Clumsy: Richard Madeley (right) didn’t stop to think of the implications when he asked Lib Dem MP Layla Moran if her Palestinian relatives knew of the Hamas attack against Israel before October 12.

It is as though there is a kind of sickness sweeping through the UK’s broadcast media.

UK-Palestinian MP Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat), appearing on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, was talking about her concern for family members in Gaza, facing the danger of attack by Israel, when host Richard Madeley asked her if any of them had had advance warning that Hamas would be attacking Israel on October 7:

What kind of stupid question is that?

Of course they didn’t know! They are ordinary citizens, not terrorists! The operation would have been secret and nobody would have been told who didn’t need to be.

Simply asking the question, therefore, implied that Ms Moran was related to terrorists.

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So now Madeley has rowed back, saying that was not his intention. What was he trying to do, then?

Here‘s The Independent:

Taken aback, the senior Lib Dem politician replied: “Not this, not this. Everyone, everyone has been surprised first of all by the timing and sophistication and they way that it’s happened.”

Ms Moran added: “I don’t believe it is right that my family is being held accountable for what Hamas is done. It is a choice to turn off the water and the electricity and the way that has happened – I don’t believe that is right.”

Issuing an apology following widespread outrage, a Good Morning Britain spokesperson said: “Richard is sorry that he has upset viewers with his question to Layla Moran.”

They added: “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.”

Madeley’s words have been widely condemned and there have been calls for him to be taken off-air.

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