Columnists resign from Jewish Chronicle as Gaza fabrications controversy deepens
The resignations of four prominent columnists from the British newspaper, which is one of the leading voices for the country’s Jewish community, is a sign that the controversy engulfing it is not going away.
The newspaper was forced to delete nine articles written by a contributor after questions over their authenticity emerged.
The articles were supposedly written by a former Israeli soldier, who claimed to have exclusive details about Israeli intelligence on plans by Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar to flee to Iran, among other reportedly fabricated claims.
It has been claimed that the reports were part of a pro-Netanyahu disinformation campaign.
“The latest scandal brings great disgrace on the paper – publishing fabricated stories and showing only the thinnest form of contrition – but it is only the latest,” said columnist Jonathan Freedland. “Too often, the JC [Jewish Chronicle] reads like a partisan, ideological instrument, its judgements political rather than journalistic.”
The Jewish Chronicle has faced criticism, including from within the United Kingdom’s Jewish community, for its full-throated support for Israel’s war on Gaza, and the perception that it is closely aligned with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
‘Why I am rooting for Bisan Owda to win a news Emmy’: Opinion piece
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/9/15/why-i-am-rooting-for-bisan-owda-to-win-a-news-emmy
“Since the beginning of this latest and most violent chapter in Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people, honest, direct and courageous Palestinian voices like Owda’s broke through the mould of a once tightly controlled media landscape that habitually panders to colonial narratives.
“Her work, marked by a raw intensity and immense emotional debt, reached people around the world and exposed many of them to the painful reality of being a Palestinian in Gaza for the first time. Indeed, many Africans like me, who for too long depended on the biased output of Western news outlets to understand the so-called ‘Middle East conflict’, found Owda’s authentic account of the Palestinian reality both informing and refreshing.
“In a media landscape where Israeli military spokespeople get both the first and the last word in news reports on the genocide they are committing, where Palestinians who lost dozens of family members to Israeli bombing are made to condemn any efforts at resistance to be allowed to speak about their loss, where Palestinians inexplicably ‘die’ but Israelis are ‘killed’ and ‘slaughtered’, voices like Owda’s should be appreciated, honoured and protected at all cost.
“Since Israel’s very inception, Western media have been complicit in its crimes against Palestinians – especially leading British and American media organisations, which for decades held a monopoly on deciding what is accepted as ‘truth’ about Israel-Palestine and helped Israel legitimise its violence and land theft by pushing narratives that dehumanise Palestinians.
“But now that Owda, and other courageous Palestinian journalists like her, are able to reach large audiences, these organisations have lost the power to act as the sole arbiter of truth on Israel-Palestine. Israel can no longer silence Palestinian voices and make the world accept Israeli narratives as the indisputable truth of the conflict.”
