“You’re too sensitive”. At the BBC, accusations of anti-Semitism end with an offer of therapy

When Jewish staff members reported incidents of anti-Semitism, some BBC executives reportedly responded by offering psychotherapy sessions. Others were allegedly told they were ‘too sensitive’. Some ended up leaving the British public broadcaster because they no longer felt welcome. These are the testimonies gathered by The Telegraph, which reports on a climate of hostility towards Jewish staff within the BBC, which worsened following the Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023.

What is particularly striking are the reactions of senior management to the reports. An employee, who is still in post, recounts an incident that took place in 2024. During a conversation about Sir Nicholas Winton, the Englishman who saved hundreds of Jewish children from Nazi persecution, a colleague reportedly said: “It must be the collective trauma of the Holocaust that turns IDF soldiers into child murderers”. The employee explained that his parents had survived the Holocaust and that he had relatives in Israel who had served in the army. “Oh, I wasn’t referring to you,” was his colleague’s reply. When he reported the incident to his line manager, however, instead of receiving support, he was asked: “Would you like to go for some therapy?”

The same offer is said to have been made to Lucie Kon, a documentary producer who, during her 25-year career at the BBC, contributed to the production of works that won Oscars, Emmys and BAFTAs. Her case was also reported by The Telegraph. In April, she was made redundant, just 19 days after attending the Oscars ceremony for "Mr Nobody Against Putin", a documentary she had helped to produce. Last month, the BBC reached a financial settlement with her worth over 400,000 pounds, after Kon had initiated legal proceedings alleging discrimination, harassment and unfair dismissal.

“I went from being a BBC journalist who happened to be Jewish to being a Jewish journalist at the BBC. It was like having the word ‘Jewish’ stamped on my forehead,” Kon said. After 7 October, a colleague to whom she had said that Hamas was evil reportedly replied: “So are the Zionists.” Tensions also reportedly manifested themselves in editorial decisions. When Kon proposed making a documentary on the attack at the Nova music festival, a senior executive allegedly argued that she was “too biased” to oversee it, as she was Jewish and personally involved. She was eventually allowed to work on the project, but was assigned another person to ensure its impartiality. In January 2024, she lodged a formal internal complaint, which was subsequently rejected. According to her account, the stress associated with the complaint triggered a relapse into anorexia, from which she had previously suffered in her youth. In January 2025, the day after informing the BBC that she needed sick leave, she was told of a reorganisation that put her job at risk. “I think I’ve become a problem. I think I’ve made too much of a fuss about being Jewish within the BBC,” says the producer.

But she is not the only one to say she felt pushed towards the exit. Polina Proutskova, an artificial intelligence expert of Russian origin, left the BBC last year. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, she says, her colleagues had been supportive, without judging her on the basis of her origins. She had taken that solidarity for granted, but after 7 October the atmosphere changed. Concerned about what she saw as errors in the coverage of the war in Gaza, she decided to raise the issue during a presentation. “I was told it wasn’t appropriate; someone lodged a complaint against me, and my boss told me I should probably consider leaving.” Shortly afterwards, she accepted a voluntary redundancy.

Another former employee recounts having requested a meeting with a senior manager to discuss certain editorial decisions regarding the coverage of the conflict in the Middle East. The reaction, he claims, was aggressive. “When I explained to him that the way the BBC was reporting on the conflict was putting British Jews at risk, he simply replied: ‘Prove it’.” The employee describes that response as a form of gaslighting: “The BBC likes to talk a lot about solidarity with minorities, but when it came to my community, that solidarity was nowhere to be seen.”

The BBC rejects all forms of anti-Semitism and insists it takes allegations seriously. A spokesperson told The Telegraph that the most recent accounts contain insufficient detail to allow for verification or investigation without further information. “‘Anti-Semitism, in any form, has no place at the BBC,’ the broadcaster stated, noting that it had introduced compulsory training on anti-Semitism in December 2025. But for Kon, who had also asked in vain for an apology, the problem is not just about his own case: ‘The BBC isn’t full of anti-Semites, but it has a problem with anti-Semitism.’