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Just Journalism Newsletter 24 December 2009 This Week · A review of the major events in the Middle East in 2009, and our corresponding analysis of the UK media response · Analysis of Guardian coverage of Iran nuclear exposé and Tzipi Livni arrest warrant · Observations on Financial Times comment piece calling for the stripping of Israel's Jewish identity Just Journalism wishes all of our readers very best wishes over the holidays and a successful 2010. Highlights from 2009: Key events and analysis 2009 has been an eventful year in the Middle East and Just Journalism has been there to produce cutting edge analysis on all the key trends in UK reporting. Our reports, articles and events have attracted national and international attention as we continue to build on our reputation as the leading research organisation in our field of interest. Click here to read our brief summary. Guardian bypasses 'nuclear trigger' document Last Monday, The Times revealed in a five-page spread that it had obtained secret documents related to Iran's nuclear programme. The documents described plans to test a neutron initiator, a device used to trigger explosions in nuclear weapons - a discovery which contradicts Iran's assertion that its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes only. Following the missile test of the same week, media coverage of Iran once again raised the issue of the Islamic state's intentions, with The Guardian suggesting that it, alongside The Times, has helped to raise concerns that 'clandestine military aspects of Iran's nuclear programme may be more advanced than was previously realised.' However, The Guardian was in fact one of the few media outlets not to cover the initial reporting of the document, and has yet to describe what it consists of. In 'Secret document exposes Iran's nuclear trigger', Catherine Philp of The Times stated that the secret document described 'the use of a neutron source, uranium deuteride, which independent experts confirm has no other use than in a nuclear weapon.' She also noted that, on the basis of the document, 'it is clear that the Iranians are intent on concealing their nuclear military work behind legitimate civilian research.' This sentiment was echoed in the editorial, which argued that the find 'confirms a pattern of duplicity by a bellicose regime.' Click here to continue reading. Guardian misleads on profile of pro-Palestinian lawyer The Guardian's reporting of the Tzipi Livni arrest warrant story fell short of journalistic standards last Friday when it failed to properly identify prominent pro-Palestinian lawyer Daniel Machover, who was quoted condemning the UK government for its response to the issuing of the warrant. Machover is Chair of Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights and a partner at London law firm Hickman and Rose, which in 2005 successfully represented Palestinians seeking an arrest warrant in the UK against Israeli Major General Doron Almog over house demolitions in Gaza. Only two days previously, he authored an article published on The Guardian's Comment is free website in which he claimed that Gordon Brown and David Miliband's diplomatic intervention in favour of Livni 'sends a message that Britain is in fact a safe haven for suspected torturers and war criminals'. Despite his past and current active involvement in this issue, in 'Outcry over plan to give attorney general veto on issuing of war crimes warrants' by Guardian Legal Affairs Correspondent Afua Hirsch and Middle East Editor Ian Black, he is described simply as 'a solicitor'. The article reads: "I feel honest revulsion at the idea of a case where a judge has granted an arrest warrant and a politician gets on the phone and apologises," said Daniel Machover, a solicitor. "They have got to stay out of individual cases and legal decisions... "It's outrageous and the only reason the Foreign Office wants to do it is to avoid embarrassment - there is no good legal reason," said Machover. "If there was an arrest warrant against Livni, it's because there was a case to answer according to a judge who found that there was reasonable suspicion." Click here to continue reading. Financial Times article advocates stripping Israel of Jewish identity Recently, the Financial Times published an opinion piece by New York University professor and Israel critic Tony Judt. Arguing that 'Israel must unpick its ethnic myth', Judt claims that Israel's classification as a Jewish state is the underlying cause of the Israel-Palestinian conflict and as such, this element of the state's identity should be removed. The 'ethnic myth' of the title is a reference to the belief that the Jewish people constitute a nation, and are therefore deserving of national self-determination. This view was recently criticised by Shlomo Sand in his newly translated book, 'The Invention of the Jewish People', and Judt builds on the premise that the Jewish people are invented to promote what he sees as 'the logical upshot of [Sand's] arguments': that the creation of one bi-national state is the only solution to the conflict. Whilst acknowledging that 'there were other justifications for the State of Israel', Judt contends that 'Prof Sand has undermined the conventional case for a Jewish state'. Once the premise that 'Israel's uniquely "Jewish" quality is an imagined or elective affinity' is accepted, Judt then proceeds to describe what he believes is the only acceptable conclusion: that Jewish national self-determination is illegitimate. Throughout the article, Judt refers to the very notion of Jewish nationalism as a delusion; a 'perverse insistence upon identifying a universal Jewishness with one small piece of territory [which] is dysfunctional in many ways'. While he recognises that a two-state solution 'might still be the best compromise', Judt states that an inevitable downside to this arrangement would be that 'it would leave Israel intact in its ethno-delusions.' Click here to continue reading. For more information or to contact us, please visit www.justjournalism.com Just Journalism does not endorse the views and opinions presented in the articles, documentaries and programmes referred to above.