The visceral hatred Peter Oborne demonstrated in his shoddy documentary Inside Britain’s Israel Lobby did not, unsurprisingly, come out of nowhere. What is surprising is just how obsessive he is in his demonisation of the Jewish state. To cover all he has written on the subject down the years would therefore be an onerous task. Here is a selection.
On September 23, 2001 as the dead of the 9/11 attacks were still being buried he drew an analogy between Al-Qaeda’s genocidal terrorism and the government of Israel. “The thought of the West taking reprisals against bin Laden without demanding major concessions from Israel makes the blood run cold,” he wrote in The Observer. This was no isolated incident. On May 10 2004, he wrote about “US support for state terrorism in Israel” in the Evening Standard. In November of the same year, writing in The Spectator, he called for President Bush to put “renewed pressure on Israel to press forward for a settlement with Palestine”, as if it was Israeli intransigence – rather than the complete opposite – that has prevented a conclusion to the conflict.
To his credit, in February 2005 he said Ken Livingstone was “unfit to be Mayor of London” following his controversial “concentration camp” jibe to a Jewish reporter. Perhaps controversially he added: “I simply cannot understand how Nicky Gavron [who is Jewish] can remain Ken Livingstone’s deputy following his astonishing failure to withdraw his disgusting remarks.” One can see Oborne’s point, but were there not others more suitably placed to make it?
The following year Oborne interviewed government minister John Denham for The Spectator. It was a wide-ranging interview, but it was headlined ‘Israel’s actions affect our security’ despite Israel being only mentioned very briefly in passing in the article. Then in 2006, as Israel defended itself against the rockets of Hezbollah, Oborne sank even lower. On July 24 he wrote of “Israeli barbarism over the weekend” and placed himself firmly in the camp of “those of us who find Israeli actions detestable”. The following week he wrote of an “atrocity” at Qana, describing it as part of a “murderous campaign” by Israel. I can find no sign of him retracting his description of the Qana incident, despite the subsequent evidence that contradicts what he wrote.
As Israel defended itself from eight years of Hamas rockets with Operation Cast Lead, Oborne – by now of the Daily Mail – described Hamas not as terrorists but “militants” and concluded: “Israel has a great deal to learn from the honourable way Britain dealt with Irish terrorism.” There is clearly no parallel between the threats posed by IRA and Hamas. Seven days after that Oborne wrote about the expenses scandal, but managed to work Israel into the story: “Our indolent MPs have not yet debated either the domestic crisis caused by the recession, or — and this is equally shameful — the world crisis that has followed the Israeli invasion of Gaza.” The following week he again wrote about Cast Lead, describing Israel as “bloodthirsty”, instead of recognising Israel’s enormous restraint in not responding years earlier to the continuous launching of thousands of rockets upon civilians over the course of several years.
Perhaps the most ludicrous statement of the lot came in July this year. Having drawn a parallel between Al-Qaeda and Israel eight year earlier, he now tried to do the same with the Iranian regime. “[David] Cameron cannot in good faith criticise the autocratic government in Iran for killing pro-democracy demonstrators in Tehran at the same time as turning a blind eye to Israeli conduct in Gaza,” he wrote. What a strange world he must live in.
A final thought: in December 2007 The Spectator asked several prominent people whether they believed in the virgin birth. Oborne’s response began: “This is a complex issue but luckily I have been able to draw on a formidable body of knowledge.” Oh that he could say the same of his conclusions on Israel.
He’s a nasty character, it seems. Perhaps someone should make a programme about how he pushes his anti Israel agenda at every possible opportunity, arriving on his doorstep to film him with no warning, and valuing his home on TV for no particular reason?
Or down his local.
What an idiot he is.
The fact that he wrote an excellent book about the D’Oliveira affair only serves to bring into greater relief his foolishness in making the Dispatches programme.
I interviewed him once. I find it hard to square the guy I interviewed with the guy who made that Dispatches show.
If only there was a powerful Israel lobbying group maybe Osborne’s lies and Goebbels type propaganda would have been shown up for what they are.
The problem is that the Obornes of the world never seem to draw any connection between the need for strong pro-Israel lobbying in the few countries in the world that are not dependent on middle eastern petroleum or loans to support their economies with the block voting that goes on in the UN that set the groundwork for all the misinformation and animous against Israel by passing the “Zionism = racism” resolution and ensures that world attention remains focussed on Israel/Palestine.
Even more offensive — the failure to connect so many of these same block voting countries were part of the Khartoum conference that rejected Israel’s offer to return lands won in the ’67 war in exchange for recognition of the ’48 borders.
This story illustrates the true nature of Israel seen through the eyes of an Irish family:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1258027305004&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Why don’t we hear about these true life experiences on our media?
Thank you Chas for providing some sanity and fairness in this increasingly anti-Jewish country.
I don’t normally go for the ad hominem stuff (look at the mess HP has got itself into in the last few days) but Oborne does come across as a little gin soaked.
I think it was Paul Johnson in his left wing youth who described Tories of Oborne’s kind as ‘atrophied Englishmen, lacking certain moral and political reflexes’. That sort of sums him up.
What has happened at HP? I’ve not been there properly for a few weeks. I heard it is offline today.
Peter Oborne is a hypocrite.
Check out this admiring defence of George Galloway, by Peter Oborne, back when Galloway faced accusations of taking money from Iraq:
‘But Galloway, like anyone else, deserves to be heard. Reporting over the past few days has come close to condemning him out of hand.One paper emphasised his “natty suits”, as if in themselves they were evidence of corruption. Others have drawn attention to his “£800,000 house” in London. But plenty of modestly paid people have London properties that they paid modest sums for a few years ago.’ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-178096/I-just-hope-wrong-George.html
The grovelling to Galloway is bad enough. The hypocrisy comes with Oborne’s condemnation of media reports over the value of Galloway’s house. After all during the Dispatches programme he himself speculated on the value of Poju Zabludowicz’s house, and showed footage of it.
Why is it wrong for the press to speculate on the value of George Galloway’s house, but fine for Oborne to speculate on the value of Zabludowicz’s house?
All this ‘silly cow’ stuff on HP is a bit, well silly. I think Mr T needs to take a firmer hold.
I missed that debate. I haven’t spent any serious time at HP for a few weeks for various reasons. It can get horribly personal there.
Michael Pinto-Duschinsky has a rather interesting take on the Dispatches programme in the brand new “Jewish Chronicle”. It’s not yet online, but do try to check it out if you can.
Many thanks.
It’s online now, and this is the point made by Dr Pinto-Duschinsky that I found particularly instructive:
“The financial clout of oil and other anti-Israel interests is far greater than anything that Israel’s friends can muster. Top civil servants and diplomats can look forward to lucrative post-retirement contracts from banks and corporations with Middle Eastern connections. Universities are awash with money for professorships and other position funded by Arab governments and foundations and tied to influencing opinion on Middle Eastern politics and culture. ”
(Take note, Mr Oborne!)
Well said – and thanks for bringing it to our attention.
[...] http://www.oyvagoy.com/2009/11/18/israel-obornes-obession/ [...]
Completely absurd and inaccurate attack on peter oborne! To call him anti-jewish or prejudice is completely disgusting, but unfortunately slander like this is typical of the pro-israel lobby. The truth will out! Don’t be left supporting racist and oppressive regimes.