An article in the Independent by international correspondent Borzou Daragahi (“Inaction over the treatment of Palestine impacts the entire world”, Feb. 6) included the following, concerning claims made in a book by Guardian contributor Antony Loewenstein.
Loewenstein documents how Israel trains law enforcement officers across the world to use its aggressive policing tactics against minority populations – including in American cities. The same knee-on-neck hold used by Minnesota cop Derek Chauvin to suffocate George Floyd is commonly employed against Palestinians, Loewenstein notes.”
We contacted Indy editors to remind them that a similar lie attempting to link Israel to the murder of George Floyd in particular, and police brutality against minorities in general, was peddled by British actress Maxine Peake in a 2020 interview at their publication.
When it was shown the charges were baseless, she apologised, and Indy editors subsequently added an addendum to the interview to clarify that Peake’s “allegation that US police were taught tactics of ‘neck kneeling’ by Israeli secret services is unfounded.”
We also informed editors about a subsequent Channel 4 News fact-check which thoroughly debunked Peake’s allegations.
We received a response from the Indy notifying us that our complaint was upheld. The sentence from the paragraph seen above now includes additional language, noting that “following claims in 2020, Channel 4 carried out a fact check exercise and found no evidence that US police had been taught this technique by their Israeli counterparts.”
The following editor’s note appears at the bottom:
To learn more about the origins of this antisemitic conspiracy theory, including details of the important counter-terror training that Israel does provide US police, see this CAMERA backgrounder.
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The blatant antisemitism displayed by The Grauniad and the so-called Independent rags are a national disgrace and should be investigated by the police.