BBC bosses rebuff calls for an independent antisemitism inquiry after paying Oscar-winning Jewish producer £400,000
Lucie Kon, 57, received a £400,000 settlement from the BBC after alleging antisemitic harassment by colleagues who called Zionists "evil, like Hamas.
Lucie Kon, 57, an award-winning documentary producer who spent more than two decades at the BBC, says colleagues told her Zionists were "evil" and barred her from overseeing a Nova music festival documentary because, as a Jew, she was "too partial". The BBC's deputy director general Rhodri Talfan Davies met the broadcaster's Jewish staff network on Tuesday but stopped short of agreeing to an independent inquiry, pointing instead to new antisemitism training.
Kon claims Jewish BBC colleagues "are being investigated for being Zionists" and says she has had messages from staff "who are struggling" but fear speaking out because they need their jobs.
The BBC accepted "shortcomings" in how Kon was treated but did not uphold her antisemitism complaints; her name was also removed from the prominent credits of her Oscar-winning film 'Mr Nobody Against Putin'.
The Jewish Leadership Council, Board of Deputies, and MPs from both Labour and the Conservatives have all called for a full independent probe.
