Revealed: BBC’s £400k payout after anti-Semitism claims

The BBC has agreed a £400,000 payout to a Jewish documentary-maker who says she was the victim of anti-Semitism and was bullied out of the broadcaster. Lucie Kon, whose work for the BBC won awards including an Oscar and an Emmy, says she was victimised in the wake of the Oct 7 terrorist attacks in Israel by colleagues who said Zionists such as her were “evil”. Ms Kon, who has family in Israel, claims she was told that “if you want to call Hamas terrorists then you have to call Israel terrorists, too” and that she should “think about what drove Hamas to do what they did”. When she made a formal complaint about her treatment, the BBC told Ms Kon to stay at home for months, sidelined her and eventually put her out of work. She instigated unfair dismissal proceedings against the BBC, which agreed to pay her substantial compensation – partly funded by the licence fee – without any admission of liability. It has refused to apologise or admit she was a victim of anti-Semitism. The BBC has been dogged by allegations of anti-Semitism for years, which intensified after the Oct 7, 2023 attacks. Last year Tim Davie resigned as director-general over allegations of bias, including anti-Semitism, which The Telegraph exposed. Ms Kon has told his successor, Matt Brittin, who has promised anti-Semitism will not be tolerated , that other Jewish colleagues are still being bullied and abused. She is the first person known to have been given a settlement by the BBC after alleging anti-Semitic behaviour among colleagues. Ms Kon, 57, told The Telegraph that her religion had not been an issue for the first 22 years of her BBC career, but after the Oct 7 attacks: “It was like having Jew stamped on my forehead.” Colleagues told her that a documentary about the murder, rape and mutilation of hundreds of Israeli civilians at a music festival on Oct 7 should “contextualise” the terrorist attack and empathise with what had driven the perpetrators, she claims. She says a colleague told her it was “disgusting” that Rishi Sunak had visited a Jewish school as prime minister to offer support and reassurance and, when she pitched an idea for a documentary about Oct 7, she was told she could not oversee it because as a Jew she was “too partial”. She said: “They tried to stop me doing my job because I’m a Jew.” An internal BBC investigation did not uphold Ms Kon’s formal complaint about her treatment by colleagues. When the BBC carried out a restructuring following Ms Kon’s complaints, her role was made redundant and she was turned down for a similar position that replaced it. She told The Telegraph: “I think I became a problem. I think I made too much noise about being a Jew inside the BBC. I stood up for my community. I was open about being a Zionist. “The BBC says, bring your authentic self to work. And I did. And I lost my job as a result.” Ms Kon had a stellar career at the BBC, working on programmes including Panorama, Today, BBC Breakfast and Storyville. Films she has commissioned or helped to produce have won an Emmy, an Oscar, a Bafta and a clutch of other awards, but she was effectively frozen out of her job when she made an official complaint about her treatment at the BBC. After asking for advice from a senior manager, she was told to make a formal grievance complaint, which was eventually dismissed. An appeal against that decision also failed. Ms Kon was part of a delegation of Jewish staff who appealed to Mr Davie to clamp down on anti-Semitism after the Oct 7 attacks by Hamas, the terror group. Mr Davie instigated a “Call It Out” campaign encouraging colleagues to report racism and abuse, but when Ms Kon called out the anti-Semitism she was experiencing, she was treated as the problem, not the victim, she says. Ms Kon says other Jewish staff left the BBC because of the way they were treated by colleagues. “I know that nothing’s changed because I’ve spoken to quite a few people since I left,” she said. “Friends who are still struggling, still suffering, who feel embarrassed to say that they’re Zionist or that they’re a Jew.” A BBC spokesman said: “While we do not comment on individual staffing matters, anti-Semitism in any form is not tolerated at the BBC. “If allegations or concerns are raised, they are taken seriously and investigated in accordance with our policies. We have robust procedures in place to deal with any behaviour that is contrary to our values.”