Restaurant critic Jay Rayner has accused The Guardian of employing antisemites and claimed the newspaper’s editor is lacking the courage to take them on, after he quit sister title The Observer.
In a message to friends on Facebook, Rayner criticised editor Katherine Viner as he said: “For years now being Jewish, however non-observant, and working for the company has been uncomfortable, at times excruciating.
“Viner likes to deny it but there are antisemites on the daily’s staff and she has not had the courage to face them down.”
He added: “For years now I have made a point of sending her a back channel email each time the Guardian has published another outrage. It will be a joy to know that I’m not a part of that any more.”
Katherine Viner
Highlighting the Guardian’s comment section, the respected critic said it was now “a juvenile hellscape of salami-sliced identity grievance politics”.
In recent years the Guardian has published numerous inflammatory articles relating to Israel.
Last month, it issued an apology after a furious backlash over its review of a documentary on the October 7 massacre that criticised how the Gazan invaders had been “demonised” as “testosterone-crazed Hamas killers” and “shameless civilian looters”.
Other scandals infuriating many in the community including a cartoon of then-BBC director general Richard Sharp using obvious antisemitic tropes.
Last year Viner was forced to sack its cartoonist Steve Bell who drew Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in manner that resembled Shylock, the Jewish moneylender in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice who demands a “pound of flesh”.
It was the latest in several complaints about Bell.
Articles written by columnists like Owen Jones have also infuriated many Jewish readers.
One of the Observer’s highest-profile writers, Rayner had worked at the paper for 28 years.
He now joins the FT adding: “Viner’s pursuit of the Tortoise deal” which would see the Observer sold to James Harding’s media start-up is “absurd and deranged. ”
A Guardian spokesman said: “We take allegations of this nature extremely seriously. The Guardian Media Group has a zero tolerance approach to antisemitism and all forms of prejudice and discrimination. We have probust processes in place. When any allegations are made, we investigate them and deal with them swiftly.
“We recognise the strength of feeling about the proposed sale of the Observer. Our priority is to support our staff and serve our readers, so that the Guardian and the Observer can continue to promote liberal journalism and thrive in a challenging media environment.”
