The Fallout from the Jewish Chronicle Scandal - A Wake-Up Call for Anglo-Jewry

My personal view on the disturbing developments at the Jewish Chronicle.

The Jewish Chronicle has been described as the world’s oldest Jewish newspaper. It is a newspaper that means very much to me for deeply personal reasons. My father, Chaim Bermant, was a leading columnist of the JC for almost four decades and also a regular contributor to other British national newspapers, until his death in 1998. He cared deeply for the fate of the State of Israel and its people. Although he had strong Zionist convictions, he frequently criticzed Israeli governments and questioned policies such as settlement expansion on the West Bank. He was fearless when it came to pointing out inconvenient truths which were uncomfortable for his Jewish readers. Indeed, many of his readers strongly disagreed with what he wrote but openly admitted that his column was the first thing they read in the newspaper.

It is precisely for this reason that the latest revelations from the Jewish Chronicle are so disturbing. The scandal broke following reports that the newspaper had published fabricated articles on Israel’s war in Gaza. The story has had very wide coverage. The most controversial report was a piece claiming a document showed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was planning to smuggle Israeli hostages out of Gaza and to Iran, through the Philadelphi corridor, a strip of land on the Gaza-Egypt border. The IDF later released a statement that it had no knowledge of this report. It was Israel’s prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu who had previously claimed that Sinwar had been planning to smuggle Israel’s hostages through the Gaza corridor into Iran. The Jewish Chronicle had effectively allowed itself to be exploited by the disreputable Israeli leader.

There is a wider context here. The JC was taken over by a consortium in 2020 yet to this day, nobody knows who now owns the newspaper. What is known, however is that under the new ownership, the Jewish Chronicle has become a newspaper that peddles in right-wing causes and sensationalism. Many suspect that instead of being a communal home where all views are shared, this anonymous owner is pushing an unwholesome ideological agenda. Professor Colin Shindler, a distinguished authority in the field of Israel studies who has written for the newspaper for more than 50 years, is just the latest writer to announce his resignation as a contributor, following the departures of Jonathan Freedland, Hadley Freeman, David Baddiel and David Aaronovitch. Freedland, one of the finest writers in the British media today on Israel, wrote on Twitter: "Too often, the JC reads like a partisan, ideological instrument, its judgements political rather than journalistic."

The current Israeli government is peopled by Kahanists who have encouraged acts of terrorism against Palestinian civilians. Ministers have openly called for the perpetation of war crimes against Gazan civilians. The government is planning to annex the West Bank and even to displace large numbers of Palestinians. The situation is so grave that even Ronen Bar, the director of Shin Bet, Israel’s security agency, felt it was necessary to step in and warn of the consequences of actions taken by Israel’s far right National Security Minister, Itamar Ben Gvir.

According to the latest reports in Israel, Netanyahu is planning to fire his defence minister Yoav Gallant because of his apparent concerns over a rush to war in Lebanon. This is an act of madness at a time when Israel is already at war in Gaza. It is perfectly clear that this is not a move dictated by professional or military considerations but purely by personal political calculations. This is an act of a leader who is increasingly autocratic and dangerous. There is no accountability at all for Netanyahu’s decisions regarding the war in Gaza. He is capable of doing anything and everything to keep himself in power. His actions are deeply damaging for Israeli morale and internal solidarity.

My father wrote back in May 1995: “We have let Jerusalem dictate our agenda and list our priorities. Our communal leaders may be assertive enough in defending our interests in the face of local politicians, but not in the face of Israeli ones.” This was written when Israel was led by Yitzhak Rabin who was actively working for peace with the Palestinians. If this was true in 1995, it is even truer today when Israel is gripped by a fundamentalist government. The impression is that the JC has simply caved in to the dangerous agenda of an increasingly authoritarian and reckless Israeli government.

According to a survey published this week by the London-based Institute for Jewish Policy Research, nearly three quarters of British Jews believe that the situation in Israel is “bad” or “very bad” while eighty per cent disapprove of Netanyahu. This shows clearly that the JC under its current ownership does not reflect the views of British Jews.

Back on 13 June 1980, my father wrote: “Israel is supremely capable of defending itself against external enemies, but rather less effective and perhaps even less determined in defending itself against the enemy within. If extremists, and extremism, are allowed to flouish and are allowed to think that they are not only above the law, but above the expressed will of the people, Israel will find herself fighting the one war which she could lose - a war between Jews.”

I suspect that there are many Israelis who feel that this prophecy is now becoming a reality. But it is more convenient for the Jewish Chronicle today to campaign against media bias at the BBC rather than to focus on the truly disturbing reality in Israel.