The Guardian is a vile antisemitic rag. Whodathunkit?
The image – for which both cartoonist Martin Rowson and The Guardian itself have now apologised – is as blatantly anti-Semitic as anything I have ever seen.
It would have fitted perfectly into Der Sturmer, the Nazi newspaper which routinely depicted Jews as diseased, or rats and leeches. Which leads to the question: how did a newspaper such as The Guardian, with its woke, progressive agenda, let this happen?
The Guardian has form for its vile cartoons. You may remember Steve Bell and his vile childish scrawls that were supposed to pass as political commentary. Martin Rowson is no different.
For many years, anti-Semitism was mainly thought of as being the preserve of the far-Right – such as the skinhead fascists and neo-Nazis of the National Front and the BNP, as well as the likes of historian David Irving and his acolytes.
But as we have seen recently, the Left has no lessons to teach anyone when it comes to anti-Jewish prejudice.
The only thing I can say to Pollard here is, where have you been? The left is mired in it, it wears it as a cloak. Anti-Jewishness is what the left is all about. See also, Jeremy Corbyn. It’s not as if this is anything new. The Guardian tries to create a veneer of civility over its prejudice by claiming that it opposes Israeli politics, but that is a thin veil indeed. The Guardian is antisemitic to the core and has always been. At least people like Pollard are calling it out.
When it comes to The Guardian, however, no one should be remotely surprised. Because the paper does not merely stand by and not notice anti-Semitism – it has a long and shameful history of actually publishing such depictions of Jews.
In 2012, it published a cartoon of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the puppet master of William Hague and Tony Blair.
Even the paper’s own readers’ editor agreed that it was based on the classic anti-Semitic idea of Jewish control over world events.
That cartoonist, Steve Bell, is a repeat offender.
Indeed. I struggle to find adequate words to describe my loathing for Bell.
That’s true in so many areas – and it is all too true when it comes to anti-Semitism.
It is the self-proclaimed anti-racists who so often turn out to be the foulest of the lot.
Indeed. And Antifa are the modern fascists and the be kind brigade are the most unkind vicious people possible. I’m pretty sure George Orwell had something to say about this phenomenon.
The Grauniad and its like are so convinced of their righteousness that they cannot possibly be racist or sexist so they don’t even bother checking.
Der Sturmer or Der Starmer?
If they is gender-fluid one might say Die Starmer (German grammar joke).
Every rabid lefty it has been my displeasure to encounter has been an ardent anti-Semite. Even in so-called ‘polite’ society, reflexive Israel hatred is barely below the surface. Not that the extreme right are any better, but at least they don’t try to hide their hatred.
That has also been my experience of the Left as well. I recall the big 2003 anti Iraq War demo in London and there was, as was expected, a large lefty contingent as well as normies worried about the impacts of Blair’s War. The Lefties uncritically joined in the anti Israel/anti Jew chants of the Muslim Association of Britain crowd such as: ‘Palestine from the River to the Sea’. These Lefties saw nothing wrong or morally iffy about chanting for what would effectively be policy of genocide of Israeli Jews.
I’ve encountered an enormous number of Lefties in my time who speak the language of faux concern for human rights, provided that is that it is not the human rights of Jews that are an issue. For many Lefties, if you required them to make a choice about what side to back, they’d choose the anti-Jew position nearly every time.
I agree with you that the far right jackboot lickers are more upfront with their Jew hatred but much of the Left hates Jews and especially religious Jews with a passion but try their best, not always successfully, to keep that passionate hatred either very quiet when required or couch their Jew hatred in the language of anti-Zionism.
As a young apprentice,I knew another lad who was virulently Anti Jew.I asked why he hated them so much, had a Jew done something to him or his family.He replied that he did not know any Jews and had no intention of meeting any, he just did not like them.
All the Jews I have met have been perfectly reasonable, civilised people.I just cannot understand irrational hatred like this.
You took the words out of my mouth: neither do I understand the hatred directed towards Jews. Throughout history they seem to have been persecuted based on prejudice alone. Perhaps every collective needs a scapegoat and Jewish people fit because they are everyone’s ‘other’.
I had a good friend who was a Jew. We met at Medical school 50 years ago. He was kindness itself. At his funeral 4 ladies showed up, each purporting to be his current girl friend. Good old Steve, generous to the end. I often raise a glass to his memory.