JC Editor's blog

Instructive antisemitic comparison

Stephen Pollard — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 10:53:56 +0000

Oh dear. I really didn't want to have to write about antisemitism again. Believe me it's not something I ever want to have to discuss. But this past week there have been two instructive episodes.

At the end of last week, a LibDem MP no one had ever heard of called David Ward decided to share his thoughts for Holocaust Memorial Day. In a spectacularly appalling piece of timing, he posted the following on his blog immediately after signing the Holocaust Memorial Trust's book of remembrance:

"Having visited Auschwitz twice– once with my family and once with local schools ... I am saddened that the Jews, who suffered
unbelievable levels of persecution during the Holocaust, could within a few years of liberation from the death camps be inflicting atrocities on Palestinians in the new state of Israel and continue to do so on a daily basis in the West Bank and Gaza."

Leave aside the grotesque comparison between 'persecution' of the Jews during the Holocaust and the 'atrocities' inflicted on Palestinians – I have yet to see the evidence which Mr Ward presumably has of death camps on the West Bank, and Israeli guards herding Palestinians into gas chambers to be murdered.

Leave that aside, as I say.

If I had a pound for every time I'm told that Jews use the Holocaust to justify Israeli policy then I'd be a very wealthy Jew. (I hope you see where I'm going with this.)

What's especially interesting about the otherwise deeply uninteresting Mr Ward is the way he turns that around. It's not the Israelis who inflict atrocities on Palestinians. It's me. It's 'the Jews' - at it again.

We Jews of all people – those in Golders Green, in New York and, I imagine, even in Ethiopia – are each of us, individually, responsible for what is going on. Presumably that's because we conspire the whole time.

Just in case there was any doubt, he went on Sky News to elaborate: "I'm accusing the Jews who did it so if you're a Jew and you did not do it, I'm not accusing you. I'm saying that those Jews who did that and continue to do it have not learned those lessons. If you are a Jew and you do not do those things and have never done those things then I am not criticising you."

I see. Good Jews are ok. It's bad Jews that are the problem.

Putting the most charitable gloss on it – rather than believing that Ward simply adopts casual antisemitism as his modus operandi – let's say he thinks that Jews, of all people, should know better.

Howard Jacobson has shown how this leaves Jews doubly damned: to the Holocaust itself and for ever more to elevated moral scrutiny as a result of it. Thus "the Holocaust becomes an educational experience from which Jews were ethically obliged to graduate summa cum laude, Israel being the proof that they didn't."

Worse, that argument means that it is Jews, not antisemites, who need to learn the lessons of the Shoah, and Jews who need to get their act together.

Ward has acted like a chided child ever since his post. A mealy mouthed 'explanation' and then a churlish response to the LibDem chief whip's demand that he never again refer in such fashion to 'the Jews'.

In truth, Ward is of no consequence to anyone and will slink back into deserved obscurity now. But his reaction to being found out speaks volumes for a certain mindset.

There's a useful contrast with the latest imbroglio, over the Sunday Times' Scarfe cartoon of Netanyahu appearing to glory in the blood of his Palestinian victims. As it happens, for me that does slip over the edge
into antisemitism, because it invokes the blood libel. It's a fair point to say that the previous week Scarfe depicted Assad in a similar way, and he's entitled to his view of Netanyahu, just as the Sunday Times are entitled to print it.

But there's never been an anti-Alawite blood libel, and the context matters. The blood libel is central to the history of antisemitism.

I don't think Scarfe is an idiot – far from it. So I find it impossible to believe he was unaware of the resonances of his cartoon.

(Incidentally, I am close to being absolute on the issue of free speech. I think every newspaper should be free to print pretty much anything. I disagree in principle with criminalizing Holocaust denial and I certainly don't think that just because something gives offence it shouldn't be published. But having the right to publish something doesn't mean it is always right to publish something. And with that right goes responsibility.)

In the end what I think is irrelevant, because here's the big difference between these two cases. Ward has dug himself further into his hole and clearly refuses to even consider that he might have made a mistake.

Martin Ivens, the Sunday Times' editor, has done the opposite (as has Rupert Murdoch). He's seen the reaction, thought about it, and held his hands up.

We all make mistakes – editors, of all people. Goodness me there are stories I regret running! But what matters is admitting it and saying sorry. The Guardian, which regularly publishes vile images and pieces dripping with hate for Jews, has never, as far as I am aware, once admitted getting anything wrong.

The Sunday Times has done just that, and deserves credit for it.

Settlements - the view from Jerusalem

Stephen Pollard — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 13:58:48 +0000

I’ve been trying to find out the thinking behind the Israeli government’s announcement that it intends to build a settlement of 3000 units in E1.Speaking to various Israeli government sources, here’s my take.

The feeling in Jerusalem is that, no matter what agreements are signed between Israel and the Palestinians, the international community refuses to acknowledge Palestinian infractions.

Instead, the argument goes, no sooner has Israel thwarted attempts to perpetrate a third intifada mounted by the Palestinians, than the United Nations rewards the Palestinian president with the new 'non-observer' status, and potential access to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

What the international community has done, my sources say, is effectively to open the door to any decision Jerusalem wants to take — particularly in the run-up to the elections on January 22.

Because even those in Israel who are unhappy about their government's settlement policy feel that the entire nation is being punished by the international community — over breaches of agreements perpetrated by the Palestinians. And, they say, it is not the first time: Palestinian suicide bombers, during the second intifada, were eventually stopped by the construction of Israel's wall. Yet the wall, which saved Israeli lives when nothing else did, was greeted with international outrage and condemnation.

In this latest such situation, Israel successfully protected its citizens from Palestinian rocket attacks, via Iron Dome and other missile defence systems. But the result was that when Abu Mazen went to New York, instead of being pilloried by the world for the rocket attacks, he was received with rapture and rewarded.

Thus Israel's response in announcing the housing units is born of a bitter reaction to the
wholesale international swallowing of the Palestinian narrative.

It is difficult to see how such a stance can be cooled down. Certainly the mood in Jerusalem is one of white-hot fury.

Prisoners voting: time to ask who governs Britain (Express)

Stephen Pollard — Thu, 24 May 2012 09:06:53 +0100

My Express column on the ECHR is here: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/322045/Prisoners-voting-Time-to-ask-...

You work harder as civil servants take summer off (Express)

Stephen Pollard — Wed, 16 May 2012 11:28:20 +0100

My Express column on the civil service's 7 week 'work from home' wheeze this summer is here.

Only a fantasist could believe in the euro now (Express)

Stephen Pollard — Tue, 08 May 2012 14:10:00 +0100

My Express column on the euro, Hollande and Greece, is here.

The Guardian backs down

Stephen Pollard — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:19:54 +0100

I've just heard that the Guardian has agreed to post a correction to their diary story.

Having libelled me by implying that I lied to their reporter, they now accept they got it wrong and are about to post this:

"In a diary item about the presence of blogs by Carlos Cortiglia, the BNP's
mayoral candidate, on the Jewish Chronicle website we stated that the blogs were
still available on November 23. We went on to say that this "conflicts" with the
editor of the JC, Stephen Pollard's, account "that he became aware of
Cortiglia's blog and deleted all trace of it 'last September' ". To clarify: he
told the Guardian's reporter that "in September we were alerted to the fact that
Cortiglia had set up a user blog and the moment we were told, we blocked him and
changed [the] entire system". Mr Pollard has asked us to point out that this was
not meant to imply that all traces of the blogs had been deleted in September –
in fact the measure he took at that time was to block Cortiglia's access. He
ordered the blogs to be deleted more recently."

The Guardian's libel of me

Stephen Pollard — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 09:16:59 +0100

UPDATE:

I've just heard from the Guardian at last that they accept the need for a clarification and will be posting this:

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

I've had a very instructive week, seeing at first hand how Israel's enemies will lie entirely brazenly in order to further their own ends.

The JC, as many of you will know, used to have an open access policy for its blog hosting. Anyone who wanted to could simply register and set up a blog. (The idea was quite trendy among media outlets when we started it, years ago). We had no involvement at all in the process - any more than, for instance, the Guardian does when people register with it in order to leave comments on its site.

Last autumn, we were alerted to the fact that a man with BNP affiliations had set up a blog. We immediately barred access to the site to prevent him posting.

That was the end of the matter until earlier this month, when someone searched our archives and found his 3 posts buried inside.

Gleefully, the antisemitic MPACUK site, along with Stephen Sizer (the vicar whose views we have covered in the paper) ran posts that we had a BNP blogger - without of course checking the context or mentioning the fact we banned him - the message was that we had invited him to blog.

This then went into the realms of total fantasy when a fanatically anti-Israel blogger called Richard Silverstein simply made up a story that we had announced the BNP man (who is now their candidate for Mayor of London) as our latest columnist.

See what I mean about lying for the furtherance of political ends? These people will do anything to smear the reputation those of us who support Israel's right to exist.

All sorts of rumours went round the blogosphere and Twitter. And they led a Guardian journalist (Andrew Brown) to get in touch to - perfectly reasonably - ask me if it was true. I told him exactly what I've written above.

On Friday, the Guardian published a diary story under the byline of Hugh Muir which, in its own way, defamed me and the JC even more than anyone before. It said I had told them that we had removed all trace of the BNP blogs in September - and then said that because they had seen screen shots of the blog earlier this month, I had lied about this.

That is itself a lie. At no point did I ever say we had deleted all trace of him then. Patently, we didn't - the story only broke because someone saw the archive posts of his in April.

I pointed this out to the Guardian on Friday, and how defamatory it was to suggest I had lied. Their response so far has been to do precisely nothing. I have been told that the 'readers editor' will investigate. I am still waiting for the results of that investigation.

In the meanwhile, that diary post, effectively accusing me of lying, has gone viral - and because it is in the Guardian, some people assume it must be true.

It isn't. The Guardian has published a libel of me and - so far - refused to do anything about it, despite being given the full version of the facts.

Two explanations are possible. First, that somewhere in the passing on of the story from Andrew Brown to Hugh Muir, words were garbled and they made a mistake. Most of us accept that errors happen - and when pointed out, we correct and apologise.

That they have so far refused to make any correction or apology makes me wonder if the second possible explanation may be more accurate - that they know exactly what they are doing and have deliberately chosen to libel me.

I'll update this if and when they do the right thing.

Put Abu Qatada on a plane and quit the ECHR (Express)

Stephen Pollard — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 08:28:18 +0100

My Express column on the latest Abu Qatada developments is here.

North Korean tyrants spend on rockets as their people starve (Express)

Stephen Pollard — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 09:43:07 +0100

My Express column on North Korea is here.

We must reject state funding of political parties (Express)

Stephen Pollard — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 11:12:11 +0100

My column on the Tory donor scandal is here.

Theatre of rudeness (Spectator)

Stephen Pollard — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 11:02:42 +0000

I've just realised that my Spectator piece about BO - yes, indeed - is now out from behind the paywall. It's here.

What's the BBC for, if not the Grand National? (Telegraph)

Stephen Pollard — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 16:41:56 +0000

My Telegraph piece on the BBC and sport is here.

The Americans do not regard us as special any more (Express)

Stephen Pollard — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 13:18:58 +0000

My latest Express column, on the Prime Minister's US visit. It's here.

Dear Chancellor, You can't afford not to cut taxes (Express)

Stephen Pollard — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 09:40:33 +0000

My Express column on the Budget is here.

"How can working in a supermarket be slave labour?" (Express)

Stephen Pollard — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:03:39 +0000

Here's my Express column on the so-called slave labour programme.

For once, Richard Dawkins is lost for words (Telegraph)

Stephen Pollard — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 10:21:11 +0000

I have a column in today's Telegraph on atheism. It's here.

Riots in Athens could be just the start for Europe (Express)

Stephen Pollard — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:18:54 +0000

Here's my Express column today on the Greek riots and the euro

Any fool can see it's about floating the tumbleweed (Telegraph)

Stephen Pollard — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:01:33 +0000

My Notebook in today's Telegraph is here.

Abu Qatada's threat to national security (Express)

Stephen Pollard — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:12:47 +0000

My Express column on the outrageous decision to release Abu Qatada from prison is here.

'Yet another farce from the hated Human Rights Act' (Express)

Stephen Pollard — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:43:22 +0000

I have a piece in today's Express on the law suit brought against the government by Cait Reilly. It's here.

Human Rights Law Is Undermining UK Democracy (Express)

Stephen Pollard — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:18:48 +0000

My column from today's Express is here.

From Castro to Chavez: with great power comes truly great paranoia (Telegraph)

Stephen Pollard — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 14:30:44 +0000

My Telegraph column today on Hugo Chavez's idea that the US has tried to assassinate him with cancer: http://goo.gl/7pLg1

Archbishop who'd like to be Leader of the Opposition (Express)

Stephen Pollard — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 15:39:33 +0000

My take on Rowan Williams's Christmas sermon http://goo.gl/w3AZb

Archbishop who'd like to be Leader of the Opposition (Express)

Stephen Pollard — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 15:39:33 +0000

My take on Rowan Williams's Christmas sermon http://goo.gl/w3AZb

At last, someone tells it straight on the euro crisis (Express)

Stephen Pollard — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 23:14:16 +0000

My take on Boris Johnson's comments, in today's Express http://goo.gl/5gQek

Mr Cameron, you have done Britain a great service (Express)

Stephen Pollard — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 15:30:03 +0000

My take on the Brussels summit, in today's Express http://goo.gl/l4yKR

Power and politics: who’s fleecing who? (Telegraph)

Stephen Pollard — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:09:51 +0000

My take on the Bell Pottinger expose, in today's Telegraph.

Iranian aggression is threat to us and Middle East (Express)

Stephen Pollard — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 19:42:44 +0000

My take on Iran is here, in today's Express http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/287212

No Two Ways to Fix Britain's Budget (Wall Street Journal Europe)

Stephen Pollard — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 11:30:22 +0000

My take on George Osborne's statement in today's Wall Street Journal Europe: George Osborne wants a 3% spending cut. Labour wanted 2.2%. The difference is hardly Keynes vs. Hayek.

The Euro has failed (Express)

Stephen Pollard — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 14:18:58 +0100

My Express column on Angela Merkel's comments about peace in Europe. It's here http://goo.gl/2CBfy