Kiwis for Balanced Reporting on the Middle East
April 22, 2010
Minto Misses the Mark
On March 7 KBRM appealed to the NZ Press Council regarding John Minto's false and defamatory statement about ‘Jewish groups’ on the Fairfax website (see March 6 post). Mr Minto's response was shocking because of his inability to distinguish between ‘some criticism’ and ‘any criticism’. KBRM sent the following reply to the Press Council:
John Minto's response to our complaint is completely off the mark. He apparently doesn't understand the difference between the English words some and any. If Mr Minto had said ‘Jewish groups claim that some criticism of Israel is fuelled by anti-Semitism’ that would have been no problem. It is a documented fact that anti-Semitism is widespread and is increasing, and it is not only Jewish groups that make such a claim. KBRM, which is far from being a Jewish group, knows that anti-Semitism is a factor in some anti-Israel criticism. (See the Bigotry Box on our Feedback Page.) But Mr Minto didn't say that. He said, ‘Some Jewish groups go so far as claiming any criticism of Israel is fuelled by anti-Semitism’.
This statement is both false and defamatory. Of course criticism of Israel can and does arise from other causes. There are those who believe the false charges that are so prevalent and repeat them without checking, and there is also valid criticism. Israel (like every country in the world) is far from perfect and can do things wrong. There are no groups, Jewish or otherwise, who make such a ridiculous claim.
The best evidence for this is Mr Minto's own response. Despite an extensive search, he was unable to find even one example to support his accusation. All that his list of references shows is that there are groups who believe some accusers or some accusations have an anti-Semitic basis. (See more detailed analysis below.) He is, as they say, hoist with his own petard.
The closest he came was an Arabic news agency that reported, ‘Deputy head of Germany's Central Council of Jews Dieter Graumann equated any criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism.’ However when one reads further, one finds that what Herr Graumann actually said was ‘We are seeing today that animosity towards Israel has often become a pretext [for anti-Semitism]’. Once again, there is a difference between ‘often’ and ‘any’. That an Arabic news source made the same mistake as Mr Minto, or that some people believe it, does not make it correct.
Ironically, one of the groups cited by Mr Minto as claiming that any criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic actually offered a test for distinguishing between valid and anti-Semitic criticism. The fact that Mr Minto cannot see (or chooses not to see) the difference is very disconcerting.
Making a false charge against ‘Jewish groups’ is the kind of racism that Mr Minto supposedly deplores. By using the word ‘Jewish’ and falsely criticising the alleged unreasonable actions of Jews, he breached Press Council Principle 8 regarding racial and religious discrimination.
Although Mr Minto's column is an opinion column, his statement was presented as fact, and will be believed by many readers. Yet, despite great effort, Mr Minto was unable to find even one example of what he claims exists.
Bottom line. This is a simple, straight-forward complaint. John Minto made a false accusation against Jewish groups — an accusation for which he himself has been unable to find any evidence. One would think that he would be willing to say — indeed, would want to say, ‘I know of no groups that claim any criticism of Israel is fuelled by anti-Semitism. What I should have said is that many groups, Jewish and otherwise, believe that SOME criticism of Israel is fuelled by anti-Semitism, and this claim is undoubtedly true.’ Why he doesn't want to do that, instead of trying to defend his erroneous statement, is hard to understand.
ADDENDUM
Following is an item-by-item analysis of Mr Minto's list of references. (Note: Some citations had addresses on a local hard disk — presumably Mr Minto's — and could not be checked.)
www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=171089
This Israeli newspaper article relates to US Vice-Pres. Biden's accusation that Israeli actions made US soldiers in the Middle East less safe. A person named as ‘Gilboa’ (no details given) is quoted as saying ‘This [accusation] is dangerous, because it could hurt public opinion toward Israel, and increase anti-Semitism. There is a great need to do something,’ he said, adding that US soldiers were being killed in Iraq because of US policies, not Israeli ones.
This article relates to a specific criticism of Israeli policy (housing developments in disputed territories) not to ‘all’ criticism. It is not made by a named ‘Jewish group’ and does not support any of Mr Minto's claims.
www.rabble.ca/news/memo-minister-kenney-criticism-israel-not-anti-semitism
This Canadian site carries an open letter to a Canadian Government official It claims that ‘The argument that criticism of Israel is inherently anti-Semitic rests on the notion that Israel is singled out for undue criticism because it is a Jewish state’ and says that Immigration Minister Jason Kenney used this logic when he said recently, ‘We do see the growth of a new anti-Semitism predicated on the notion that the Jews alone have no right to a homeland.’.
In point of fact, the Jewish right to a homeland is endorsed by the United Nations. It is a tenable view that claiming that Jews have no right to a homeland is anti-Semitic, but that is not the point. It is a specific anti-Israel statement that is singled out, and Mr Kenney is not a ‘Jewish group’. There is no suggestion that he is Jewish at all.
www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/090128/2009012803.html
This Arab-source item (apparently dated January 2009) is primarily about a clash between the Central Council of Jews and its critics. The headline is ‘German Jewish leader equates criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism’. What Central Council of Jews spokesman Dieter Graumann said was that he saw a ‘surrogate anti-Semitism which says Israel but actually means Jews. We are seeing today that animosity towards Israel has often become a pretext [for anti-Semitism]’. ‘Often’ is very different from ‘any’, and a ‘pretext’ for anti-Semitism clearly implies that those who already hold anti-Semitic views use (possibly valid) criticism of Israel to ‘prove’ (in their own minds) their general thesis.
www.boycottisrael.org.uk
This site quite stridently claims anti-Semitism in UK and refutes certain elements of ‘received wisdom’ about Israel and the Palestinian conflict. Its link ‘Read about the barely concealed anti semitism which is alive and well in the UK’. refers the reader to a Jerusalem Post article, which unfortunately does not appear to load. It claims that the BBC has an anti-Semitic agenda, and strongly opposes the ‘Boycott Israel’ movement which appears to be strong in the UK (two of Mr Minto's citations reference it).
Claiming that anti-Semitism flourishes in the UK does not amount to a claim that ALL criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic. Nor is it clear that the website is the mouthpiece for a ‘Jewish group’.
www.ajc.org
This link is to the homepage of the large site of the American Jewish Committee. Mr Minto has not provided any detail of the link. However a search on ‘criticism of Israel’ within the site produced a 2002 article, containing the statement ‘Too many complaints about Israel are unmistakably driven by anti-Semitism. The current divestiture and ‘boycott’ movements are a case in point,’ made by Kenneth Stern, the American Jewish Committee's specialist on anti-Semitism and extremism.
It is arguably true that any anti-Semitic statement (in the accepted sense) is ‘too many’ — this would be true of a racial or religious slur against any group. But this is not the point; Mr Stern's statement does not refer to ALL criticism, nor does it identify any ‘group’, ‘Jewish’ or otherwise, making these statements.
http://campusintifada.com/widget/LP_V_W.html
This item offers a ‘3-D’ test for distinguishing between valid and anti-Semitic criticism, and makes no claim of the sort alleged by Mr Minto.
www.scottishpsc.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3268:2010-mar-23-pilger--
This item quotes John Pilger, who argues that charges of racism against Scottish anti-Israel campaigners should be rejected. Dr Ezra Golombok, director of the Israel Information Office in Scotland is quoted as saying ‘That criticism of Israel descends disturbingly close to antisemitic stereotype is obvious’. Dr Golombok uses only the word ‘close’, and refers to ‘antisemitic stereotype’, not to anti-Semitism. He does not refer to ALL criticism and does not represent a ‘Jewish group’. From the context, he was speaking in a personal capacity to a Jewish newspaper in the UK . He was clearly not making allegations of the type claimed by Mr Minto.
www.inminds.co.uk/jews-against-zionism.html
This reports on the inaugural meeting of ‘Jews Against Zionism’ in 2003. The group is opposed to ‘Zionism’, which is the claim that Israel is the homeland of the Jews, and has nothing to do with anti-Semitism, let alone false claims of it. The site is an Islamic one.
www.nkusa.org/AboutUs/Zionism/judaism_isnot_zionism.cfm
This item is headed ‘Judaism and Zionism are not the same thing’. Neturei Karta shares the orientation of the previous group, and like it makes no claims of anti-Semitism. It uses a religious argument as follows: ‘ACCORDING TO THE JEWISH FAITH AND TORAH LAW THE JEWISH PEOPLE ARE FORBIDDEN TO HAVE THEIR OWN STATE WHILE AWAITING THE MESSIANIC ERA! Torah true Jewry waits patiently for the Messianic redemption. They have nothing to do with any kind of pseudo ‘Jewish State’ and its aggressions against other peoples. They have a deep sympathy for the plight of the Palestinians who have suffered the most from Zionism's false teachings and barbaric actions. The Zionist state is not a Jewish state. The Zionists alone are the only ones responsible for their actions. Authentic Jewry has and will continue to oppose the very existence of this blasphemous state.’
It is well-known that a wide range of political and religious views is held by Jews in Israel and the Diaspora, and the two opinions cited here are at one end of a continuum. However they have nothing whatever to do with Mr Minto's contention, since so far from claiming that all criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic, they are — often trenchant - critics of Israel themselves.
http://politicalleft.blog-city.com/tarring_critics_of_israel_with_antisemitism.htm
This item is devoted to claims made in 2002 by Noam Chomsky that those who criticise Israel will be persecuted as anti-Semites. Prof. Chomsky provides no evidence of his claims and therefore only makes the same assertion as Mr Minto's, which is complained of. Prof. Chomsky is well-known as a promoter of conspiracy theories, and this appears to be one of them. His claim is untenable even in terms of the other citations, which include those of groups who oppose the mere existence of Israel , but operate unmolested.