JNews - What's it all about?

I have been a follower of www.JINewsNet.com since it was established in 2009. It seemed to me to be long overdue for there to be an organisation established to actively promote the positive aspects of Israel and to be clear and truthful about it’s policies today. I also follow their proactive tweets on Twitter. For too long now the Diaspora has been plagued by a plethora of left-wing supporting web-sites, all taking the anti, let’s de-legitimise Israel point of view.

JINewsNet which stands for Jewish Israel News Network seems to be a very clear platform with a well laid out site. What seems to have happened now is another left-wing anti-Israel group set up in March 2010 have tried to plagiarise JINewsNet and work off the back of an already established web presence to gain some exposure for their own views. This group appears to be called “JNews”.

Who or what is JNews? Have a look at its patrons and trustees, it is a “rag-bag” collective of self-hating anti-Jewish Jews who see themselves as the ”A” listers of this phenomenon:-
Prof Zygmunt Bauman, Sir Geoffrey Bindman, Prof Emeritus Leslie Baruch Brent,
Prof Stan Cohen, Moris Farhi MBE, June Jacobs CBE, Prof Mary Kaldor, Helena Kennedy QC, Prof Francesca Klug OBE, Ursula Owen OBE, Rabbi Danny Rich, Prof Avi Shlaim, Marina Warner, Rabbi Alexandra Wright, Prof Emeritus John S Yudkin FRCP, Lady Ellen Dahrendorf,Richard Kuper, Antony Lerman, Maurice Naftalin and Prof Lynne Segal.

JNews is not “a potential voice for peace”, unless of course one considers the chipping away, de-legitimising, mendacity and undermining of a sovereign state to be peaceful.
What do JNews claim? “JNews will bring to public attention the authentic voices of those directly affected by the conflict and highlight the problems facing migrants and asylum seekers in Israel, the poor and the dispossessed, Arab-Palestinian citizens and the Bedouin. More generally in Israel-Palestine it will focus on the conditions of prisoners and detainees, the status and treatment of women, and the political and civil rights of Palestinians living under occupation and under the control of the Palestinian Authority.”
What does this “PR speak mean”, in plain language JNews aim to put out propaganda that highlights the viewpoint of everyone except Jewish Israelis.

Have a look at their web site:-
Article after article attacking Israel’s legitimacy – the latest attack is on Israel joining the OECD.
The Director is Miri Weingarten, formerly of “Physicians for Human Rights Israel”’ and a woman who has no problem collaborating with the PSC or MAP. The Chair and one of the Trustees of JNews needs no introduction to CW readers; he is none other than Antony Lerman of Independent Jewish Voices and CiF fame. Other trustees include Ellen Dahrendorf, also of IJV and chair of the UK branch of the New Israel Fund, Maurice Naftalin, also of IJV and JFJFP, Lynne Segal who sits on the IJV steering group, and the person whose brainchild JNews apparently was; Richard Kuper of Jews for Justice for Palestinians. Last year I happened to come across Mr. Kuper in person at a showing of Caryl Churchill’s anti-Semitic play ‘7 Jewish Children’. Needless to say he was publicly advocating the idea of Israel as an apartheid state at the time, obviously having no understanding of what the word apartheid actual means..

Things don’t get any better when it comes to the Patrons of JNews either; they include Francesca Klug of IJV, Morris Farhi, Stan Cohen and Avi Shlaim. Tony Klug of JFJP, Jews for Justice and Human Rights and a member of the IJV steering group and Brian Klug – co-founder of IJV – are also involved. I’m sure readers have already noticed something of a pattern here: JNews appears to be nothing more than a somewhat incestuous rehash of IJV. Many of the names involved with JNews can be found on this public letter to the British Prime Minister urging him to support the Goldstone Report which was the initiative of IJV and JFJFP amongst others.
Who is behind JNews? “The Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust”. Sounds very respectable, but who are they? Well, this is a group of die-hard Marxists, but with the money to promote their anachronistic agenda. “The general objectives of the Trust are to advance public education, learning and knowledge in all aspects of the philosophy of Marxism, the history of socialism, and the working- class movement.”

In 2006 their annual lecture was given by none other than ex- and- anti-Israeli communist Moshe Machover – father of Daniel Machover of ‘arrest warrants for visiting Israelis’ fame. In 1998 they hosted Noam Chomsky. Another recipient of the Trust’s money has been the Camden Abu Dis Friendship Association which was involved in a scandal last year and received criticism from the Mayor of London when borderline antisemitic and blatantly anti-Israeli leaflets were handed out at a London school with Jewish pupils.
The Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust is a registered UK Charity and its Trustees include Rodney Bickerstaffe, President of War On Want – yet another British charity with a nasty anti-Israel agenda which promoted Ben White’s oeuvre ‘Israeli apartheid – A Beginners Guide’. Bickerstaffe is also a signatory to this PSC initiated letter demanding that Veolia boycott the new light rail system in Jerusalem. Another Trustee is Rebecca Amiel of JFJFP and a signatory of the above letter in support of the Goldstone Report. Then there’s Tariq Ali; a one stater who spoke at one of the 2009 demonstrations against Operation Cast Lead in London and who is of the opinion that Oslo was a surrender on the part of the Palestinians, that suicide bombings in Israel need to be contextualized and that the situation in the Middle East is the cause of the 7/7 bombings.

All these people are so left of centre that they are off the scale, they are now jumping on the trendy-lefty, climate changing advocating, Guardian reading, open-toed sandal wearing, politically correct bandwagon of Palestinian Human Rights which is undoubtedly an important and legitimate subject if you are a “Palestinian” – but, and it is a big but, it is NOT Israel’s problem, there are 22 Arab States all of whom could have a hand in helping and funding their (Palestinian) Arab brethren. The truth is that the Arabs collectively do not care about the Palestinians and have deliberately kept the problem festering for 60 years to be used as a political pawn to hit Israel with.

With all the non-Jewish and Arab anti-Israel de-legitimisers out there, do the people supporting JNews have no conscience? Where do they get their ideas from? Where is the rational for people who believe themselves to be Jewish to turn out to be some the worst Israel bashers and de –legitimisers out there? Perhaps they live in an Alice In Wonderland type parallel universe with no concept of reality, why do they see themselves as Jewish if all they are doing is trying to de-legitimise and bash the homeland of the Jewish people- Israel? In my view they forfeit their right to be considered Jewish.

It is obvious that any eventual successful solution to the problems of the Middle East can only be based upon respect for and preservation of the rights of all parties involved, which is why groups such as ‘Jews for Justice for Palestinians’ and IJV so offensive as all putting forward is the view of the Palestinian anti-Israel activists. The blatant one-sidedness is far from being a recipe for peace and reconciliation and this latest project going under the name of JNews shows no potential for being any different and must be recognised for what it really is, a one-sided platform for a biased collective of anti-Israel, self-hating Jews.

It is now time for the media imbalance to be redressed, JINewsNet. aims to do this. JINewsNet. is a progressive forthright platform aimed at promoting a truly positive approach in the way Israel is presented. JINewsNet. has its finger on the pulse and you will find articles that are incisive and informative, all from a positive perspective. It is now time for the media and in particular the Jewish media to stop pandering to the lefties and give wholehearted support to JINewsNet.

With thanks to the original article on CiF for much of the background