Scotfella: Assange slams Guardian’s ‘Jewish’ conspiracy

Wednesday, 2 March 2011

Assange slams Guardian’s ‘Jewish’ conspiracy

WikiLeaks boss says Guardian journalists failed his ‘masculinity test’ with their ‘schoolgirl gossip’

LAST UPDATED 3:58 PM, MARCH 2, 2011

Julian Assange believes that a cabal of "Jewish" Guardian journalists is attempting to deprive WikiLeaks of Jewish support, according to an article in the Private Eye written by the satirical magazine's editor Ian Hislop.

Hislop's account of his telephone conversation with Assange sheds a little more light on the mysterious falling out between the WikiLeaks and the Guardian.

The two organisations collaborated closely last year to publish the US embassy cables before the paper appeared to turn on Assange by carrying a series of negative articles.

Hislop says that Assange phoned to take him to task for an article he had written about the WikiLeaks editor-in-chief's links with Israel Shamir, a Russian journalist who is regarded as a Holocaust denier and anti-Semite.

After Assange had admitted that he had not actually read the article in question - after all, Private Eye is a defiantly offline publication - the conversation quickly descended into claims of conspiracy.

Hislop writes: "Assange said that I and Private Eye should be ashamed of ourselves for joining in the international conspiracy to smear WikiLeaks. The piece was an obvious attempt to deprive him and his organisation of Jewish support and donations".

"He went on to say that we were part of a conspiracy led by the Guardian which included journalist David Leigh, Alan Rusbridger and John Kampfner - all of whom 'are Jewish'".

When Hislop voiced his doubts that the Jewish conspiracy would stand up to scrutiny (not least because Rusbridger is not Jewish) Assange said: "Forget the Jewish thing."

But why had the Guardian turned on Assange? Apparently the Australian managed to prevent the paper from "ripping him off" to the tune of millions of dollars.

Assange went on: "The reporters on the Guardian disappointed me... They failed my masculinity test... They behaved like gossiping schoolgirls."

Hislop said that if Assange thought the "notoriously po-faced" Guardian staff were gossiping schoolgirls, he would very disappointed by the Private Eye's employees.

Assange responded in a statement posted on Twitter, saying: "Hislop has distorted, invented or misremembered almost every significant claim and phrase. In particular, 'Jewish conspiracy' is false, in spirit and in word. It is serious and upsetting.

"Rather than correct a smear, Mr. Hislop has tried to justify one smear with another," before going on to smear Hislop by adding that he "is famed to have received more libel suits in the UK than any other journalist".