Beware Israeli propaganda dressed up as news

The Haze’s attention was drawn to this lengthy article in the staunchly pro-Israel Telegraph.

It is typical example of pro-Israeli propaganda that has been all over the corporate media recently. The piece is so flimsy that one almost feels sorry for the hacks forced to write it.

The sad tale of the Gould family is lamented in great detail – they are moving to the U.S. because the U.K. is apparently “no longer safe for them” as Jews.

This is a PR trick that the corporate media has been working on since the gathering momentum of the boycott / divest / sanction (BDS) movement started to hurt the apartheid Israeli government (and big corporate money).  The Telegraph is big on pro-Israel PR.

Here is The Telegraph merrily conflating the movement with anti-Semitism  and here is The Telegraph portraying Jeremy Corbyn as an extremist  (he supports an end to the brutal Israeli occupation of Palestine) and here is the The Telegraph engaged in the most banal racism while reporting “decades of violence by Arabs against the innocent” 

Let us examine the sad tale of the Gould family in detail. It might startle readers to note that their decision to emigrate has been based on absolutely nothing happening to them whatsoever. Instead a detailed graphic of their family tree (to underline their wonderful British-ness) is juxtaposed next to news items about things happening to other people (two reports of attacks on Jews) and ‘research’ carried out by the Campaign Against Antisemitism and the vaguely named Community Security Trust (CST) which “monitors anti-Semitism in the UK”

Dare we suggest that two organisations earnestly looking for anti-Semitism might find evidence of exactly what they set out to find? Naturally The Telegraph offers no other data or evidence for the peril of the Gould family beyond Mrs Gould overhearing someone muttering about Jews in a shop queue and some fluff about barbed wire around Jewish schools.

If readers can not stumble their own way from there to creating a racist world view The Telegraph is happy to help:

Radical Islam, agrees Simon, is not the only driving force behind the rise in anti‑Semitism

Let us speculate aye readers?! – presumably the likes of Jeremy Corbyn and other left wing “extremists” are also to blame? Yep!

The far‑Left habitually conflates Jews with Israel and Zionism, he says

I don’t think The Telegraph is in a position to complain about conflations since they are desperately hawking their own – they hide behind the embattled Mr Gould and give him this nice quote:

Last summer, central Manchester – a place I love and have always lived in – became a flashpoint for virulent anti-Israel demonstrations. It was terrifying to see this on the streets of my home city.”

So neatly repackaging the principled opposition against the war crimes of the Israeli state into racism – which is what this PR exercise is all about.

Its odd indeed that The Telegraph should feel so concerned for the well off Gould family as they migrate to the U.S. They devote an entire section of their website to hyping hysteria against refugees::

Prepare yourselves: The Great Migration will be with us for decades  – “It is not war, but money, that drives people abroad”

Migrants think our streets are paved with gold – Those fleeing Africa for financial gain in Europe have unrealistic ideas about what we can offer 

But my main beef with this tale of woe of the Gould family is that they never once mention Palestine. Its as though Palestine and the occupation does not exist.

This is not an accident – playing down the war crimes of the Israeli government, portraying opposition to the actions of the state of Israel as anti-Semitism and portraying Jews as the real victims is a PR strategy that people of good conscience must not be taken in by.

I am pleased that the Gould family have the money to seek a better life for themselves in the U.S. and the option to do so. Palestinians have no such option and countless Palestinian families have suffered the violent loss of loved ones in recent years.

It would be quite wrong for me or anyone to hold the Gould family responsible for the actions of the Israeli government – but like all of us, they do bear a moral responsibility to speak out against evil acts.

I stood in the streets of London to protest against the savage assault on Gaza in 2014, I stood with people of all faiths including Jews. I stood in protest against the Iraq War, to make it clear to the world that it was not done in my name, I run this website to speak out against attacks globally on the poor, the unemployed, the disabled, refugees, the sick, the hungry and the homeless.

It is the first duty of the Gould family to speak out first against the horrific and ongoing attacks by the Israeli government against the Palestinians. Let them attend to that first as Jews (for no member of the Jewish faith can simply wash their hands of the crimes of Israel) but more importantly as human beings.

It is imperative that we retain a sense of moral proportion in our relations to the the world – the rise of intolerance of all kinds in the UK is deeply worrying and we should fight against all aspects of it – not just those that affect our own families. But what has happened and continues to happen in Palestine is monstrous and demands the most unified and urgent response.

Compare and contrast the shrill demands of the right wing press for Muslims in the UK to speak out against ISIS (which they do, often and without prompting) and the total absence of any moral imperative for Jews to do the same in relation to Israel. We either have a moral discourse or we don’t – why must Muslims stand alone in speaking out against acts of terrorism?  

There is no moral equivalence between what is happening in the UK and what is happening in Palestine. By engaging with The Telegraph in this transparent PR stunt while mentioning nothing about the suffering of others, the Gould family can surely expect little sympathy. If only Palestinian families had the wealthy and the powerful to give them a global media platform to bemoan their lot.  

Perhaps all those who are merrily trying to rebrand opposition to Israeli terrorism as anti-Semitism should think carefully about their actions. The best way that the world could increase the peace and security of everyone would be to hold the Israeli government  to account for its war crimes and to end the occupation of Palestine.

In the meantime if anyone needs reminding of the clear difference between mumbles in shop queues, contrived anti-Semitism and real terror, the Haze is happy to republish pictures of the Gaza conflict.  

John Lynch