprivation?” asks a determined Rachel, who is played by Liat Harlev.

At this point, even Sinwar, played by Eli Finish, appears shocked by the journalist’s sympathy for his situation.

“Yes!” responds Sinwar after a pause, excited that the anchor was able to put a positive spin on Hamas’s kidnappings that he apparently had not thought of.

Yahya Sinwar (C), Gaza Strip chief of the Hamas terror movement, shakes hands with a masked fighter of the military wing during a rally marking the 35th anniversary of the group’s foundation, in Gaza City on December 14, 2022. (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED / AFP)

“Occupying your house?” continues Rachel.

“Yes, yes!” shouts Sinwar.

“So unfair. And the world does absolutely nothing about it. I really hope you’ll get a ceasefire soon. Thank you so much, Mr. Sinwar,” Rachel concludes.

“No, no, no. Thank you, Rachel,” a smiling Sinwar responds.

The anchor then cuts to a “moment in history” segment.

“On this day in 1944,” the narrator begins, as black and white footage from World War II rolls.

“Heartless Winston Churchill refused a ceasefire and continued the genocidal attack on Nazi Germany. As we well know now, far more German civilians have died in the war, which makes them the victims and Britain the war criminal,” the narrator says.

The BBC has come under attack for its coverage of the war between Israel and the Hamas terror organization, which former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett alleged was “lacking moral clarity.”

In particular, the broadcaster was slammed for its rush to report unverified and later-disproved claims that an Israeli airstrike was responsible for a deadly explosion at Gaza’s Al-Ahli Hospital on October 17.

The BBC subsequently apologized for that coverage as well, saying it had been too swift to assign blame.

But that didn’t save the network from an earlier “Eretz Nehederet” skit ridiculing its coverage of the bombing.