The Guardian Covers for Anti-Israel ‘Squad’ Members in Biased Piece

Not one authentically pro-Israel viewpoint is included, while US-based activist groups with known anti-Israel agendas are presented as impartial commentators.

By Rachel O’Donoghue, The Algemeiner

When it comes to virtually anything and everything related to Israel, The Guardian has an established tradition of making even the most innocuous of events sound suspicious.

From reports on women’s rights in the Middle East to analyses of the state of Israeli politics, the left-wing British publication can always be counted upon to present the Jewish state in a less than favorable light.

The latest Israel-related occurrence that The Guardian has engaged in questionable reporting on, is the news that Democrat House leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) led a congressional delegation on a trip to Israel that was “funded by the hardline lobbying group the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).”

Aside from the fact that the trip technically wasn’t funded by AIPAC, but rather the American Israel Education Foundation (AIEF), which is affiliated with AIPAC, The Guardian cannot help but hint there is something untoward about the trip being funded by the allegedly “hardline” AIPAC. Naturally, The Guardian fails to tell readers what specifically about AIPAC makes them hardline.

But the most galling aspect of Chris McGreal’s piece is the pretense of balance despite the fact that it includes not one authentically pro-Israel voice or viewpoint. Instead, US-based activist groups with known anti-Israel agendas are presented as impartial commentators.

Referring to critics of Jeffries, who allege he is “giving political cover to the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu,” McGreal quotes a number of these anti-Israel or anti-Netanyahu lobbying groups that, unsurprisingly, don’t like pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC.

For example, the president of Americans for Peace Now is quoted at length — without McGreal mentioning that the group adopts mostly anti-Israel positions, such as when it urged the United Nations not to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism on the false pretext that it shielded Israel from criticism.

Another lobbying organization mentioned in the piece is J Street, which is introduced using its own “pro-Israel, pro-peace” descriptor (which many criticize as inaccurate), and its president Jeremy Ben-Ami’s view that US tax dollars are being used to bring about the “permanent demise of a possible Palestinian state.”

J Street has among other activities, promoted political candidates who support the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, and once gave the honor of speaking at its national conference to none other than octogenarian Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.

McGreal also provides cover for the so-called “Squad,” which he mutely states is “critical of Israeli policies.”

Yet, Squad heavyweights like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) have done a whole lot more than merely criticize Israeli policies.

For example, in 2019 Ocasio-Cortez and Omar sponsored a bill defending the BDS campaign, which seeks to entirely dismantle the Israeli state, while a news report said that Tlaib advocated a single Palestinian state to replace Israel.

Furthermore, there is no evidence that McGreal or editors at The Guardian even approached AIPAC for comment, which, given the critical tone of the story, should be standard practice.

Indeed, this is the second story in the space of a few weeks where McGreal has demonstrated that his priority is giving a platform to fringe anti-Israel organizations and personalities in an attempt to pass them off as mainstream.

As far back as 2006, McGreal promoted the Israeli apartheid libel in The Guardian. Sadly, it is becoming clear that he is using his latest posting in the United States to continue his anti-Israel campaign from afar.

And, alas, it’s The Guardian on Israel — so it’s what we’ve come to expect.

The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.

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