There is something not quite right when you bring to the attention of the Chairman of the Jewish Chronicle – Anthony Julius – an abuse in the newspaper, that instead of a thank you, you are belittled and given a lecture on freedom of speech.
I don’t believe the Jewish Chronicle should be giving free space to the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign to advertise their events when Jewish charities have to pay. Take an ad in the newspaper and the current rate for charities to have their events listed is £12.46 for 10 words plus £1.04 for each additional word. Plus VAT.
This particular blog was about the unprovoked attack on an Israeli at an Israel apartheid event at SOAS. A Palestinian called Lukas used the comments thread to list more upcoming anti-Israel demonstrations. I marked it as offensive on the comments thread of the Jewish Chronicle’s website. Nothing was done about it, so I sent an e-mail to the new chairman. He didn’t reply and the listings remained.
Last night I had the pleasure of being at the annual ZF dinner. Anthony Julius was there and gave a 3 minute speech about what a hard job we’re up against with the daily de-legitimisation of Israel in the media and on campuses. Mr Julius is a highly-regarded litigation lawyer specialising in media law and defamation. You may remember he was the divorce lawyer for the late Princess Diana and has written a book defining anti-Semitism – Trials of the Diaspora.
I went over to introduce myself and asked him if he’d received my e-mail. He wasn’t sure so I explained to him the contents. Instead of the reply I expected, I was subjected to a barrage of legal jargon on how the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign are entitled to post what they want on the JC blogs. “Mr Julius” I said “you may be right from a legal point of view, but as a Jew it doesn’t feel right seeing Palestinian propaganda on the website, after all the MPACUK Muslim website doesn’t tolerate me posting pro-Israel events”. He is a wizard with words, much more so than little Gina here, and he continued his legal talk to try to belittle me, and then accusingly asked me if I did any advocacy work. “Yes Mr Julius, I do. It certainly doesn’t help when those we expect to help us are aiding the other side”.
He is not a man you would want as your adversary. Dear reader, if you ever get yourself into legal trouble and Mr Julius is representing your opponent…. save yourself the battle and settle out of court!
Let’s hope that I don’t receive a lawsuit from the eminent Mr Julius.
Gina in Golders Green 
jcwmoderator said,
March 28, 2011 @ 6:59 am
Well done, Gina!
It’s about time that Britain’s foremost expert on anti-Semitism is exposed as one who will forego his principles for the sake of a prestigious job.
He was previously asked to comment on a compilation of a year’s worth of anti-Israeli comments published by the Jewish Chronicle, and refused to say one word.
bataween said,
March 28, 2011 @ 12:29 pm
Good post, Gina.
Another good argument for pre-moderation on the JC blogs comments thread!
Daphne Anson said,
March 28, 2011 @ 12:55 pm
Gina, absolutely incredible. I’ve posted about the JC’s perfidy myself a couple of times, but with this the paper has reached a new low. Good for you for tackling the Chairman.
Yisrael Medad said,
March 28, 2011 @ 1:10 pm
Well, we have your back from here.
Andre Oboler said,
March 28, 2011 @ 2:05 pm
Far more important than the content… were links included to these events? If so, by continuing to host them, the JC is actively increasing their visibility on the web. That’s not a good thing.
Brian Lux said,
March 28, 2011 @ 2:47 pm
Thank goodness I don’t subscribe to a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel, Jewish newspaper like the J.C. Instead I support a pro-Israel, Jewish newspaper like the Jewish Telegraph. Maybe Mr Julias is a clever advocate, but his attitude leaves a somewhat odious smell in this 78 years old nostrils. For years I have written about the ‘enemy within,’ those Jews who regularly knock Israel, like the odious Gerald Kaufman, and I suggest Mr Julias be careful with his words and atttitude in case he gets tarred with the same brush.
Daniel F said,
March 28, 2011 @ 2:53 pm
Met the man once socially.
Found him to have as we say in Yiddish to have a extremely ” Geschworrener Kop”.
Don’t be intimitaded by him thoughGina. What you saw was arrogance and not legal ability.
I’m a lawyer too and found him openly saying he was more interested in English Literature than Law! He just sounds confident!
Sid said,
March 28, 2011 @ 2:55 pm
Well, well what can one expect from the JC – it does not serve the Jewish community,, one would be far better to read Hamodia for Israel news alone.
The trouble stems from these type of Jews being self hating and bending over backwards forgetting that there grandparents had to fight for thier rights in the UK whilst the Julus’s of this world in the UK have neglected their nation
jcwmoderator said,
March 28, 2011 @ 3:41 pm
Just to add verification of Gina’s basic statement, here is a link to a series of recent emails exchanged between Julius and JCWatch, in which Julius is repeatedly requested to comment on a huge amount of anti-Israeli comments published in the JC Blogs section in the last year alone – and he won’t say one word against the JC on this:
Gina in Golders Green said,
March 28, 2011 @ 8:30 pm
Thanks for this link, fascinating. Yes… looks like it will be “no waves” Julius.
Gina in Golders Green said,
March 28, 2011 @ 7:14 pm
Thanks for all the comments. Can’t help wondering what the JC will do if the BNP start advertising their forthcoming rallies? Is free speech for everybody?
Z said,
March 28, 2011 @ 7:37 pm
The JC has lost its way.
See: http://zalmi.blogspot.com/2007/05/open-letter-to-jc.html
Gina in Golders Green said,
March 28, 2011 @ 8:19 pm
Great link Zalmi, as valid today as when it was written. I too have a pile of letters to the JC that they never published.
I’m sure we’re not the only ones.
jcwmoderator said,
March 28, 2011 @ 9:48 pm
I had a maths master in a school in London whose students ALL passed Maths O-levels. His system was easy: before O-levels, he’d kick out of his class those he reckoned would fail.
That’s the way the JC works: ban all participants who don’t think JC-wise, then claim for the remainder “free speech for all”.
Adam said,
March 28, 2011 @ 11:44 pm
The JC blogs have become a sick joke – a haven for anti-Jewish propaganda, downright hatred and anti-Israel bigotry. What has it come to when it is left to some posters with a conscience to fight antisemitism on the JC of all places?
Why oh why does the JC tolerate it? There is a line between free speech and suicidal help to your enemy. (Lukas has even praised the antisemitic terror group Hamas on the JC. That is not free speech – it is hatespeech).
Adam said,
March 28, 2011 @ 11:44 pm
JC, are you listening?
b.,kline said,
March 29, 2011 @ 11:28 am
Didn’t the JC’s last employee get ‘head-hunted’ from the Christian Science Monitor? – Yes, that is the case so therefore it must be that one of the stipulations of working for the JC one has to be as un-Jew-like as possible, enough even to side with the enemy! – Forget the 3rd Intifada that is being called for by the Arabs and allowed to be advertised by a Jew on Facebook, it seems we are also being sold down the swannee by our own self-hating inzerah news paper – oh well, it does soak up the necessary in my cat’s litter box!!
Natan said,
March 29, 2011 @ 12:58 pm
Err, B. Kline, and the rest of you numpties: If you don’t like the JC, stop buying it, then you won’t have anything to kvetch about.
Gina in Golders Green said,
March 29, 2011 @ 1:17 pm
There really is no reason to buy the JC anymore. We have the internet. We get instant news from around the world at the touch of a button.
Maybe the only thing holding some of us (not dear Gina) to the JC is the Social & Personal columns. In my youth we used to swear by the JC to decide what events we were going to on the weekend, but now all the kids use facebook for their social lives. They don’t bother reading it.
I was in Waitrose in North Finchley one friday morning and noticed that all the people buying the JC were over 60. I think their circulation is now down to 29,000 and my inside sources tell me that many of these are free copies to old age homes (more about my inside JC source on a future blog).
Sid said,
March 29, 2011 @ 1:28 pm
Need one say any more – except it was time it was CLOSED DOWN
jcwmoderator said,
March 29, 2011 @ 1:16 pm
Natan,
You very obviousy don’t understand what is going on here. (In Hebrew, it’s called “rosh katan” – small-minded.)
The Jewish Chronicle is currently the number 1 provider of anti-Israeli statements in Britain; any anti-semite can quote them and say “but the Jews say it themselves, so why can’t we?”. All Zionist Jews must fight this phenomenon until it has been put away.
Not buying the paper will have no influence whatsoever on this.
WE DO NOT ABANDON THE COURT TO OUR OPONENTS!
Gina, in one brilliant post, has hit the nail right on the head – as viewers’ comments verify.
If Julius feels comfortable at the helm of an anti-Israeli warship, that’s his choice – but Gina is making his position very clear.
Gish Robbins said,
March 29, 2011 @ 4:43 pm
As a proud Israeli and former Londoner obliged to visit family members on special occasions I am constantly saddened (and infuriated) by attitudes which are clearly pro Palestinian anti-Israel expressed by those pompous politically correct and more than often self-hating Jews whose heads are so clearly buried in the sand !I presume they are avid subscribers to the Jewish Chronicle and as they say “Ignorance is bliss”!!
Edgar Davidson said,
March 29, 2011 @ 11:02 pm
Julius is typical of many left-leaning academics who believe that freedom of speech is a concept that trumps everything else (they would rather allow murder than deny the murderer the right to free speech). They also fail to understand the extent to which free speech is a relative concept – especially so when we are at war (a fact that the PSC, unlike the JC understands very well). I have linked to your article and added more about the JC here:
http://edgar1981.blogspot.com/2011/03/jewish-chronicle-still-sinking-lower.html
Gina in Golders Green said,
March 29, 2011 @ 11:33 pm
Thanks Edgar, and an interesting trail reading yours and Daphne’s previous posts about the JC.
Ben Menachem said,
March 31, 2011 @ 11:20 am
Gina, don’t know if you have noticed but Anthony Julius was actually given an honour by the ZF.
Gina in Golders Green said,
March 31, 2011 @ 1:09 pm
Yes, I was there when he received it, which is why I used the opportunity to ask him about the JC blogs.
He is a brilliant lawyer, just read about him here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Julius
and I would want him representing me if I’d committed a murder – he would definitely get me off! But he is purely an academic. A cold fish. Heartless. The fact that he chose to defend the rights of the Palestinian Solidarity Movement over the interests of Jewish readers needs to be known. And this was at the ZF dinner. The rest of my table were shocked with his attitude.
If I was an advertiser on the JC website, I would withdraw my business henceforth. Do these kosher eateries who advertise there know what’s what?
chairwoman said,
April 1, 2011 @ 1:11 pm
“I was in Waitrose in North Finchley one friday morning and noticed that all the people buying the JC were over 60.”
How else would we know if we’d died?
I agree wholeheartedly that the JC and the Board of Deputies fail to give Israel sufficient support.
As for Anthony Julius, all lawyers are devoted to freedom of speech, but don’t hold your breath if you’re waiting for him to get you off a murder charge, Gina. He’s a solicitor. It won’t be AJ on his feet defending you at the Old Bailey (or more probably Wood Green Crown Court), but the barrister he’s chosen.
jcwmoderator said,
April 1, 2011 @ 1:36 pm
Ms. Chairwoman,
Not so sure about that; his Wikipedia entry says as follows:
“Julius is a commercial litigator. He is a specialist in the fields of defamation, international trade disputes, and media law. He recently became a solicitor-advocate, which allows him to act as a barrister in so far as he can now appear in the High Court and the Court of Appeal”
I do note from the above his expertise in defamation: maybe the JC took him on to assist in defaming Israel? 🙂
chairwoman said,
April 1, 2011 @ 2:49 pm
Indeed a solicitor advocate does have rights of audience in the higher courts. I don’t know how I missed his appointment ):
Still not the guy you’d want for a murder as his expertise lies with civil and family cases.
jcwmoderator said,
April 1, 2011 @ 3:22 pm
… unless, maybe, you murdered your mother-in-law? (family …)
Dimensions said,
July 15, 2012 @ 11:23 pm
Really enjoyed reading your blog…. Really interesting, warmly written and humurous… I feel like I am exploring my own identity!