Laor. 'Gas chambers not the only way to destroy a nation'
Photo: Ofer Amram
Pappe. 'Killing Palestinians comes naturally'
Prestigious magazine fights Israel
Comprehensive study reveals London Review of Books presents 'starkly one-sided and fringe approach' against Jewish state. Israeli, Jewish contributors among harshest critics
British organization Just Journalism on Monday published a scathing study on the way Israel
is being covered by London Review of Books – one of the most important and widely circulated literary magazines in the world.
While elements in the British press stress constantly their attempts to be balanced and fair in their coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the highly regarded magazine presents a "starkly one-sided and fringe approach".
According to the comprehensive study, the magazine systematically publishes articles clearly criticizing Israel. "The State of Israel wishes to inculcate in its soldiers a neo-Nazi ideology wrapped in Judaism" or "the Israelis think of Arabs much as they think of chickens of cats" are only two of the many statements which appear regularly in the prestigious magazine's articles.
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The LRB is a fortnightly literary and political magazine which publishes opinion articles and book reviews written by leading intellectuals.
‘I’m unambiguously hostile to Israel because it’s a mendacious state," the magazine's editor, Mary-Kay Wilmers, wrote in one of her articles. "They do things that are just so immoral and counterproductive and, as a Jew, especially as a Jew, you can’t justify that."
The study reveals that LRB takes the harshest stand against Israel among all British media outlets, and that many of the strongest condemnations come from Israeli and Jewish contributors of all people.
"The only danger is the danger facing the Palestinians," wrote author Yitzhak Laor in an article published by LRB during the al-Aqsa Intifada. "Gas chambers are not the only way to destroy a nation. It is enough to destroy its social tissue, to starve dozens of villages, to develop high rates of infant mortality."
And Laor is not alone. Historian Ilan Pappe, who in the past called for an academic boycott of Israel, noted in a scathing article published by LRB that "Palestinians have been so dehumanized by Israeli Jews…that killing them comes naturally."
Just Journalism is a London-based research organization which focused on how Israel and Middle East issues are reported in the British media. It is funded by donations.
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