New Statesman accused of censorship over deleted Palestine articles

British weekly political magazine the New Statesman has been accused of censorship after it removed an article following complaints by pro-Israel lobby groups.

The piece in question was written by Salah Ajarma, co-founder and director of the Lajee Cultural Centre in Aida refugee camp, Bethlehem, and was published by the New Statesman as part of a two-year partnership with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC).

Following attacks on the magazine by well-known Israel advocacy organisations, however, the New Statesman deleted the piece without even speaking to the author, Salah, or the PSC.

According to PSC, the magazine has “since refused to offer any explanation or justification for the removal of the article”, in what campaigners have described as “a disgraceful attack on freedom of expression, a clear case of censorship, and a deliberate attempt to silence Palestinian voices.”

PSC, who says the New Statesman has “politically censored a human rights campaigner…living under very harsh conditions of military occupation in a refugee camp”, is demanding that the piece is republished, with an apology to Salah, and a public statement affirming freedom of expression.

A report for the Electronic Intifada by MEMO columnist Asa Winstanley said a second Palestine-related article was also deleted by the New Statesman yesterday, originally published on 15 September and similarly sponsored by the PSC.

As described by Ben White in an article for MEMO on Monday, the last piece written by a Palestinian in the “Middle East” section of the New Statesman magazine was from 25 July 2014.

UPDATE: The New Statesman has responded with the following comment: “The arrangement with the PSC was a commercial one and the content in question was advertorial, not editorial. The content violated our policy of maintaining a strict church/state separation between advertising and editorial and it was published online without the approval of the editorial team. As soon as the editorial team became aware of the content, it was removed. When the New Statesman covers this issue it will do so using its own staff writers and trusted freelancers.”