To the Editor
April 6, 2010
On March 3rd inst. we inaugurated a new Blog – JCWatch – designed to combat anti-Israeli sentiments expressed in the London Jewish Chronicle’s Blogs section on the Internet.
Our first task was to monitor the frequency of anti-Israeli comments appearing in said blogs.
We found that the situation is far worse than we had envisaged. It turns out that the Jewish Chronicle’s Blogs contained at least 50 anti-Israeli remarks during the period mid-February 2010 – mid March 2010, i.e. in the space of one month. Some of these comments were particularly vile, such as comparing Israel or Israelis with the Nazi regime or Nazis, calling Israel an Apartheid State, blaming Israel for the dastardly 9/11 attacks on the USA and countless other accusations which are contained in an article whose address is detailed a few sentences further on.
The number is possibly higher, since our initial research was not done at the ‘fine toothcomb level’, rather it concentrated on gleaning representative remarks both by authorized JC Blog writers and by readers offering comments.
The essence of those remarks have been reproduced in an article that can be found on JCWatch at:
http://jcwatch.wordpress.com/articles/anti-israelisms-an-open-ended-compendium
– the article is “open-ended” since JCWatch is continually adding newer anti-Israeli comments to the document as they appear in the Jewish Chronicle’s Blogs section.
The original article which superceded the current one, can be found at:
http://jcwatch.wordpress.com/articles/anti-israelisms-in-the-jcs-blogs
The Jewish Chronicle allows anyone to open a blog in its blog section, to write whatever he wants against Israel without censorship – as long as he is not right-wing or too pro-religious – and for anyone else who feels like it to comment as he sees fit; the JC Blogs have NO objective moderation.
Thus at least two writers have been identified as Christians posing as Jews, spreading Christian missionary propaganda, and the Jewish Chronicle has seen fit to do nothing whatsoever about this. You can verify this for yourself in the above-mentioned article “Anti-Israelisms – an Open-Ended Compendium”.
The Editor of the Jewish Chronicle has been approached 3 times in open letters, and refuses to answer, or to relate in any way to the matters raised. The anti-Israeli comments keep pouring in, at the rate of at least 50 a month.
You can read the letters to him on the JCWatch Blog.
We are therefore approaching a selection of around forty non-Israeli Jewish newspapers and requesting them to answer the following question:
Should Jewish Newspapers Publish Comments Damaging to Israel? Particularly, comments of the types described above: Nazis, Apartheid, 9/11 responsibility etc etc.
The question does not relate to professional journalists expressing researched opinions or constructive criticisms – JCWatch is NOT trying to muzzle the Press!
We therefore invite you to offer your comments on this situation, on the question:
Should Jewish Newspapers Publish Comments Damaging to Israel?
The Page for answering this question can be found on JCWatch at:
http://jcwatch.wordpress.com/articles/should-jewish-newspapers-publish-comments-damaging-to-israel-2/
You can reply either in the Leave a Reply box at the bottom of that Page, or alternately, replies can be emailed to:
thejcwatch@gmail.com
We are printing the names of all the 40 or so Jewish newspaper-recipients of this request on the above-mentioned Page so that our viewers may determine which newspapers related to the question.
Thanking you in advance for your cooperation and participation,
======================
Arizona Jewish Post Jewish News of Greater Phoenix Baltimore Jewish Times Buffalo Jewish Review The Canadian Jewish News Connecticut Jewish Ledger Chicago Jewish Star Dayton Jewish Observer The Jewish Daily Forward The Jewish Advocate Boston Jewish Chronicle – Pittsburgh Jewish Community Chronicle Jewish Community News (San Jose) Jewish Community News – Teaneck NJ Jewish Heartland – Shorewood WI Jewish Journal Boston Jewish Journal – Deerfield Beach FL Jewish Journal – Youngstown OH JewishJournal.com Jewish Journal of San Antonio Jewish News of Western Massachusetts – Northampton MA Jewish Observer of Central New York Jewish Post & Opinion 2 Indianapolis The Jewish Press Jewish Press – Omaha NB Jewish Reporter – Las Vegas NV Jewish Review – Portland Jewish Standard – Teaneck NJ Jewish Times – Pleasantville NJ Jewish Voice NJ Jewish Voice of Rhode Island Jewish World Review Observer – Nashville TN San Diego Jewish Times Shalom Newspaper – Wyomissing PA St. Louis Jewish Light – St Louis MO Western Jewish Bulletin Washington Jewish Week Washtenaw Jewish News – Ann Arbor MI Winnipeg Jewish Review Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle – Milwaukee WI
======================
JCWatch
http://jcwatch.wordpress.com
Avraham Reiss – Jerusalem