UKMW prompts Times of London to remove gratuitous reference to ‘wealthy Jews’

We sent a complaint to Times of London editors arguing that whilst it's perfectly fair to note that a significant minority of the residents of the Australian voting district are Jewish, their reference to the wealth of the Jewish residents seemed gratuitous and, though unintended, evoked toxic tropes about the influence of 'Jewish money' on democratic politics.

An Oct. 17th article at Times of London about comments by Australia’s prime minister – days before an important election for the seat vacated by former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull – suggesting he’s open to the idea of moving their embassy to Jerusalem, included the following context:

We complained to Times of London – and tweeted the journalist  arguing that whilst it’s perfectly fair to note that a significant minority (13%) of the residents of Wentworth are Jewish, in the context of noting why the prime minister suddenly expressed a willingness to consider moving the embassy, it’s far less clear why the income of the Jewish residents mattered.  We stressed that most of the residents of the community are very wealthy, not only Jews, and singling out the wealth of the Jewish community seemed gratuitous and, though likely unintended, evoked toxic tropes about the influence of ‘Jewish money’ on democratic politics.

We further pointed out that the Guardian, in 2011, amended an article that had originally included a similarly gratuitous reference to the wealth of Jews – on the Spanish island of Mallorca – after their readers’ editor determined it to be in “contravention to the Guardian’s editorial code on reflecting antisemitic tropes”.

Times of London editors upheld our complaint, and revised the sentence, which now omits the original reference to “wealthiest Jewish families”, and instead acknowledges the wealth of the entire community.

 

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