The role of the media is hugely influential in shaping public opinion and political stances. From an Israeli perspective, the UK is one of the most important and influential countries in the world, yet there are many media outlets that take an anti-Israel, and even outright anti-Semitic, stance.
The Guardian is an example of a newspaper whose treatment of Israel has been grossly distorted despite being owned by the Scott Trust, a limited company established in 1936, whose purpose was “to ensure the Guardian’s financial and editorial independence in perpetuity and to protect its journalistic freedom and liberal values ​​from commercial or political interference”.
These noble causes have fallen victim to unethical journalism. In recent decades, articles by several of The Guardian’s journalists have reeked of venom, a callous disregard for the truth and a penchant for spewing anti-Semitic hatred.
Adam Levick of CAMERA’s UK Media Watch has been investigating The Guardian since 2009. The paper has long been known to influence anti-Israel and anti-Semitic sentiment in Britain, even going so far as to publish anti-Semitic cartoons eerily reminiscent of Nazi propaganda.
The paper also denies that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, referring to Tel Aviv in its reports. Six months after the war with Hamas in Gaza began on October 7, The Guardian published an article claiming that the State of Israel was nearing its end.
Former Guardian columnist and deputy editor Seumas Milne, who infamously served as Labour’s director of strategy and communications from 2015 to 2020 under Jeremy Corbyn, has published articles arguing that Israel has no right to defend itself and supporting Hamas’ right to fire rockets at Israel.
According to The Economist, Milne pretended to speak with a Palestinian accent and called himself Shams (Arabic for “sun”) while studying at Balliol College, Oxford. After graduating, he worked for the Communist Party monthly magazine Straight Left. The Daily Telegraph described him as a “terror apologist”.
Deborah Orr, editor of the Guardian Weekly, has argued that Jewish “racism” was the reason Israel released 1,027 Palestinian terrorists imprisoned in Israel in 2011 (including Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar) in exchange for one soldier (Gilad Shalit) who had been held hostage for five years in Ramallah, the Palestinian capital in the West Bank.
The Guardian’s editor-in-chief, Katherine Viner, helped produce an anti-Israel propaganda play about the activist Rachel Corrie, who was killed in 2003 while standing in front of a bulldozer trying to disrupt IDF counter-terrorism operations in Gaza.
A recent Guardian headline read, “While Israel celebrates the release of 4 abductees, Palestinians mourn the deaths of 200,” referring to the unexpected outcome of a daring IDF raid deep into the terrorist state to free four of the more than 100 hostages held since October 7 in tunnels and the homes of Palestinian civilians and UNRWA staff, including, of all people, Noa Al-Gaman, who is being held captive in the home of Al Jazeera “journalist” Abdullah Al-Jamal.
In addition to The Guardian, the once-authoritative BBC is also guilty of inciting anti-Semitism. Since October 7, the BBC has been criticized by Israeli and British Jews for its outrageous reporting on the war. One example is a recent interview by the BBC’s Helena Humphrey with Jonathan Conricus, spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces, in which Humphrey asked the absurd question of whether Palestinians in the area had any advance warning of the hostage rescue. His answer was clear: if there had been any warning, the hostages would have been preemptively killed by their captors. The Palestinian casualties were the result of Palestinians firing to prevent the release of the hostages.
And when BBC Radio 4 presenter Emma Barnett interviewed freed hostage Ada Sagi, 75, she referred to Hamas terrorists as “workers”. The UK NGO Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) said the term infuriated anti-Semitic extremists and was tantamount to giving in to terrorism.
A cross-party parliamentary debate in May also saw a scathing rebuke of the BBC, with former Attorney General Sir Michael Ellis saying the BBC had “fundamentally failed” to tackle biased reporting, and that “the relentless bias in BBC News has led to record levels of threats and attacks against British Jews.” Several MPs said the BBC’s inaccurate reporting of the Al Ahli hospital bombing in Gaza “led to a surge in anti-Semitism around the world,” including the burning of synagogues in Tunisia and Germany, the Jewish Chronicle reported.
British media stirs up trouble
These and other British media outlets have contributed greatly to stoking the anger of Islamic extremists and play a key role in the fact that Britain is gradually losing its identity. The upcoming 4th July UK elections are expected to bring major changes.
As Islam is the second most populous religion in the UK, many UK politicians fear that speaking out against extremist violence in Muslim communities could jeopardise their political standing. In the 2021 census, around 3.8 million UK residents identified as Muslim (6.5% of the population). More than 30% of voters in 20 UK constituencies are Muslim.
The Muslim Vote movement, on the other hand, seeks to raise awareness among Muslim voters in Western countries that they have the power to change the political landscape of the countries they live in for the benefit of all Islamic nations. Currently, the movement’s main activities are to weaken support for Israel, isolate it internationally, and mobilize public opinion for the “Palestinian cause” as a prelude to its elimination.
The so-called “Palestinian Cause” also contributes to the long-term goal of Islam’s elimination of Western values. Muslim Vote describes itself on its website as a four million strong, united force, focused on areas where the Muslim vote can influence the election outcome, to bring about a shift in British politics in line with a Muslim worldview, rather than British interests and traditions.
The movement demands the severing of military ties with Israel, a ban on Israeli politicians involved in the Gaza war entering the UK, recognition of a Palestinian state, Islamic prayer in schools and the return of Jewish donations to the Labour Party.
The Conservative Party could collapse
A YouGov poll predicts a historic defeat for the Conservatives, dropping them to a record low of 108 seats, while Labour is expected to win a record 425 seats and its leader, Keir Streimer, to become the next prime minister. If returned to power, the party has vowed to work towards recognition of a Palestinian state as part of the process towards a two-state solution.
A poll conducted by the Henry Jackson Society (HJS) in April 2024 revealed that a third of British Muslims (32%) want Sharia law to be implemented in the UK and Islam to become the state religion. Only one in four British Muslims believe that Hamas committed the massacre in southern Israel on 7 October.
Israelis have good reason to fear a Labor victory in the next general election.
The author is CEO of Radio 100 FM, Honorary Consul of Nauru, Deputy Head of Consular Affairs and President of the Israeli Ambassadors’ Club.
