A little over one week ago, the Jewish Chronicle led with a huge story about the UK branch of the Jewish National Fund: “JNF loses half its revenue,” the front page story said. Oddly enough, the story seems not to be available on the JC website. Pro-Palestinians activists have been sharing the story online via social networks. Read more about JNF's loss of half UK charity revenue good news for Palestinians
Speaking to Israeli TV earlier this month British ambassador Matthew Gould said Israel was increasingly losing support among middle-ground politicians in the UK because of its aggressive settlement policies.
His comments confirm other indications of increased mainstream support for Palestine in the political mainstream, as I showed in a feature for EI last month. Read more about As Israel haemorrhages British political support, its supporters watch impotently
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. Read more about Israeli propaganda group HonestReporting denies encouraging employee to smear UK professor
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: Read more about Row over UK lawmaker's "Jewish" comments a reminder that Zionism is anti-Semitism
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: Read more about UK regulator rules against deceptive settlement ad in The Jewish Chronicle