BBC workers go against union’s call to wear Palestinian flag colors

Journalists at the BBC announced their withdrawal from the British Journalists' Union (NUJ) after the union circulated guidelines calling on workers to wear clothes in the colors of the Palestinian flag or keffiyeh.

The directives, which were passed ahead of the "Day of Action for Palestine" to be held this coming Thursday, drew harsh criticism from the workers, some of whom have left the union, according to the Jewish News website.

A BBC employee was quoted in The Times as saying: "This directive undermines the BBC's commitment to objectivity. We, the journalists, who are fighting to keep the union neutral from politics, it is necessary to break our professional guidelines and bring support for a political issue."

The same employee described the move as "hypocritical and anti-Semitic" and indicated that he was considering leaving the union. Jewish employees at the BBC approached Nigel Lewis, the network's director of human resources, who raised the issue with the company. The BBC's security department also received updates on concerns about tensions in the workplace following the directive to wear clothes in the colors of the Palestinian flag or keffiyeh.

* Channel 14 contributed to this article.