Summary of complaint
We received complaints from people who felt Melanie Phillips was an inappropriate choice of guest and聽was not sufficiently challenged on her views about the Israel-Gaza war.聽
Our response
Since the Israel-Gaza war began we have dedicated a lot of time on the programme to discussing the war, hearing a broad range of perspectives, from both panel and audience members, in a highly sensitive environment where views are scrutinised and challenged.
In this edition, as a Jewish woman who spends most of her time in Israel, Melanie Phillips expressed passionate views about the situation in Israel and Gaza. While Fiona Bruce gave her time to do so, she also made sure that Ms Phillips was appropriately challenged, putting to her the position of organisations such as the United Nations, Unicef, and the World Health Organisation when talking about food supplies in Gaza, and also pointing out that the date of footage appearing to show fully stocked food markets had not been verified. Ms Phillips was also directly challenged by her fellow panellist Stephen Flynn, SNP leader at Westminster, who was critical of Israel鈥檚 actions and had called for an immediate ceasefire.
We will continue to hear a wide and diverse range of views and perspectives on the Israel-Gaza war should we return to the subject again on future editions of Question Time.