BBC forced to apologise over Frankie Boyle remark

The committee, which acts as a final arbiter of appeals if complainants are unhappy with the response from BBC management, upheld a previous finding that the comment was inappropriate and offensive.

But it said that no further action is needed in the case.

Boyle made the remark on Radio 4 comedy sketch show Political Animal in June 2008.

The Scottish comedian said: "I'm quite interested in the Middle East, I'm actually studying that Israeli army martial arts. And I know 16 ways to kick a Palestinian woman in the back.

"It's a difficult question to understand. I've got an analogy which explains the whole thing quite well: If you imagine that Palestine is a cake – well, that cake is being punched to pieces by a very angry Jew."

A complainant wrote to the BBC Executive branding the comment "disgusting" and "anti-Semitic".

Dissatisfied with the response, the complainant went to the editorial complaints unit , the next stage of the BBC's complaints process.

The unit wrote back in December 2008 upholding the complaint, saying the use of the word Jew in the context was "inappropriate and offensive".

But the complainant told the editorial committee he was unhappy with the response and that the remark had gone through the editorial process "without ringing any alarm bells".

The committee said it endorsed the unit's finding about the use of the word "Jew".