The Israel Lobby
- Thread starter southpaw
- Start date
Are you becoming a spam-bot too?
Just because there are people critical of Israeli actions who aren't antisemites, you have clearly proven YOU ARE. Anti-semites do things like claim Jews have subjugated America and blame a jewish conspiracy for killing JFK.
Antisemites like you keep trying to argue all Jews are zionists to try to claim opposing genocide is hurtful to the Jewish people.
That's really fucked up.
This is a zionist genocide.
Only zionists back it.
You're a fucking joke.
A guy who believes Jews control the US, said American Jews aren't loyal to their country, and pushed asinine conspiracy theories about Jews killing JFK is accusing others of being antisemites?
You lie.
There are a handful of zionist billionaires and Israeli billionaires who fund AIPAC who have too much influence. Its not the Jewish people, its a handful of racial supremacists.
Only 40% of american Jews even identify as zionists anymore, its clearly not the Jewish people, its just zionists.
When you push antisemitic conspiracy theories that its not zionists but you think its the entire Jewish people backing the genocide all you do is expose yourself.
You're denying that you posted about Jewish Americans being disloyal and about a Jewish conspiracy assassinating JFK? You want to bet your account on that?
And as a reminder, what does it say about you when you have the exact same view as southpaw?
What view might that be? That there is a large, well-funded lobby group in the U.S. that promotes the interests of a foreign country over their own?
Sounds like the title and subject matter of this thread. Oh, the antisemitism!
Now you're backing to claiming that AIPAC represents americans? You never change.
I posted a xitter comment on the JFK conspiracy and you jumped on board and argued that it was Mossad that did it. I have no idea if its true, just that JFK was planning on listing AIPAC's predecessor as foreign lobbyists just before he was assassinated.
As a reminder, what does it say when you have the exact same view as someone the ICC is going to charge with genocide?
Every accusation is a confession, including 'from the river to the sea'.
You mean there isn't a pro-Russia lobby spending $100 million in U.S. elections? What about a pro-China lobby, or a pro-India lobby? Does anyone know about this?
I'm not the racist fuck who claimed American jews aren't loyal or that a Jewish conspiracy assassinated JFK.
There all these lobbying group, however they all must register as representative of foreign government with one exception...you guessed, only AIPAC is excepted from registering as an agent of the state if Israel.
And representatives of a foreign government are not allowed to interfere in US elections. But guess who can?
You're the racist fuck who backs apartheid and genocide.
You're the racist fuck who is backing using starvation on 1 million children because of race.
From the latest UN report.
Starvation as a genocidal tactic
42. Israeli security forces started carrying out air strikes in the Gaza strip in the early hours of 7 October 2023, in response to the Hamas-led attack into Israel that same day. On 8 October, Israel announced the commencement of a major military operation. On 9 October, Israel announced and implemented a total siege against Gaza and immediately blocked the entry of all food, water, electricity and fuel into Gaza (see A/HRC/56/CRP.4, paras. 266–273).
43. There is clear evidence that Israeli officials have used starvation both as a war crime and as a crime against humanity (A/HRC/56/26).38 Israel has failed to enable and ensure the unhindered provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance, as well as medical supplies and medical care, to the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. Accordingly, the International Criminal Court prosecutor is seeking a warrant for the arrest of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, and Yoav Gallant, the Minister of Defence of Israel, both for starvation war crimes and for extermination, including in the context of deaths caused by starvation as a crime against humanity.39 There is also clear evidence that Israel has committed genocide against the Palestinian people since at least October 2023 (A/HRC/56/26).40
44. The Special Rapporteur highlights how Israel has used starvation with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the Palestinian people by “(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to Palestinian people; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the Palestinian people conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction in whole or in part” (Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, art. II).
45. This is evidenced through the mass destruction that Israel has wrought in Gaza causing gross and systemic violations of the Palestinian people’s rights to food, water, housing and health.
46. The Special Rapporteur has received direct accounts of the destruction of the food system, which is also well documented41 and recognized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the Committee on World Food Security.42 Moreover, Israel has created a buffer zone along its border into Gaza and along the middle of the strip, encroaching on 32 per cent of territory in Gaza.43
Hasbara Cracks Showing in UK?
Crisis at Jewish Chronicle as stories based on ‘wild fabrications’ are withdrawn
Newspaper’s due diligence is under scrutiny amid growing misgivings over its ownership and the role of its editor
Peter Beaumont
Sat 14 Sep 2024 16.36 BST
Share
The world’s oldest Jewish newspaper, the Jewish Chronicle, has removed a series of sensational articles relating to the Gaza war after claims that the material was fabricated by a “freelance journalist” who had also misrepresented his résumé.
After an investigation last week into the author, Elon Perry, the Jewish Chronicle put out a two-paragraph announcement late on Friday night, saying that it was unsatisfied with explanations supplied by the journalist regarding his assertions.
“The Jewish Chronicle has concluded a thorough investigation into freelance journalist Elon Perry, which commenced after allegations were made about aspects of his record. While we understand he did serve in the Israel Defense Forces, we were not satisfied with some of his claims.
Freelance journalist Elon Perry.
“We have therefore removed his stories from our website and ended any association with Mr Perry.
“The Jewish Chronicle maintains the highest journalistic standards in a highly contested information landscape and we deeply regret the chain of events that led to this point. We apologise to our loyal readers and have reviewed our internal processes so that this will not be repeated.”
Founded in 1841, the JC – as it is familiarly known – has long been a respected institution in British Jewish life, attracting prominent Jewish journalists and writers to contribute. But the recent events have caused consternation about the direction of the paper as it has drifted further right under its editor, Jake Wallis Simons, and amid question over who owns it.
The extraordinary events of the past week, which have now seen a series of high-profile articles taken down, began several months ago when a writer described as a British-based Israeli journalist began contributing a series of reports allegedly based on Israeli intelligence sources.
Highly sensational, the articles purported to describe blow-by-blow Israeli operations – including what would be regarded as sensitive details – and intelligence purportedly gathered by Israel on the fugitive Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and his plans.
Journalists covering the Gaza conflict, already dubious about the veracity of the material, were unable to establish a meaningful record of Perry’s bona fides as described by the paper. Those suspicions were pushed into the open last week as a series of reports in the Israeli media described Perry’s articles as “fabrications”.
In recent months, there have been suggestions in the Israeli media that stories have been placed in European newspapers, including one in the German tabloid Bild, that are based on fake or misrepresented intelligence, planted as part of an effort to support prime minister Benjamin’s Netanyahu’s negotiating position over Gaza.
At a 4 September press conference for foreign media, Netanyahu suggested that if the Gaza border area with Egypt known as the Philadelphi Corridor – a sticking point in negotiations between Hamas and Israel for a ceasefire-for-hostages-deal – was not under Israeli military control, then Sinwar could use it to escape, perhaps taking hostages with him.
The following day, an article by Perry in the JC had turned that into reality. The piece claimed that intelligence existed showing that Sinwar planned to escape to Iran with the hostages, derived from the interrogation of a senior Hamas figure and a document found late in August.
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar featured in a story by Elon Perry that the Israel Defense Forces described as baseless. Photograph: Adel Hana/AP
Picked up by various Israeli media – and also promoted by Netanyahu’s son Yair and his wife Sara – the story, however, was quickly knocked down as a “wild fabrication”, with an IDF spokesman describing it as baseless.
Digging by reporters in Israel and elsewhere also quickly established that Perry’s claims about his background, including his supposed work as a journalist and academic, and parts of his military record, were untrue or questionable.
In particular, Perry faced questions about his claim to have served as a soldier during the famous Entebbe hostage rescue mission in 1976 and that he was a professor at Tel Aviv University for 15 years.
The removal of the articles, after an investigation formally announced by the paper only the day before, raises serious questions for JC editor Wallis Simons, a former novelist who has written for the Mail, the Telegraph and Spectator.
Despite being provided with a series of questions, Wallis Simons and the JC have so far declined to describe how Perry – an individual with no discernible journalistic track record, let alone as an investigative reporter – came to be writing for the paper or what due diligence had been exercised over an increasingly fantastic series of claims.
Perry told the Observer that “the JC made a huge mistake with its statement”. He described the criticism as a “witch-hunt… caused by jealousy from Israeli journalists and outlets who could not obtain the details that I managed to.”
after newsletter promotion
The Perry affair comes on top of growing disquiet over the paper’s recent direction. In February, the Sunday Times Whitehall editor, Gabriel Pogrund, aired his misgivings about the paper on social media, including over its murky ownership arrangements that have puzzled observers.
“The coarseness and aggression of the JC’s current leadership is such a pity and does such a disservice to our community,” wrote Pogrund. “It also once again poses the question: who owns it!? How is it that British Jews don’t know who owns ‘their’ paper. Moreover, how can a paper not disclose its ownership? It’s an oxymoron. I hate having to pose the question publicly but I asked privately more than a year ago to no avail.”
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara, who promoted an Elon Perry story on her social media. Photograph: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters
Pogrund’s reservations are widespread among liberal British Jews, who feel it no longer represents them as it once did.
“There was a sense that it was in the pocket of no one. It worked for the whole Jewish community, and because of that it had a greater institutional reach … in the Jewish community,” said one figure familiar with the paper’s history and role.
“It has become much narrower in its outlook and campaigns on a particular set of issues.”
The question of the ownership of the JC was examined in an article by Alan Rusbridger, the former editor of the Guardian, in Prospect magazine earlier this year. He suggested the paper was ultimately backed by a billionaire American, who has denied the claim.
Israel’s prime target: the hunt for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar
Read more
Among those commenting on the Jewish Chronicle’s removal of Perry’s articles were some who had been reposting them, including Eylon Levy, the combative former Israeli government spokesman who apologised for circulating the misleading articles to his 200,000 followers.
“The @JewishChron has removed the dodgy stories by ‘freelance journalist’ Elon Perry and ended its work with him,” wrote Levy on X. “This is exactly how media should treat reporters who quote dodgy sources. My apologies to anyone misled by my posting of these reports.”
Some were sceptical, however, that the removal of Perry’s stories would end the issue, including Ben Reiff of +972, one of the Israeli publications involved in exposing the fabrications.
“It seems that by firing Elon Perry @JewishChron is hoping to put this whole affair to bed, as if decisions weren’t made at the very top to employ a fake journalist, publish nine fake articles without verifying sources, and use the paper [as] an active agent in a pro-Bibi influence op,” wrote Reiff on X.
Sinwar was in Israeli jail for 20+ years. Serving four life sentences. He got cancer treatment and learned Jewish history including history of holocaust.
It’s so stupid that he was not exterminated there. Instead they exchanged him and a hundred plus others for a single Israeli soldier. This empathy to enemies of western civilization is suicidal.
It’s so stupid that he was not exterminated there. Instead they exchanged him and a hundred plus others for a single Israeli soldier. This empathy to enemies of western civilization is suicidal.
Your racism is showing again.
Typical 19th century language, the only thing you missed was calling them savages.
Hasbara Cracks Showing in UK?
Crisis at Jewish Chronicle as stories based on ‘wild fabrications’ are withdrawn
Newspaper’s due diligence is under scrutiny amid growing misgivings over its ownership and the role of its editor
Peter Beaumont
Sat 14 Sep 2024 16.36 BST
Share
The world’s oldest Jewish newspaper, the Jewish Chronicle, has removed a series of sensational articles relating to the Gaza war after claims that the material was fabricated by a “freelance journalist” who had also misrepresented his résumé.
After an investigation last week into the author, Elon Perry, the Jewish Chronicle put out a two-paragraph announcement late on Friday night, saying that it was unsatisfied with explanations supplied by the journalist regarding his assertions.
“The Jewish Chronicle has concluded a thorough investigation into freelance journalist Elon Perry, which commenced after allegations were made about aspects of his record. While we understand he did serve in the Israel Defense Forces, we were not satisfied with some of his claims.
Freelance journalist Elon Perry.
“We have therefore removed his stories from our website and ended any association with Mr Perry.
“The Jewish Chronicle maintains the highest journalistic standards in a highly contested information landscape and we deeply regret the chain of events that led to this point. We apologise to our loyal readers and have reviewed our internal processes so that this will not be repeated.”
Founded in 1841, the JC – as it is familiarly known – has long been a respected institution in British Jewish life, attracting prominent Jewish journalists and writers to contribute. But the recent events have caused consternation about the direction of the paper as it has drifted further right under its editor, Jake Wallis Simons, and amid question over who owns it.
The extraordinary events of the past week, which have now seen a series of high-profile articles taken down, began several months ago when a writer described as a British-based Israeli journalist began contributing a series of reports allegedly based on Israeli intelligence sources.
Highly sensational, the articles purported to describe blow-by-blow Israeli operations – including what would be regarded as sensitive details – and intelligence purportedly gathered by Israel on the fugitive Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and his plans.
Journalists covering the Gaza conflict, already dubious about the veracity of the material, were unable to establish a meaningful record of Perry’s bona fides as described by the paper. Those suspicions were pushed into the open last week as a series of reports in the Israeli media described Perry’s articles as “fabrications”.
In recent months, there have been suggestions in the Israeli media that stories have been placed in European newspapers, including one in the German tabloid Bild, that are based on fake or misrepresented intelligence, planted as part of an effort to support prime minister Benjamin’s Netanyahu’s negotiating position over Gaza.
At a 4 September press conference for foreign media, Netanyahu suggested that if the Gaza border area with Egypt known as the Philadelphi Corridor – a sticking point in negotiations between Hamas and Israel for a ceasefire-for-hostages-deal – was not under Israeli military control, then Sinwar could use it to escape, perhaps taking hostages with him.
The following day, an article by Perry in the JC had turned that into reality. The piece claimed that intelligence existed showing that Sinwar planned to escape to Iran with the hostages, derived from the interrogation of a senior Hamas figure and a document found late in August.
View image in fullscreen
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar featured in a story by Elon Perry that the Israel Defense Forces described as baseless. Photograph: Adel Hana/AP
Picked up by various Israeli media – and also promoted by Netanyahu’s son Yair and his wife Sara – the story, however, was quickly knocked down as a “wild fabrication”, with an IDF spokesman describing it as baseless.
Digging by reporters in Israel and elsewhere also quickly established that Perry’s claims about his background, including his supposed work as a journalist and academic, and parts of his military record, were untrue or questionable.
In particular, Perry faced questions about his claim to have served as a soldier during the famous Entebbe hostage rescue mission in 1976 and that he was a professor at Tel Aviv University for 15 years.
The removal of the articles, after an investigation formally announced by the paper only the day before, raises serious questions for JC editor Wallis Simons, a former novelist who has written for the Mail, the Telegraph and Spectator.
Despite being provided with a series of questions, Wallis Simons and the JC have so far declined to describe how Perry – an individual with no discernible journalistic track record, let alone as an investigative reporter – came to be writing for the paper or what due diligence had been exercised over an increasingly fantastic series of claims.
Perry told the Observer that “the JC made a huge mistake with its statement”. He described the criticism as a “witch-hunt… caused by jealousy from Israeli journalists and outlets who could not obtain the details that I managed to.”
after newsletter promotion
The Perry affair comes on top of growing disquiet over the paper’s recent direction. In February, the Sunday Times Whitehall editor, Gabriel Pogrund, aired his misgivings about the paper on social media, including over its murky ownership arrangements that have puzzled observers.
“The coarseness and aggression of the JC’s current leadership is such a pity and does such a disservice to our community,” wrote Pogrund. “It also once again poses the question: who owns it!? How is it that British Jews don’t know who owns ‘their’ paper. Moreover, how can a paper not disclose its ownership? It’s an oxymoron. I hate having to pose the question publicly but I asked privately more than a year ago to no avail.”
View image in fullscreen
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara, who promoted an Elon Perry story on her social media. Photograph: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters
Pogrund’s reservations are widespread among liberal British Jews, who feel it no longer represents them as it once did.
“There was a sense that it was in the pocket of no one. It worked for the whole Jewish community, and because of that it had a greater institutional reach … in the Jewish community,” said one figure familiar with the paper’s history and role.
“It has become much narrower in its outlook and campaigns on a particular set of issues.”
The question of the ownership of the JC was examined in an article by Alan Rusbridger, the former editor of the Guardian, in Prospect magazine earlier this year. He suggested the paper was ultimately backed by a billionaire American, who has denied the claim.
Israel’s prime target: the hunt for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar
Read more
Among those commenting on the Jewish Chronicle’s removal of Perry’s articles were some who had been reposting them, including Eylon Levy, the combative former Israeli government spokesman who apologised for circulating the misleading articles to his 200,000 followers.
“The @JewishChron has removed the dodgy stories by ‘freelance journalist’ Elon Perry and ended its work with him,” wrote Levy on X. “This is exactly how media should treat reporters who quote dodgy sources. My apologies to anyone misled by my posting of these reports.”
Some were sceptical, however, that the removal of Perry’s stories would end the issue, including Ben Reiff of +972, one of the Israeli publications involved in exposing the fabrications.
“It seems that by firing Elon Perry @JewishChron is hoping to put this whole affair to bed, as if decisions weren’t made at the very top to employ a fake journalist, publish nine fake articles without verifying sources, and use the paper [as] an active agent in a pro-Bibi influence op,” wrote Reiff on X.
More Resignations At J.C in UK
Columnists quit Jewish Chronicle over Gaza stories based on ‘fabrications’
David Baddiel and Jonathan Freedland among those to resign over articles by former IDF soldier Elon Perry
www.theguardian.com
How Hasbara Works: Dark Money, Secretive Billionaires, Dodgy Public Officials. The Case of J.C.More Resignations At J.C in UK
Columnists quit Jewish Chronicle over Gaza stories based on ‘fabrications’
David Baddiel and Jonathan Freedland among those to resign over articles by former IDF soldier Elon Perry
Who really funds the Jewish Chronicle? Why it’s troubling that we don’t know…
Four years ago, a mysterious consortium came to the rescue of the beleaguered publication—and nobody is really clear about who is behind the scenes. But openness matters, especially when politics is involved
By Alan Rusbridger
April 26, 2024
Image: Alamy / Prospect
MPs, peers and journalists recently got very excited over who should be allowed to own a newspaper in the UK. The Telegraph, for the moment, seems safe from falling into the officially designated wrong hands. But what happens if we aren’t sure who is behind the owner of a newspaper—when the ultimate funder of a respected UK media company is a closely guarded secret?
This is not a hypothetical question. Almost no one has any idea who currently funds the Jewish Chronicle, which is both the oldest continuously published Jewish newspaper in the world and the most influential paper serving the Jewish community in Britain.
The paper was founded in 1841 and for 180-odd years its proprietors have been a matter of public record. But that changed four years ago when a mysterious consortium swooped in to rescue the title from threatened liquidation. It was, according to the outgoing chair, Alan Jacobs, “a shameful attempt to hijack” the paper.
The consortium was led by Sir Robbie Gibb, Theresa May’s former spin doctor, now a government-appointed BBC director. In his declaration of interest on the BBC website, Gibb states that he holds a 100 per cent holding of Jewish Chronicle Media.
He is the only person on the register of Persons with Significant Control (which notes that he owns 75 per cent or more of the company) and the sole named officer in filings at Companies House. He signs off the company accounts.
But Gibb himself doesn’t appear to have the kind of money that was needed to rescue the JC. From the latest accounts, filed in March 2024, it looks as if a person, or persons, unknown had loaned the new company £3.5m, which has now been written off. It seems Gibb was, in colloquial terms, the frontman.
But for whom might Gibb be the frontman? He won’t say. I sent a number of questions to the paper’s editor, Jake Wallis Simons, who replied politely, if oddly: “The questions you ask aren’t really for me.” I asked a number of prominent people in the Jewish community. No idea.
Wrack your brains for any precedent in the last century or more where the people behind a takeover of a significant UK newspaper are unknown. I can’t think of one.
It’s easy to see why it matters, and why MPs got so worked up about the “wrong” sort of person being allowed to take control of the Telegraph. Rich men (nearly always men) generally buy media organisations for one of three reasons: profit, influence or philanthropy.
With the JC we can discount profit: it’s safe to say it loses a large six-figure sum each year. So the person, or people, who pumped money into the ailing company in 2022 were either doing so from the goodness of their hearts or because they wanted to exert influence on the JC—and thus on whoever might read it and/or be swayed by its coverage and arguments, especially in relation to Israel.
Well, we don’t know. But imagine a mystery foreign backer with a plausible British frontman buying the Telegraph, on condition that his identity be kept schtum. There would, rightly, be a parliamentary hue and cry about their background and motives.
One of those involved in the Gibb-led consortium told me he now regretted ever being involved because of its “incredibly opaque” nature. He said he and another consortium member had asked directly who the other backers were and found it was “an absolutely closed door”.
Three sources told me they believed that a large slice of the money for the JC came from a right-wing American billionaire, Paul E Singer, sometimes referred to as a “vulture capitalist”. Singer is the founder of Elliott Management and made a fortune—estimated at $6bn—by buying distressed debts and selling them for high value.
He has been described as “a longtime supporter of hawkish pro-Israel causes” and is one of the major funders of the conservative thinktank Foundation for Defense of Democracies, whose positions, according to Slate, “have closely tracked those of the Likud party and its leader, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu”.
“During the debate over the Iranian nuclear deal, Singer used his fortune to support opponents of the agreement, including by founding an anti-deal Christian group,” reported the Forward, an influential American Jewish newspaper.
If Singer had been involved in the funding of the JC, and had influenced the editorial line, that would be surely a matter of public interest. But a spokesperson for Singer’s hedge-fund company said it was nonsense.
Another person who, it was suggested to me, was involved in the deal is a man named Davis Lewin, who has been attached to various right-wing thinktanks or organisations, including the Henry Jackson Society, the Friends of Israel Initiative and the High Level Military Group. But he is an elusive fellow, so who knows?
It’s hard to see why bailing out a newspaper should be a secret—and there are lots of reasons why it shouldn’t be. The Leveson Inquiry in 2011-12 did its best to work out how assorted owners and proprietors attempted to influence the news. It didn’t get very far—but at least it was working with real faces and real names.
In March, the JC announced it was turning itself into a charitable trust—though without any details of its structure, or details of editorial control. Given the paper’s pungent line during the Israel-Gaza war some doubt that it could plausibly present itself as a charity. In any event, the crucial question is how independent the editor is of the trust. To date: no answers.
The consortium member I spoke to described the JC’s recent coverage of Israel as “my country, right or wrong”.
“My own view is that it does a disservice to the Jewish community because it consolidates this idea that, you know, the Jewish community abroad is in some way sort of complicit by their silence with the excesses of the IDF.”
The consortium member said that he now felt that Wallis Simons, especially in his behaviour on social media, “is behaving like a political activist, not a journalist.”
The coverage of Israel-Gaza—and its editor’s often uninhibited behaviour on social media (“onward to victory!” in posting a video of a huge bomb killing untold people in Gaza city in December)—sits oddly with the impartiality its nominal owner, Gibb, urges when wearing his BBC hat.
In addition to impartiality, Gibb is, along with his fellow BBC directors, signed up to the Nolan principles of accountability and openness. The board’s own website commits them to “submit themselves to whatever scrutiny is appropriate to their office”. They should restrict information “only when the wider public interest clearly demands”.
But it seems Gibb doesn’t believe this applies to him beyond his BBC role: he has flatly ignored any of my questions about his role as the sole named director of the JC. Nor will he tell anyone whose money is behind the paper he “owns”.
You wonder how he grapples with the potential conflict of interest.
Firstly, Gibb sits on the key committee looking at editorial standards at the BBC—the coverage of the war in Gaza is about the hottest editorial potato imaginable for the BBC just now. Secondly, his editor, Wallis Simons, has been bitterly critical of the BBC’s reporting of the war. He actively campaigned for a parliamentary inquiry into the BBC’s coverage of Israel and wrote a piece headlined (if not by him): "The BBC’s Israelophobia is out of control, with a subhead explaining that “its distrust of the Jewish state is bordering on pathological”.
How can Gibb possibly back his own editor while sitting on the board of the BBC which is said by the same man to actively hate Israel? Does Gibb, as “owner” of the JC have any control over his editor? Can Gibb, recently re-appointed to the BBC board for four years, seriously ride two horses at one time? Does whoever funds the JC really call the editorial shots? Can parliament veto one category of a named newspaper owner while shrugging at the idea of nameless people backing another?
“Democracy dies in darkness” runs the slogan of one venerable American newspaper. It’s odd that a venerable British newspaper should choose to avoid the light.
This piece has been amended to make it clear that Jake Wallis Simons has been bitterly critical of the BBC’s reporting of the war as well as campaigning over the organisation’s coverage of Israel; and that he did not himself write the headline on the article he contributed to Spiked. A further update makes clear that the unknown consortium rescued the Jewish Chronicle from threatened liquidation four years ago rather than two
