Financial Times fails to recognise antisemitic blood libel and refuses to apologise for providing no clarification in the article

The Financial Times has failed to recognise an antisemitic blood libel that it printed and has refused to apologise or provide any clarification in the article.

In an article published on 19th November about a visit by the U.S. Secretary of State to a winery in Psagot, the reporter wrote: “The fate of the Palestinian project has often been prey to the vicissitudes of US domestic politics. Barack Obama, during a 2013 visit to the Holy Land, visited the other side of the fence from the Psagot winery, meeting Palestinian leaders at a youth centre in the Arab community of al-Bireh. ‘We want to tell our fellow Americans, that when you drink [Psagot’s] wine, you are drinking the blood of the Palestinian people,’ said Abdel Jawad Saleh, an American citizen who has served as Mayor of al-Bireh.”

The quotation from the Mayor is highly inflammatory and invokes the centuries-old antisemitic blood libel which falsely accuses Jews of killing non-Jews for nefarious or ritualistic purposes and drinking their blood, in particular associating the victims with the blood of Jesus, whom the Jews were for millennia also accused of having killed. The blood libel has been the basis for the persecution and murder of Jews for centuries and, in new iterations, remains popular in certain parts of the world and even in some pockets of British society.

It also contravenes the International Definition of Antisemitism which states that “Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g. claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterise Israel or Israelis” is antisemitic.

It is regrettable that the Mayor chose to express his political views in racist terms, but it is disgraceful that the Financial Times to have printed the statement without clarification that it is antisemitic.

The article was brought to our attention by a member of the public and we wrote to the Financial Times, which has now responded saying that the quotations was merely a “metaphor to refer to the Palestinians killed and wounded in occupied territories during decades of conflict”. Consequently, there was apparently nothing to apologise for nor was any context or clarification in the article necessary.

The Financial Times has totally failed to grasp the meaning of the words used – a severe and embarrassing shortcoming for journalists seeking to explain foreign conflicts and cultures to a domestic readership. The newspaper has printed a racist statement without even realising it has done so. Like its editors, the Financial Times’ readers may now conclude from this article that it is acceptable to express political opinions in antisemitic terms.

The newspaper is not a member of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), apparently believing it is capable of upholding standards by itself. This episode suggests otherwise.

Campaign Against Antisemitism regularly contacts traditional media over antisemitism in coverage or workplaces. If you find media reportage that may need investigating, please contact us.