Good Morning Britain is hit with 2,300 Ofcom complaints after Richard Madeley asked British-Palestinian MP Layla Moran if she ‘had any indication’ about Hamas’ terror attack on Israel
Good Morning Britain has been hit with more than 2,300 complaints after Richard Madeley sparked a backlash for asking a British-Palestinian MP if she knew about Hamas’s terror attack on Israel before it happened.
Layla Moran, whose family are trapped in Gaza as Israel prepare a ground invasion, was seemingly taken aback by Madeley’s question and viewers called for the presenter to be ‘pulled off air’ after watching GMB on October 17.
Madeley apologised the same day for upsetting viewers, with a GMB spokesperson adding his intention was to ‘understand the mood and atmosphere’ of the situation before Hamas terrorists launched their barbaric attacks on Israel on October 7.
Media watchdog Ofcom revealed today that 2,378 viewers lodged complaints against GMB last week.
It comes as Madeley faced a fresh backlash today after asking a man whose mother was kidnapped by Hamas if he was ‘comforted’ by the ‘not unreasonable treatment’ hostages received at their hands.
Good Morning Britain host Richard Madeley (pictured) apologised after he sparked outrage for asking a British-Palestinian MP if she knew about Hamas’s terror attack on Israel before it happened.
Madeley asked Britain’s first British-Palestinian MP: ‘With your family connections in Gaza, did you have any indication of what was going to happen ten days ago, two weeks ago? Was there there any word on the street?’
Last week, Madeley asked Ms Moran, Britain’s first Palestinian MP: ‘With your family connections in Gaza, did you have any indication of what was going to happen ten days ago, two weeks ago? Was there any word on the street?’
Ms Moran – whose father is a British diplomat, and mother a Christian Palestinian from Jerusalem – replied: ‘Not this, not this. I think everyone, everyone has been surprised first of all by the timing and sophistication and the way that it’s happened.’
The Liberal Democrat MP for Oxford West and Abingdon added: ‘What I will say is that I’ve been warning, and others have in Parliament as well for a number of years now, that if we don’t find a way… People say “go back to the negotiating table”.’
MP Layla Moran’s family
Layla Moran is Britain’s first ever Palestinian MP.
Her immediate family are Palestinian Christians from the West Bank, while she has extended family members in Gaza City.
She has spoken about her family members being trapped in Gaza – and how she and her sister are trying to get news from their relatives every day as they run out of food and have been reduced to drinking water.
Ms Moran’s mother Randa is Palestinian while her father James is British. He joined the EU Commission when she was one and the family moved to Brussels.
Her mother’s family are originally Greek but they moved to Palestine and then Jordan after the diaspora in the 60s.
Her great-grandfather was the Palestinian writer Wasif Jawhariyyeh, who wrote memoirs about Palestinian life under Ottoman and British rule.
‘The fact of the matter is there has not been a table, let alone to go back to a negotiating table for at least ten years now.
‘This is a cycle of violence. Every time there is a cycle of violence, my worry now is that this is radicalising another generation on all sides. We have to stop this hatred. We have to bring people together and find a way through… Peace is harder than war.’
A Good Morning Britain spokesperson said regarding the incident: ‘Richard is sorry that he has upset viewers with his question to Layla Moran. His intention was to understand the mood and atmosphere amongst the civilian population of Gaza immediately before the attacks.
‘He asked Layla about her family in Gaza City because she had discussed speaking to them earlier in the interview. He did not mean to imply that she or her family might have had any prior knowledge of the attacks.’
Ms Moran later said she thought the question came from a ‘place of ignorance’ but accepted his apology and did not want the incident to distract from the big issues.
Ms Moran, asked about the GMB interview during an appearance on Sky News’ Politics Hub programme last week, said: ‘I think my face at the time looked pretty flummoxed.
‘Look, the conversation as a whole over the 15-minute interview was an important one. We were looking at how we got here, where we go.
‘I didn’t feel and don’t feel that it came from a place of malice. I think it frankly came from a place of perhaps ignorance.
‘Perhaps it reminds us that in this conflict, which is complicated – this is not the slam dunk in a way that Russia-Ukraine was – this has a long history that needs to be understood and this has an important context in the wider region that needs to be understood.
‘I have accepted his apology. The main thing is that I don’t want it to distract from these big issues.’
Layla Moran (pictured at a rally in November 2018) is Britain’s first Palestinian MP
Several people, including MP Florence Eshalomi, condemned Madeley for his line of questioning
Ms Moran spoke in Parliament before her appearance on GMB about her extended family, who are Christian Palestinians living in Gaza City, having their house bombed by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), staying in a church and being ‘too old’ to flee the 25-mile strip.
Ms Moran has suggested to GMB she would appear again on the programme.
This morning, Madeley sparked more outrage while interviewing British psychotherapist Noam Sagi whose mother Ada was kidnapped from a retirement home in southern Israel.
The ITV host said the hostages were being given water and ‘eating the same food’ as the terrorists. His statement was followed by a sigh from Mr Sagi, whose 75-year-old mother remains held in captivity.
As part of Israel’s retaliation for Hamas’s October 7 raids that left 1,400 Israelis dead, it imposed a siege on Gaza, blocking essentials such as water, food and fuel from entering.
The Gazan health ministry said more than 5,700 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict, including some 2,300 children.
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