July 23, 2006

Jews against Jews?

Here's a front page article from the Jewish Chronicle saying that Jews for Justice for Palestinians have been forced to apologise to some bloke because, when they ran an advert in the Times protesting Israel's invasions/bombardments of Gaza and Lebanon, this bloke's name was among the 300 signatories. Here's the headline:Pressure group made to apologise. And here's the artilce:
JEWS FOR JUSTICE for Palestinians has been forced to apologise to the former editor of a Jewish freesheet who saw his name as one of the sig­natories to its full-page Times advert condemning Israel’s actions in Gaza.

David Garfinkel was astonished to see his name among the 300 support­ers of the petition and received dozens of calls and text messages from people equally surprised over his apparent support for the controversial initiative.

The 33-year-old from Edgware, North-West London, attempted to explain to JIJfP that, as the former managing editor of “Jewish News,” he found the association both defamatory and “highly embarrassing,” warning the group that libel laws required them to try to prevent confusion over identity.

JfJIP did not agree. ‘What a pity that you are not proud to be a Jew who is seen to have universalist, humanitar­ian values,” replied an anonymous representative, insisting that another David Garflnkel “certainly exists and has every right to use his own name.”

“Perhaps you should have asked your parents to give you a more select name,” said another unsigned email. “What if you were called John Smith?
We know who signed our statement"

It was only after Mr Garfinkel's solicitors contacted JfJfP that the organisation agreed to ask the Times insert a clarification.

Chair Richard Kuper also told solicitor that the group “had no wish" to cause Mr Garfinkel any offence.

“It was a pity JfJfP didn’t apologise to begin with, and that I needed to go through my lawyer to get a properer response,” Mr Garfinkel, now corporate communications manager told the JC. “The loss of life on sides of this conflict is appalling I don’t agree with JfJfP’s method just bashing Israel publicly.”
So let's take stock here. Someone called David Garfinkel signed the Jews for Justice statement in the Times. Someone else called David Garfinkel didn't agree with the statement. That latter demanded an apology because someone with the same name as him signed a statement he didn't agree with. But the biggest news issue here is that the Jewish Chronicle saw fit to publish this tittle tattle on its front page. And where in the article is this apology and why was an apology due?

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