Former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie has suggested that hostile media coverage of Israel is “a form of proxy for antisemitism by journalists in the West.”

Speaking to the JC at the annual dinner for the charity, Emunah, he said that he was “puzzled” by the anti-Israel stance generally adopted in the British media.

The media executive, 66, said: “It is a massive puzzle because journalists normally are on the side of the little guy, and there can’t be a smaller guy in the Middle East than Israel.”

Mr MacKenzie questioned journalists’ sympathy for Gaza as he asked: “Why do they think an anti-democratic force should be entitled to a better crack of the whip than [Israel] which is in favour of democratic rights?

“[Israel] is pro-gay, pro-democracy, pro-women. It’s the most liberal establishment probably for 1,000 miles in any direction. You would have thought every journalist would embrace that thought process — but for some reason they don’t.

“The most interesting thing was the way the people from Gaza treated those guys they claimed were Israeli spies — they shot them in public and dragged around their bodies.

“Compare that with the Israelis when they captured the guy who let off the bomb in Tel Aviv and then followed due process and the law. That is never portrayed in the British media. Never.

“Is British journalism basically antisemitic? Do they hide [their] antisemitism in the way they report the battle for survival of Israel?”