Good Morning Britain host Richard Madeley sparked almost 2,400 complaints when he asked a British-Palestinian MP if she knew the Hamas massacre was coming.
Liberal Democrat Layla Moran, who is the first person of Palestinian descendant to have a seat in Westminster, spoke to the media last week about her relatives who are stuck in Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas war.
Speaking just 10 days after Hamas launched an attack on Israel, Tel Aviv declared war and then placed Gaza under siege, Moran said she was “desperately worried” about her extended family.
After the MP described her relatives’ current struggle in detail, Madeley asked: “With your family connections in Gaza, did you have any indication of what was going to happen 10 days ago, two weeks ago?
“Was there there any word on the street?”
After a slight pause, Moran replied: “Not this. Everyone – everyone – has been surprised, partly the timing and sophistication, the way that it’s happened.”
The remark sparked 2,378 complaints to the media watchdog Ofcom about the programme.
You can watch the uncomfortable exchange here:
The thousands of complaints makes Good Morning Britain the second most-complained show of the year.
Comments made elsewhere on ITV on the “terribly white” royal family triggered 4,165 complaints back in May, during King Charles’ coronation.
GMB later apologised on Madeley’s behalf, saying: “His intention was to understand the mood and atmosphere amongst the civilian population of Gaza immediately before the attacks.
“He did not mean to imply that she or her family might have had any prior knowledge of the attacks.”
Moran later told Sky News that she accepted Madeley’s apology, adding that she thought his comments came from a place of “ignorance”.
She said: “I think my face at the time looked pretty flummoxed.
“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.”
The Israel-Hamas war has led to more than 1,400 deaths in Israel and more than 5,790 deaths in Palestinian territory so far, according to official reports.