The Sun’s Jewish Hypocrisy

Nothing illustrates the unprincipled, grasping behaviour of the Super Soaraway Currant Bun’s hacks, and their stinking hypocrisy, better than one of many highly creative pieces of knocking copy generated in the wake of Jeremy Corbyn’s victory in the Labour leadership contest. And that one piece was claimed as an exclusive - it wasn’t - by the paper’s non-bullying political editor Tom Newton Dunn.

The dishonesty started with the headline: “JEREMY CORBYN TO APPOINT A SPECIAL MINISTER FOR JEWS … Jewish figures have branded it an insult as it treats them like ‘an alien race’”. Had Corbyn made such a proposal? Sadly for the Sun, no he hadn’t. It got worse: the reason Newton Dunn’s story was not an “exclusive” was that he had lifted it from a rather less creative piece in the Jewish Chronicle by Marcus Dysch.

This told “Rumours emanating from the Corbyn camp within the last 48 hours suggested he wanted to appoint a ‘Minister for Jews’ – an emissary to work with the community. Is that a proposal that is likely to help?” So only “Rumours”, and “suggested”, because, once again, no such proposal had been made. Meanwhile, Newton Dunn’s shameless lifting of someone else’s copy generated its own mildly amusing side-show.

JC editor Stephen “Vicky” Pollard wanted anyone who was listening to know his organ had been first, Tweeting “Corbyn plans to have a Minister for Jews (and other minorities). Left identity politics here we come [note the giveaway of ‘other minorities’] … I should just point out that @JewishChron broke the 'minister for Jews' story yesterday”. But eventually he, too, abandoned reality and resorted to making it up.

“Just to repeat: it was the Corbyn camp who described the position as 'Minister for Jews'. They actually thought it would be welcomed”. Sadly, his article does not stand up this claim. But what it does do is to mention “Britain’s youngest Jewish MP Luciana Berger … could [she] work for Jeremy Corbyn? It is hard to see how”. The Sun piece also suggests Ms Berger would not work for Corbyn. And both articles got it totally wrong.

Because Luciana Berger has accepted a shadow cabinet post for the mental health brief. And it gets yet worse: while Newton Dunn is trying to smear Corbyn with the taint of alleged anti-Semitism, he’s working in the service of the man whose record on racism and anti-Semitism is, to say the least, shaky in the extreme.

Yes, Rupert Murdoch, who memorably Tweeted “Moses film attacked on Twitter for all white cast. Since when are Egyptians not white?  All I know are” also asked his followers “Why Is Jewish owned press so consistently anti- Israel in every crisis?” And now his favourite UK paper is trying to call anti-Semitism on others.

It clearly needs a special combination of total lack of self-awareness, thuggishness and shameless hypocrisy to be Sun political editor nowadays. It is a job specification to which Tom Newton Dunn is ideally matched. No surprise there, then.