The questioner was Antony Loewenstein, a self-described freelance journalist for publications including The Guardian. Yet when HonestReporting asked The Guardian directly about him, incredibly Peter Beaumont, the newspaper’s Israel correspondent replied in an email: “I don’t anything [sic] about Antony Loewenstein.”
Furthermore, Harriet Sherwood, a former Israel correspondent and The Guardian’s current religion correspondent posted the following on Facebook in response to the original Jerusalem Post story of Loewenstein’s appearance at the FPA event:
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How is it that the FPA, which represents the interests of hundreds of foreign journalists whose jobs are to report on Israel and the Palestinians, allows an anti-Israel activist to be a member? HonestReporting directly asked this question to the FPA’s board.
The FPA’s Executive Secretary Glenys Sugarman answered, acknowledging these concerns yet stating that Loewenstein is a freelance journalist and has been accredited by the Israeli Government Press Office (GPO). But as far as the FPA is concerned, it “bars members from seeking or holding political office – a ban we recently enforced – but beyond that we don’t regulate their political views.”
Of course Loewenstein is entitled to hold any political position he likes. This, however, is not the issue. The FPA evidently prefers not to confront the inherent contradiction between a credible journalist and a BDS activist.
Having revealed that Loewenstein has been accredited by the GPO, the question needs to be asked as to how he was able to get a press card, something that should now be revoked. Such accreditation gives a journalist the rights to work in Israel and the benefits of access that this brings. It is entirely possible that Loewenstein could potentially find himself deported from Israel and banned from entering under a policy of targeting foreign BDS activists currently in the country if proposed legislation passes in the Knesset.
Did Loewenstein gain his official press card by claiming to be a Guardian writer? If so, then it looks like this may be one avenue that could be cut off. HonestReporting contacted The Guardian directly, pointing out that hiring Loewenstein was the equivalent of hiring a corporate lobbyist to be the newspaper’s business correspondent.
Did Loewenstein misrepresent himself at the FPA event to Yair Lapid as working directly for The Guardian? Given the reactions of both Peter Beaumont and Harriet Sherwood, has Loewenstein just been caught dishonestly burnishing press credentials in an effort to present himself as a credible journalist?
This could well be the case. The Guardian’s Head of International News Jamie Wilson responded to HonestReporting by stating that Loewenstein was contracted to write comment pieces for Guardian Australia and remains an occasional comment contributor but he “is not a news correspondent for the Guardian in Israel.” It was also relayed to us that Loewenstein has now been told to in future make sure he does not reference The Guardian at press conferences unless he is working on a direct commission.
Loewenstein has himself written about the press conference (http://antonyloewenstein.com/). He whines:
The Post story by Gil Hoffman is below. Note the predictably racist and crazy comments below the article. Soon after this story appeared, I started receiving racist messages from rabid Zionists. It’s a familiar pattern; criticise Israel and its occupation and upset the trolls:
I personally would not be surprised if he used subterfuge to gain the press pass. He’s been known to resort to such low tactics. For instance, as I posted earlier this year, Loewenstein, Miko Peled and Dan Cohen attended the Ynet anti-BDS conference in Jerusalem – despite their standing as ginormous BDS-holes.
subsequently writing up a report for Israel-bashing site Mondoweiss.
A law school graduate, David Lange transitioned from work in the oil and hi-tech industries into fulltime Israel advocacy. He is a respected commentator and Middle East analyst who has often been cited by the mainstream media
A law school graduate, David Lange transitioned from work in the oil and hi-tech industries into fulltime Israel advocacy. He is a respected commentator and Middle East analyst who has often been cited by the mainstream media
