The Jewish Chronicle

UK newspaper The Jewish Chronicle, a publication well known for its attacks on pro-Palestinian solidarity activists, has published a blog mocking a former hostage.

My recent article exposing a smear by an Israeli pressure group worker seems to have touched a nerve. Israeli masters student Smadar Bakovic claimed in the Jewish Chronicle last month that Warwick University professor Nicola Pratt had given her a lower grade for her dissertation than she deserved because of anti-Israeli bias.

But Warwick university strongly denied her story, saying that the new higher mark given was in fact for a revised version of her dissertation. A university spokesperson told me that Bakovic’s story was untrue, and has subsequently issued a press release with further details.

The Jewish Chronicle’s reporter Marcus Dysch didn’t seem to think it relevant to mention that Bakovic works for MediaCentral  — a “free or low-cost” pro-Israel fixer agency in Jerusalem.

But now her employer has defended her actions.

Controversy has broken out in the UK over alleged anti-Semitic comments made by Labour MP Paul Flynn about the British Ambassador in Tel Aviv.

According to The Jewish Chronicle (a publication whose record demonstrates that its accuracy can never been taken for granted) Flynn questioned whether Gould could be properly loyal to the UK because he is Jewish and has declared himself a Zionist:

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the UK body that regulates truthfulness in advertising, has ruled against an ad in The Jewish Chronicle for promoting real estate in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The 2 November ASA ruling says that the ad, which appeared in June 2011, was headlined, “Vineyard View EFRAT New Neighbourhood in Dekel UNIQUE DEVLEOPMENT [sic] OF 26 NEW HOUSES.” According to the ASA:

Since last week’s First Tier Tribunal ruling against Raed Salah’s appeal against deportation from the UK, Zionist ideologues have been gloating. But in fact the judgment (now released online) clears Salah of the central government accusation against him: that he wrote an anti-Semitic poem containing the line: “You Jews are criminal bombers of mosques”. This “poem” was fabricated in the context of a long-standing Israeli campaign of attacks, detentions and disinformation against Salah. The following is my analysis of the judgment.

Last month Asa Winstanley reported for The Electronic Intifada on how British Prime Minister David Cameron had stepped down as honorary Jewish National Fund patron. Asa, a journalist in London who blogs at winstanleys.org and who can be followed on Twitter, wrote up an update and analysis after the prime minister’s spokespersons broke the silence on Cameron’s resignation.