{"id":82596,"date":"2025-05-24T09:20:22","date_gmt":"2025-05-24T08:20:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=82596"},"modified":"2025-05-24T09:20:22","modified_gmt":"2025-05-24T08:20:22","slug":"the-media-must-be-held-to-account","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2025\/05\/24\/the-media-must-be-held-to-account\/","title":{"rendered":"The media must be held to account"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the Guardian noted<\/a> later yesterday:<\/p>\n

\n

Benjamin Netanyahu was accused of slander and pursuing a war without end after he claimed the leaders of France, Canada and the UK were stoking antisemitism and siding with Hamas by demanding he end the two-month blockade of food and aid into Gaza.<\/p>\n

In what has become an extraordinary standoff with some of Israel\u2019s closest allies, Netanyahu appeared to deliberately raise the stakes on Thursday night by\u00a0accusing his western critics<\/a>\u00a0of abandoning Israel in a war for its very existence.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Let's be clear about four things.<\/p>\n

First, Israel is not engaged in a war about its very existence. It has not been at any stage since October 2023. Not for one moment has anyone ever doubted Israel's military domination of its region, and as a consequence, ever doubted its existence. For Netanyahu to claim this is for him to simply lie. There is no other way to say that: the man is a charlatan.<\/p>\n

Second, he's worse than a charlatan. This war is all about saving Netanyahu. He is a criminal, and a much bigger one now than he was when he started this war in an attempt to prevent his being brought to justice. He deserves to spend his final years in jail, and I hope he will.<\/p>\n

Third, the politicians now criticising him are way too late to do so. Nothing lets them off the hook. It was obvious what they had to do with Israel in October 2023. They had to tell it to back off then. They had to demand a cessation of hostilities then. They had to say the invasion of Gaza that followed a Hamas atrocity was not in any way justified as a result of the way in which it was conducted. They should have said then that international law was being violated in a way that already could ot be justified. And they did not. That is why they have always been complicit in what Israel has done, which they have enabled.<\/p>\n

And, fourth, the media is in the same position, he Guadian most definitely included. As my fellow National columnist, Owen Jones, has said in that paper<\/a> this morning:<\/p>\n

[W]hile almost the entire Westminster\u00a0media backed, legitimised and whitewashed the genocide, this publication was a rare exception. From the beginning, it exposed Israeli war crimes, took Israel\u2019s genocidal intent seriously, treated Palestinian life as having equal worth.<\/p>\n

And let\u2019s be honest: The National is treated with contempt by other publications. It\u2019s infantilised, as though it\u2019s unserious compared to the supposed grownups in the room.<\/p>\n

So how exactly does that leave these supposed journalistic big beasts feeling, then?<\/p>\n

You have no excuse. You knew enough: about entire extended families wiped from the face of the earth, deliberate starvation, every hospital being attacked, the liquidation of more than a thousand medics, Gaza being reduced to apocalyptic ruin, the incessant stories of torture and rape. You know South Africa hauled Israel before the International Court of Justice to face genocide charges 14 months ago. You knew the International Criminal Court\u2019s chief prosecutor issued requests for arrest warrants a year ago, which were served six months ago. You knew enough \u2013 more than enough.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And he's right, they did know. They did nothing, but as Owen also says:<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for you, The National \u2013 with its courage, integrity and insight \u2013 underlines that you have no excuses. And yet even now you probably feel indefinitely protected by a shield made from Israeli impunity, reinforced with anti-Palestinian racism. Yet deep down, you know that is crumbling.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That support for Israel is crumbling. Trump might shore it up for a bit. But the truth will be told.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu has undertaken genocide.<\/p>\n

Our politician aided and abetted him.<\/p>\n

Our media pretended it was not happening.<\/p>\n

But one small, pro-independence, Scottish newspaper<\/a> that I am proud to write for stood out, alone, from the crowd, and called out what was happening.<\/p>\n

There is no comfort to be had in what is happening in Gaza. Quite literally, there is none whatsoever. But I can say that The National called it right when no one else did.<\/p>\n

And the rest, as Owen has suggested, need to be held to account for that, not least because they are doing the same on the rise of fascism in the UK, which they will not name, let alone call out as to its consequences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the Guardian noted later yesterday: Benjamin Netanyahu was accused of slander and pursuing a war without end after he claimed the leaders of France,
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