The Guardian finds itself in a bind, of sorts, as the demands of its readership for new libels promoting the idea that Israel is a uniquely malevolent force in the world far exceeds the supply. So, the baseless accusations and non-stories they’re willing to amplify in order to satiate those in thrall to a toxic antizionist and antisemitic worldview are not restrained by even a minimal regard for professional and moral responsibility.
A case in point is a Guardian report by their diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour (“TNT that Europe needs to defend itself is being used on Gaza, Polish MP claims,” Nov. 21), which begins thusly:
Europe cannot supply enough TNT to defend either itself or Ukraine largely because its monopoly supplier of the explosive is contracted to send much of its production to the US, which then exports it for use by Israel in Gaza, a Polish MP has claimed.
The claim that Europe can’t supply enough TNT to defend itself or Ukraine “largely because its monopoly supplier of the explosive is contracted to send much of its production to the US, which then exports it for use by Israel in Gaza,“ is based entirely on the unevidenced claim by Polish MP, Maciej Konieczny:
We learned that the Guardian journalist based his entire story on the MP’s speech, despite the lack of evidence, when, ten paragraphs down in the article, the following is acknowledged:
It is not known precisely what proportion of exported Polish TNT is being used in Ukraine or Gaza, or retained for use by the US army. [Emphasis added]
In other words, neither Konieczny nor the Guardian journalist are in possession of any data concerning the inflammatory accusation that Europe faces a shortage of TNT – thus threatening Europe’s security – due to Israel.
In fact, if his affiliations are any indication, it seems that Konieczny’s motivation for leveling the charge is quite clear, as the Parliamentarian – known as one of the most outspoken Israel-haters in parliament – has participated in the European Palestinian Political Relations Council (EUPAC), a group whose leadership reportedly has extensive ties to Hamas.
Moreover, other reports we read on the topic of TNT shortages contradict the Guardian’s desired narrative.
A September report in the New York Times on the shortage of TNT, due to the West’s reliance on supplies from the Polish company Nitro-Chem, doesn’t mention Israel or Gaza once. The headline “Ukraine War Leads to Global Shortage of TNT” is consistent with their reporting showing that the Polish company has indeed been selling a large share of its TNT supply to Ukraine since the Russian invasion.
The company has also been selling TNT to the US, which is currently almost entirely dependent on Polish imports of the explosive material for its own military needs due to the absence of any US suppliers. There is no reporting in the NYT suggesting that the TNT sent from Poland to Israel, or the TNT shipped to the US to make weaponry that is then shipped to the IDF for use against Hamas, are factors in the West’s shortage.
Further, a report two weeks ago at CNBC on the same topic also made no mention of Israel, while stating, consistent with the NYT’s reporting, that “the war in Ukraine is driving a global shortage of the commercial explosive TNT.“ Bloomberg News, in an in-depth report in March on the global shortage of TNT, also cited the war in Ukraine, while not mentioning Israel’s war with Hamas as a factor.
Finally, it’s telling that the only other English-language outlet which covered and promoted the Polish MP’s charge is the pro-Hezbollah station al-Mayadeen.
Once again, we see that, when it comes to Israel and Jews, the Guardian is in the business of libel and narrative promotion, not professional news reporting.
This post originally appeared at CAMERA UK.