BBC journalist who praised Holocaust revisionist announced winner of British Council award

A BBC Arabic correspondent who previously praised the “exquisite journalism” of a Holocaust revisionist has been named as one of the winners at the British Council’s Study UK Alumni Awards.

Layla Bashar Al-Kloub, a senior journalist at the public broadcaster, has also previously condemned the “Zionist entity”, labelled Israel as “terrorists”, and called the suspected killer of an Israeli rabbi a “martyr”.

The Alumni Awards recognise the achievements of “international leaders” who have leveraged their UK education to make “significant contributions” to their home countries.

Al-Kloub was named the 2025 Jordan Winner of the Culture and Creativity Award for her “remarkable contributions” to “storytelling and cultural engagement”.

But, in a series of exposés published by the JC over recent years, it was revealed that Al-Kloub has a long history of expressing anti-Israel sentiment online.

In May 2021, the reporter posted a gushing tribute on X for television journalist Muna Hawwa, a Palestinian activist suspended by Al Jazeera for producing a 2019 video that asked: “How true is the #Holocaust and how did the Zionists benefit from it?”

In her message hailing the Palestinian activist’s return to X, Al-Kloub wrote: “My dear Muna… there was a great victory for you, yourself specifically, the victory of the free word, and the victory of exquisite journalism, you have proved everybody you are capable of confronting large institutions by yourself, may Allah strengthen you.”

In the documentary, Hawwa also said: “Israel is the biggest winner from the Holocaust, and it uses the same Nazi justifications as a launching pad for racial cleansing and annihilation of the Palestinians... The ideology behind ‘the State of Israel’ is based on religious, national, and geographic concepts that suckled from the Nazi spirit.”

Hawwa has rejected the allegation that she denied the Holocaust.

Meanwihile, in a post on X from 2018, Al-Kloub described the alleged killer of an Israeli rabbi a “Palestinian martyr”.

Ahmad Nassar Jarrar, the suspected leader of the terrorist group responsible for the attack that killed Rabbi Raziel Shevach, was shot dead by Israeli forces in February 2018 after a month-long manhunt.

Al-Kloub tweeted: “Is this freedom of speach [sic] @facebook ? Deleting posts about #AhmadJarrar the palestinian martyr is not acceptable. ((If you really consider your platform a free one!))”

And, in a 2016 post on on X, Al-Kloub wrote: “The Zionist entity does not recognise any international law or agreement, their entire [legal] proceedings are infringements of human rights treaties. They are the terrorists, not us.”

After being alerted to her social media activity following her nomination, the British Council told the JC it would convene “an independent panel to urgently investigate this matter”.

This year, Jordan was one of 23 countries hosting its own national version of awards in collaboration with the British Council, where winners were announced in several categories including business and innovation, culture and creativity, science and sustainability, and social action.

Al-Kloub was named the 2025 Jordan Winner of the Culture and Creativity Award. (British Council)[Missing Credit]

Al-Kloub has also previously received criticism for a BBC Arabic article she wrote in October 2023 about journalists killed since October 7, in which she failed to mention that some of those referenced had allegedly worked for Hamas.

Among those listed were listed Mohammad Jarghoun and Assaad Shamlakh, who were each mourned by their friends on social media as “jihad fighters” and “members of the “resistance".

At the time of her article, Lord Pickles, then UK special envoy for post-Holocaust issues, criticised the BBC for failing to carry out “due diligence”.

“This is a journalist who has expressed extreme views and has now put out a misleading report. I expect the Corporation to take appropriate action,” he said.

Former BBC governor Baroness Deech also hit out at the BBC following Al-Kloub’s controversial report.

“There has been a problem with BBC Arabic for years, but now of all times, the BBC should taking meticulous care to ensure that its Arabic audience receives accurate, unbiased information - and it seems it is not,” she said.

In connection with the article, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (Camera), a non-profit that monitors media coverage of Israel, said: “A necessary part of the long-anticipated inquiry into the Arabic service should be looking into the flaws in the hiring procedure that brought a person with such a social media record into the organization. Then, any true BBC reform should be addressing these flaws so that her ilk won't follow her there."

A spokesperson for the British Council said: “An investigation into concerns that were raised about a national finalist in Jordan found insufficient evidence that would overturn the original decision.

“A review by an independent panel confirmed that Layla Al-Kloub was the strongest candidate overall for the Culture and Creativity award in Jordan, which recognises individuals who can demonstrate their influence and creativity through their work in arts and culture. We congratulate all our Jordan winners on their awards.

“The British Council operates in both Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and we are committed to ensuring that everyone we work with around the world feels respected and treated with dignity.”

On staff’s social media activity, a BBC spokesperson said: “We take allegations of breaches of our social media guidance very seriously and if we find breaches we take the appropriate action.”

On the BBC Arabic piece, they added: “Our report covers the deaths of journalists over the course of the conflict, in Gaza, Lebanon and Israel, regardless of their media outlet’s political affiliations and takes no account of their views or assessments of their journalism. We reported on journalists who have died who were not BBC staff and therefore not subject to our impartiality guidelines.”

The JC contacted Layla Bashar Al-Kloub for comment.