UPDATE 2
The Canary, a left-wing political blog, published an article calling the New Statesman “gutless” for “censoring its own article.” In an explanation given to the Electronic Intifada site, the New Statesman said:
[We] removed the advertorial in question because it conflicts with the New Statesman’s editorial independence. As a publication we are committed to producing analytical and skeptical journalism.
Which is as it should be; not reproducing propaganda pieces that lie and incite hatred against Israel.
UPDATE
Following the release of this critique, the link to the New Statesman’s PSC article now brings up a blank page. We hope that the removal of this story signals a change of policy on the part of the New Statesman.
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The New Statesman has published a one-sided anti-Israel article for the extremist Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), titled “The Frontline of Israel’s Settlement Regime.”
It is highly problematic for a mainstream media outlet to be publishing content for such an extremist movement- but this is not a one-time thing. The same article was published on the PSC website, where it explains:
PSC are working in collaboration with the New Statesman to produce a series of online articles on Israel’s illegal settlements and our campaign against them.
What is the PSC?
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign, based in the UK, claims that it is “working together for peace, equality, and justice and against racism, occupation, and colonisation.”
The PSC has led protests against Israel which often turn into harassment and violence, and officially supports the BDS movement, which denies Israel’s right to self-defense and existence, and essentially advocates for the destruction of the Jewish state.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
The PSC’s patrons include Jenny Tonge who only recently was suspended from and then quit the Liberal Democrats over anti-Semitism, after hosting an event at the House of Lords opposing the Balfour Declaration, that included denying Israel’s legitimacy, comparing Israel to ISIS and blaming Jews for the Holocaust. She has previously justified and expressed “understanding” for Palestinian suicide bombers; called for Israeli soldiers providing aid in Haiti to be investigated for organ harvesting; and said Israel is the cause of the rise of ISIS and Islamic extremists who have a “justified grudge.”
Another patron is Caryl Churchill, who wrote the anti-Semitic play ‘Seven Jewish Children’ where she rejects and denies the Jews’ right to a homeland and connection to Israel, and portrays Jews as supporting genocide and justifying it because of the Holocaust.
The PSC’s director Sarah Colborne was on board the Mavi Marmara in the infamous flotilla to Gaza in 2010, where activists shot at and attacked Israeli soldiers using knives, chains and other weapons, resulting in the deaths of nine of the activists. Israel’s actions in self-defense were found to be in compliance with international law.
New Statesman
Bearing all this in mind, it is no surprise that the article, by Salah Ajarma, is completely one-sided, distorts Israel’s history, accuses Israel of ethnic cleansing, completely ignores the existence of Palestinian terrorism, and portrays the security barrier as “ghettoization” and land confiscation.
Regarding settlements and the peace process, it is ironic that Ajarma writes “For us, talk of peace is contradicted by our daily experience of an oppression that receives significant material and financial support from the ‘international community.’” Ironic, because of course the “international community” pays hundreds of millions of dollars of aid to the Palestinians each year – more per capita than any other people – with much of it used to pay salaries to terrorists and their families, or stolen by Hamas to use for building weapons, tunnels and other terrorism infrastructure.
Ajarma founded the Lajee Center in the Palestinian Aida refugee camp, which he says provides opportunities for “the cultural, educational and social development of our young people.” He says
It is difficult to understand how children raised in such an awful situation can remain so full of gentleness and hope.
It is indeed difficult to understand how that could be the case at all, considering the refugee camp’s contribution to the terror wave that Palestinians started last year. For example, a 19 year old from the camp carried out a bus bombing in Jerusalem this past April, injuring 21 Israelis (and killing himself in the process.) Last month a group of teens from Aida were arrested for planning and carrying out attacks against Israelis at the Rachel’s Tomb holy site, using improvised explosive devices and throwing rocks, pipe bombs and firecrackers.
Ajarma writes
We are aware of the duty to educate our youth about their history and their rights. Only in this way will our struggle for freedom be carried to the next generation.
Clearly instead of educating Palestinian children on tolerance, the Lajee Center is more likely to brainwash and radicalize them as it doesn’t promote peace or dialogue with Israelis, but supports BDS and the Palestinian “right of return” which would effectively end Israel as the Jewish state. So it’s hard to see how any of that translates into “gentleness” and “hope” unless it means Palestinian teenagers hoping that the Jewish state will cease to exist as they gently throw rocks at Jews.
The real question of course is why is the New Statesman acting as a mouthpiece for the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, an organization that rejects the Jewish state and promotes anti-Semitism? After publishing an article so filled with bias and lies against Israel, does the New Statesman really think that it would be appropriate to publish a series of articles that would be in a similar vein?
Contact the New Statesman with your comments and concerns about their partnering with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, by emailing [email protected]
