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UK Riots: The Guardian Pot Calls the Kettle Black

Someone alerted me to this little gem he heard on Israel’s Galei Tzahal (Army Radio) on its breakfast show this morning. Discussing the riots in the UK, The Guardian’s Martin Wainwright was interviewed. He said…

Simon Plosker
August 11, 2011
12:00 am

Reading time: < 1 minutes

Someone alerted me to this little gem he heard on Israel’s Galei Tzahal (Army Radio) on its breakfast show this morning.

Discussing the riots in the UK, The Guardian’s Martin Wainwright was interviewed. He said the following (some of which was drowned out by the Israeli presenter’s Hebrew explanation but which I have taken the liberty of translating from the Galei Tzahal website):

Pictures of any sort of disorder can give a completely false impression and I’m in Birmingham and I can assure you that, you know, if you wanted to come and have a nice meal in the center of Birmingham, you’d have a great evening and the pictures that have gone around the world will be a very damaging influence because through those pictures it appears that this is a warzone.

Now substitute Birmingham for Jerusalem or Tel Aviv. Need I say more?

And coming directly from the mouth of a Guardian reporter? Absolutely priceless.

(The interview can be heard here by clicking on the August 11 show. The relevant section starts 32 mins in.)

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Tags: Galei Tzahal, London riots, Martin Wainwright, The Guardian, UK riots

Simon Plosker

With over two decades of experience in various non-governmental organizations in the UK and Israel, Simon Plosker returned to HonestReporting in October 2022 as Editorial Director having previously been part of the organization’s management team from 2005 to 2020. Prior to his first spell at HonestReporting, Simon worked in Israel for NGO Monitor, BICOM, and served for a short period in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit. He was Managing Editor of the Geneva-based NGO United Nations Watch for two years before moving back to the frontline defending Israel from media bias. Simon has a BSoc.Sc in International Studies and Political Science from the University of Birmingham and an MSc in History of International Relations from the London School of Economics. He immigrated to Israel in 2001 from London.

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