What do true free thinkers do when presented with new information contradicting their most cherished beliefs? They carefully consider the new information and adapt their views accordingly.
What do rigid, closed-minded people do when presented with new information contradicting their most cherished beliefs? They ignore the new information.
This paradigm seems an apt way to understand the Guardian’s failure to devote any coverage to the “largest and most detailed survey of attitudes towards Jews and Israel ever conducted” in the UK. The study, released last week by CST and the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR), which was covered by Times of London and The Telegraph, produces “the first robust empirical documentation” on what most British Jews have understood all along: that there’s a strong correlation between antisemitic and anti-Israel attitudes. The CST and JPR report demonstrates conclusively that those who hold strong anti-Israel views (such as calling Israel an apartheid state, accusing it of genocide and denying its right to exist, etc.) are dramatically more likely to hold antisemitic views than the general population.
This of course contradicts the dominant Guardian Left view that hatred of Jews qua Jews is distinct and separate from hatred of Israel. This erroneous belief has informed their coverage of anti-Israel movements for years, articles and op-eds which invariably frame pro-Palestinian groups as progressive and anti-racist – regardless of evidence to the contrary.
Though, over the years, we’ve been relentless in our criticism of the Guardian, we’ve also acknowledged that there are at least a few fair-minded journalists employed by the media group who understand and take seriously the problem of antisemitism. We can only hope that these voices will speak up, and start a desperately needed conversation with their colleagues – many of whom fancy themselves ‘free thinkers’, yet seem impervious to new information as it concerns relationship between Israel, Jews and antisemitism.