Objectionable behavior, questionable leadership

Isi Leibler
Candidly Speaking from Jerusalem
17 February '11

http://wordfromjerusalem.com/?p=2807


The Jewish Chronicle of London this week highlighted what it alleged was Tzipi Livni’s endorsement of controversial remarks made last November by Mick Davis, chairman of Anglo Jewry’s United Jewish Israel Appeal and head of its unaccountable Jewish Leadership Council.

The story occupied the entire front page, and was followed by a lengthy article by Davis based on his address at the recent Herzliya conference and crafted to justify his earlier remarks. The Jewish Chronicle also carried an editorial lavishly praising Davis’s right to “become Anglo Jewry’s spokesman for the view that the current Israeli government is on the wrong trajectory,” and hailing Livni’s “admirable words” endorsing “our right” to hold “a big conversation, of which we can all be proud.”

The editorial also condemned as “bizarre” unspecified calls “to demand that our communal leaders adopt a vow of silence on matters of specific Jewish concern.”

Many will regard it as a sad reflection of the state of Anglo-Jewry that at this time, when British media hostility toward the Jewish state has reached an all-time high, its flagship communal newspaper would adopt such a negative approach, endorsing calls encouraging Jews to criticize the Israeli government.

The Jewish Chronicle quoted Livni a saying that Diaspora leaders have a “duty” to speak out when Israel “does something wrong,” and that “as leaders, we in Israel must take into account the concerns of Diaspora Jewry.”

In the course of a subsequent address this week to the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, she made similar remarks, calling for dialogue between Israel and world Jewry and “placing everything on the table.”

It is unclear whether Livni was even aware of the earlier Davis remarks. Were she to endorse such criticism from a Diaspora leader, she would undoubtedly infuriate most Israelis, who would not take kindly to a British Jewish mining magnate exploiting his communal role to intrude on matters that could affect the lives of children and grandchildren serving in the IDF.

However, The Jewish Chronicle’s spin on Livni’s remarks was clearly designed to bolster its editorial line, which endorses the critical statements Davis had previously expressed.

His Master's Voice – From the NIF's Mouth to the "Organ of Anglo-Jewry"

Daphne Anson
22 December '10

Snow-bound in her igloo somewhere in the ice-covered rural landscape of the British Isles, this sun-loving Aussie gal wasn't able to pick up her hard copy of last week's Jewish Chronicle (17 December) until the lanes became passable.

And what did I find? Why, the JC and the New Israel Fund tucked up in bed together. Yes, cosily between the JC's sheets is a loose tabloid-sized four-page insert calling itself New Israel News ("NIF Publication", Winter 2010). Under the banner headline "New debate welcomed by NIF", the insert's main frontpage article declares: 'The move by Mick Davis and leading figures in Anglo-Jewry, to engage in "honest and open debate" about the policies and actions of the Israeli government, has been welcomed by the Chair of the New Israel Fund (UK), Nicholas Saphir.'

The article generously quotes Mr Saphir, and when we turn to page two we find – lo and behold! – an article by that gentleman entitled "Diaspora Jewry must speak up". At the foot of the article is the note "Nicholas Saphir is Chair of the New Israel Fund" – he’s also, as a matter of fact, a trustee of the Kessler Foundation, which owns the Jewish Chronicle, as was noted in my recent post called "Screwing the Right".

Yes, folks, that’s the same New Israel Fund whose dodgier initiatives have been exposed by NGO Monitor, as I indicated in that same post. And that’s the same Jewish Chronicle which has yet to feed its readers all the hard sober facts about the existential threats faced by Israel – for example, I have looked in vain yet again for anything about the possibly domino-effect recognition of a Palestinian State with its borders pre-Six Day War (those "Auschwitz borders" for Israel) by several South American nations (four at last count; the JC hasn't even reported one!). I thought this news, which was ignored by thewebsite, would be in the hard copy. It's been a futile search, and I don't think I need Specsavers.

(Read full "His Master's Voice – From the NIF's Mouth to the "Organ of Anglo-Jewry")

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